Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta (b. 24 February 1304 – d. 1369) was a Berber Maghrebi scholar, explorer, and traveler who lived in the Middle Ages. He is the author of the travel account known as the Rihla of Ibn Battuta. He belonged to the Maliki school. Ibn Battuta traveled more than nearly all other famous explorers in pre-modern history, covering a total of 117,000 km and thereby surpassing Zheng He, at roughly 50,000 km, and Marco Polo, at 24,000 km.

Ibn Battuta was a wealthy Moroccan Muslim who went on the hajj to Mecca in 1325. The adventures he experienced during this journey prompted him to travel farther afield. Ibn Battuta made bold journeys to Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East, regions little known to Europeans. He traveled ceaselessly for 28 years. He visited Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, the lands of Iraq, the lands of Iran, the principal beyliks of Anatolia, Byzantine-ruled Constantinople, Central Asia, India, the Maldives, China, and al-Andalus. He wrote his famous travel account examining the state and social structures, beliefs, and customs of the societies living in these places, along with the natural beauties, monuments, and products of the different regions. He also served as a qadi in many countries.

Ibn Battuta's journey from Tangier, his birthplace, to Mecca became the subject of the documentary film Journey to Mecca, released in 2009.

Early period

Ibn Battuta was born on 24 February 1304 in the city of Tangier in Morocco, into a family of Berber origin. He studied in the Sunni Maliki school, for that was the dominant form of education in North Africa at the time.

The Hajj journey to Mecca

In 1325, at the age of 20, he decided to go on the hajj. He reached Cairo overland from the North African coast. Although he then wished to travel up the Nile, cross the Red Sea, and reach Mecca, he was forced to return to Cairo because the tribes of the upper Nile region were in revolt at the time. A holy man he met at this time prophesied that he could not reach the hajj without seeing Syria. Thereupon he set out for Damascus and spent Ramadan there. During his journey to Damascus he visited holy cities such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron. Reaching Mecca by way of Medina, he became a hajji. On his return journey, however, he decided to continue his travels.

Joining a caravan, he traveled toward the Mesopotamian frontier and visited the tomb of Ali at Najaf. From there he went to Isfahan by way of Basra. About ten years later, Isfahan would be razed by Tamerlane. He then went to Shiraz and to Baghdad, which had been sacked by Hülegü Khan. Here he met the last Ilkhanid ruler, Abu Said, and after traveling for a while with his caravan he went to Tabriz. Tabriz was the only major city in the region that had remained undestroyed, because it had not resisted the Mongol attacks but opened its gates to them. As it also lay on the Silk Road, it had become an important trade center of the region. He then returned to Mecca to become a hajji for the second time. (Staying in Mecca for a year, he prepared for his second great journey.)

Journey along the African coast

This time he traveled south along the East African coast. At his first stop, Aden, he decided to go into trade with the goods arriving on the Arabian Peninsula across the Indian Ocean and to make a fortune. However, before putting this plan into action, he decided in the spring of 1331 to embark on one last adventure. Traveling still farther south, he stayed a week each in Ethiopia, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Zanzibar, and Kilwa. With the turning of the monsoon winds, his ship returned to the Arabian Peninsula. Before settling down here, he decided to set out on one last journey and departed once again to see Oman and the Strait of Hormuz.

From Mecca to Constantinople, and from there to India

On his return he again stayed in Mecca for about a year. During this time he resolved to enter the service of the Sultan of Delhi in India. To find the interpreter he would need along the way, he decided to go to Anatolia, then under Seljuk rule. From Damascus he crossed to Alanya on a Genoese ship. From there he went by way of Konya to Sinop. Crossing the Black Sea, he reached the port of Kefe (Caffa) in Crimea. At this time Crimea lay within the lands of the Golden Horde state, and he happened to encounter the caravan of the Golden Horde Khan Öz Beg. With this caravan, which was traveling up the Volga River, he went to the city of Astrakhan. When they reached Astrakhan, the Khan permitted one of his wives, who was pregnant, to return to her homeland of Constantinople to give birth. He gave Ibn Battuta permission to accompany her on this journey.

In 1332 Ibn Battuta went to Constantinople and met with Emperor Andronikos III. He saw the Hagia Sophia from the outside. After staying in Constantinople for a month, he set out to travel to India by way of Astrakhan. In 1332, traveling around the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea, he reached Afghanistan, and from there, crossing mountain passes, he reached India.

In the Delhi Sultanate

In India, Islam had only just begun to gain acceptance. To consolidate his power, the Sultan of Delhi wished to employ as many scholars and officials as possible in his realm. He appointed Ibn Battuta as a qadi on account of the learning he had acquired in Mecca. However, the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq, was a rather unstable man even by the standards of the day. Ibn Battuta led a life sometimes in luxury and sometimes in insecurity. To escape this situation, he sought to leave Delhi on the pretext that he wished to go on the hajj again. The Sultan instead offered him the alternative of going to China as an envoy. Ibn Battuta accepted this offer at once, seizing the opportunity both to see new lands and to distance himself from the Sultan's domain.

However, he was attacked by a group of Indian rebels heading toward the coast. Ibn Battuta became separated from his companions, his money and goods were taken from him, and he faced mortal danger. Fortunately he managed to catch up with his companions within about two days. From the port of Cambay they were sent to the city of Calicut in southwestern India. Here, while Ibn Battuta was visiting a mosque, two of the expedition's ships sank in a storm that arose. The other ship put out to sea, leaving him on the shore, and a few months later this ship was seized by a king in Sumatra. Fearing to return to Delhi in failure, he stayed here for a time under the protection of his friend named Jamal al-Din. At last he set out once more for China.

To China by way of the Maldives

But first he went to the Maldive Islands. He was forced to stay here longer than he had anticipated, because his serving as a judge suited the islanders. With threats and bribes, they both compelled and persuaded him to remain on the island. His being bound to the royal family through marriage and his elevation to the highest judicial position drew him into the island's local politics. Making several harsh decisions that displeased the more liberal-minded island society compelled him to leave the Maldives. He set sail to see the sacred temple of Sri Pada on the island of Ceylon. The ship he boarded to leave Ceylon was on the verge of sinking in a storm when it was rescued by another ship, but this time it was attacked by pirates and he was left on the shore. He returned once again to Calicut. From there he went again to the Maldive Islands, and this time, boarding a Chinese ship, he finally reached his goal. By way of Chittagong, Sumatra, and Vietnam, he arrived at the city of Quanzhou in Fujian province. From there he traveled north and reached Hangzhou, near Shanghai. Although he says in his travel account that he went even farther north, all the way to Beijing, this is not found credible.

Sources

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