Ibn Batuta (c. 1304-1368), or ابن بطوطة, was an Arab scholar and judge who travelled throughout most of the known world in the early 1300s, from Spain to China, from Samarkand to Timbuktu – a sort of Arab Marco Polo, one who went 120,000 km to Polo’s “mere” 24,000 km.
Unlike Polo, he saw black Africa, visiting Kilwa and the Mali Empire. He saw more of India but less of China and almost none of the Silk Road. He saw the Black Plague and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. He saw the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans and crossed the Sahara.
He travelled from 1325 to 1354, from age 21 to 50. He wrote it all down in a book of a thousand pages called the “Rihla” (1355).
He visited the following present-day countries and cities (some dates might be a year off):
- 1325: Morocco (Tangiers), Algeria, Tunisia (Tunis)
- 1326: Egypt (Alexandria, Cairo), Israel (Jerusalem), Syria (Damascus), Jordan, Saudi Arabia (Medina, Mecca)
- 1327: Iraq (Baghdad, Najaf, Basra), Turkey, Iran (Shiraz, Tabriz)
- 1328: (studies in Mecca till 1330)
- 1329:
- 1330: Sudan, Yemen (Aden, Sana’a)
- 1331: Somalia (Mogadishu), Kenya (Mombasa), Tanzania (Kilwa), Oman
- 1332: Turkey (Ephesus, Constantinople)
- 1333: Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (Bukhoro, Samarkand), Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (Delhi)
- 1334: (works for the sultan of Delhi till 1341)
- 1335:
- 1336:
- 1337:
- 1338:
- 1339:
- 1340:
- 1341: Maldives
- 1342-45: Sri Lanka, eastern India (Calcutta), Bangladesh
- 1346: Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China (Quanzhou, Hangzhou, Beijing)
- 1347: (heading back west)
- 1348: Syria (Damascus – stricken with the Black Plague)
- 1349: Morocco
- 1350: Spain
- 1351: Morocco (Marrakesh)
- 1352-54: crosses the Sahara to Timbuktu: Algeria, Mauritania, Mali (Timbuktu, Gao), Niger
Ibn Batuta was Arab by tongue and Berber by blood, what Shakespeare would call a Moor. He grew up in Tangiers at the north-western corner of Africa. Because he studied Muslim law he could work as a judge or teacher in most places he visited, which is just what he did for nine years in India under the sultan of Delhi and again in the Maldives (islands south-west of India).
At first he set out merely to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, a religious duty for every Muslim who has the means to go. But he stayed on in Mecca and studied for three years.
Throughout the Muslim world there were places to live and study for travelling scholars like him. And the Sufi order had a network of guest houses, where he sometimes stayed.
He was not a good family man: he married at least seven women, and had children, but in the end he left them all behind. He also had children with his slave girls. One slave girl he bought in Ephesus for 40 dinars (80 crowns or $2100). She was Greek.
He grew rich under the sultan of Delhi but then in 1341 lost everything but the clothes on his back to pirates on the Malabar Coast of India.
In 1346 in China after 21 years on the road, he wanted to come home. It took him three years. When he got to Damascus in 1348 he saw the Black Plague killing thousands a day. In Cairo it was even worse. And in Tangiers it killed his mother – just six months before he got home.
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a good post again! history is one of my passions. thanks.
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I was fascinated when I first heard of Ibn Battuta which was sometime last year. I may be nitpicking but I don’t think he should be called the Arab Marco Polo, he travelled a further distance than Marco Polo as you’ve noted in the OP. Rather Marco Polo should be called the Italian Ibn Battuta. Sort of reminds me how Zheng He is called the Chinese Columbus…it always leads to a facepalm moment.
I have read a translation of Ibn Battuta’s Rihla. Luckily my university library had several copies of Rihla so I was able to compare and contrast translations. Ibn Battuta was very descriptive of the places he travelled to and I loved the attention he paid to things like ceremony, food and clothing. Reading them you get a sense of how Ibn Battuta must have been, I found his writings not only educational but amusing as well.
