Famous Explorer Ibn Battuta
Wikimedia CommonsIbn Battuta.
Ibn Battuta was perhaps the most famous and accomplished medieval Muslim traveler in history. He was born in 1304 in Morocco to a family of legal scholars.
Everything that is known about Battuta’s early life is derived from his autobiographical accounts of his travels. The first journey he embarked on was the the Islamic pilgrimage to the sacred city of Mecca in modern-day Saudi Arabia, known as the Hajj.
His original intention for the journey was to fulfill his religious duty as a Muslim which dictates that all Muslims must embark on the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
Wikimedia CommonsA map of Ibn Battuta’s travels.
Battuta began the 16-month pilgrimage from his hometown of Tangiers in Morocco in 1325 when he was 21-years-old. While on his pilgrimage, Battuta fell in love with traveling and decided to continue exploring the world after his Mecca hajj was completed. He gave himself a rule on that pilgrimage from that point forward: “never to travel any road a second time.”
He would continue to travel throughout the African and Asian continents for the next 24 years. Battuta chronicled his various journeys that took him everywhere from China, to Kenya, to Spain, in his book Rihlah, which has since become one of the most important travel books ever written.
Battuta completed his book and travels in 1355, and after its publication little is known about how he spent the rest of his life. It’s likely that he retired from traveling and became a judge, but where he lived and worked is unknown.
Despite Battuta’s relative disappearance from the world, his book is still a great reference that gives insight into what the world looked like in the 14th century.