Also interestingly, Ibn Battuta’s records of his visit to Western Africa are the only written sources on how life was in the medeival kingdom of Mali.
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I called him an Arab Marco Polo not because I think Marco Polo is better but because Marco Polo is way better known, at least in the West. For every 100 people who run across this page, 99 will probably know who Marco Polo is but maybe like 10 to 15 will know Ibn Batuta.
(And another argument I half expect is that he was not truly Arab since he was Berber. But, again, in the present-day West the people of Morocco are commonly regarded as “Arabs” – and in any case I break it down for the truly curious later in the post.)
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I called him an Arab Marco Polo not because I think Marco Polo is better but because Marco Polo is way better known, at least in the West. For every 100 people who run across this page, 99 will probably know who Marco Polo is but maybe like 10 to 15 will know Ibn Batuta.
I understand this and I’m not blaming you at all. I just find it sad that when non-Europeans such as Zheng He and Ibn Battuta are mentioned they are linked to Europeans in a way that implicitly suggests that they were trailing behind Europeans in some way or the other. I’m sorry if I’m not making much sense. Either way I understand.
And another argument I half expect is that he was not truly Arab since he was Berber
While he definitely was Berber, from reading his writings it comes through that he did see himself as Arab. In the translation, he referred to himself and other Arabs as ‘white’. Which reminds me, once I came across an article that referred to Ibn Battuta as a ‘Western historian’…
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Interesting factoid…
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Interesting. So, what did Ibn Batuta actually write about his journeys? Marco Polo wrote some stuff that were pure fantasy, about things that never existed. Is Ibn Batuta’s book considered a more reliable historical source?
Throughout history there have been explorers in many cultures, probably some we will never even find out about.
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Ibn Batuta is trustworthy about India and points west. What he says about East Asia is more general and his geography is sometimes mixed up – so much so that some think he never went there himself.
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I think Marco Polo wrote a lot that was purely hearsay. I suppose those days source criticism was virtually an unknown concept. Thanks for the post. I probably have heard about Ibn Batuta, since I’m bit of a history buff, but with a lousy memory, LOL
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Great post abagond,
I read in an old history book (early 1900’s) that alot of travelers didnt even write since most people couldnt. I wonder how many fantastic historical accounts we are missing out on…
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While he definitely was Berber, from reading his writings it comes through that he did see himself as Arab.
The Prophet Muhammad famously said “Whoever speaks Arabic is an Arab”. Certainly there are other views of Arabs as tribe, people of an area or even race, but the idea that you could be Berber and Arab wouldn’t be contentious to most muslims.
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I hear alot of travelers maintained themselves was very interesting, buying and trading in different cities and using the values of goods in country x to get other goods in country y.
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@bingregory: well, the berbers do not consider themselves as arabs even today (however, they consider themselves as algerians in many cases), let alone in those days, even though they speak arabic.
Muhammeds reasoning was pure powerplay. Since all muslims have to learn arabic in order to read koran, they became arabs. Get it? But we do not think that the various black african muslims are arabs, nor we think that the east asian muslims are arabs, even though Muhammed makes this claim. Right?
Muhammed was trying to unify as many tribes and people under his new religions banner as possible, just like any other leader in those days. That is all.
Arabs are distinct cultural dentity, a bit like say, americans or europeans, or chinese. In all of these there are various sub-cultures and even languages but the tag compasses all of them. So when you say arab, you get the meaning.
I once had an interesting conversation with an arab nationalist and he had very clear ideas about who are arabs and who are not. Blacks were definetly excluded, as were so called white europeans, jews, asians etc. In his mind arabs were a clearly separate group and had a clear identity, almost to the point of racist purity.
Also, it is good to remember that not all arabs are muslims. There are christian arabs also and have been since the beginning of that religion, so things are not that simple. Also now a days many arabs identify to their national state in many cases more than somekind of pan-arabic system. Algerians do not see moroccans as their brothers nor the jordanians or syrians take iraki refugees among themselves as fellow arabs juts like that.
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My point was not to deny anyone their berberness but simply to point out the possibility of dual identity.
Regardless of whether or not you think Muhammad was hatching plans for world domination during his career spent between two towns in a remote corner of the world, he yet remains a fairly important source of authority in the Muslim world, sufficient to make his opinions on Arab identity germane here.
Muhammad makes no claim about East Asian muslims (or anyone else in particular for that matter), and I know of noone who is confused about this point here in Malaysia where I am typing this. They are not covered by the inclusive definition Muhammad set out because they are not Arabic speakers. Black Africans on the other hand, may or may not be. Somalia, Mauritania and Sudan are all in the Arab League, for example.
It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that there are Arab nationalists with a very restrictive view of who an Arab is. White supremacists have a pretty short list of who gets to call themselves white, too.
Arabness, like any other social identity, can be contested and its definition broadened or restricted. I was merely pointing out that there are reasonable foundations for a more liberal construction of the term, by which Ibn Battuta could be both Berber and Arab. Again, I’m not seeing the contentiousness of the issue. My children here in Malaysia are routinely called Englishmen. I’m American. But all that is meant by the Malaysians who call them that is that they are native English speakers. So in that sense they are correct.
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This blog only promotes hatred and division. It offers no real solutions to any of the issues that supposedly plague blacks in America.
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Well, Sam you’re mostly wrong. I’m an arabic speaking Algerian of chawi extraction , and the majority of Algerians
1) speak arabic ,
2) identify as Arabs.
What you’re refering to is kabyle separatism, itself a result of French colonial and post colonial policy AKA”divide and conquer”.
Back in the middle ages and until the arrival of European imperialism, north african muslims identified as arabs, it’s French colonialism that created most of the identity issues.
I suggest you read the writings of Frantz Fanon to understand the Algerian and north african situation.
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i had to read/ translate about him in my arabic class.
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Al-Maqdisi [tenth century] wrote,“… As for the Zanji, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence.”
Ibn Khaldun(A MOOR)(d. 1406CE) added that blacks are “only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings.”
Ibn Hazam(A MOOR)(eleventh century) Wrote. “Negroes in africa neither have books, nor sciences or histories”
Berbers=Moors and there is NO DOUBT ABOUT IT
The Berbers belong to a powerful, formidable, and numerous people; a true people like so many others, the world has seen – like the Arabs, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans.– Ibn Khaldun(A MOOR), 14th century scholar
The only people who accept slavery are the Negroes, owing to their low degree of humanity and proximity to the animal stage. Other persons who accept the status of slave do so as a means of attaining high rank, or power, or wealth, as is the case with the Mameluke Turks in the East and with those Franks and Galicians who enter the service of the state [in Spain]-Ibn Khaldun(A MOOR), 14th century scholar
signed,
Reality
P.S.
I’m calling
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I stumbled across this thread by accident because i wanted to know what the strange name and Arabic script next to it was. Ibn Battuta. I have viewed several You Tubes and i am perusing several of my referce books on my bookshelf. He is an interesting historical figure. I viewed on of the You Tubes and it said he was a lawyer. At the age of 22 years of age he took off for a journey to Mecca. Many in the Western world never heard of his journey because it was within the Islamic world. In 1325 he starts his journey from Tangiers, Morocco. He risks his life to be one of the greatest travelers of all time. The language spoken in this part of the world is Arabic. Ibn Battuta’s journey took him 75,000 miles around the globe. He was married 10 times and had concubines in addition to that. The book of his journeys is call Rihlah.
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A quote from him after spending eight comfortable months at Malian capital of Niani before returning home via Timbuktu,Gao, Takedda(Azelik) and Tuat. At first highly critical of what he saw as the Malinke’s dull diet of pounded millet, honey, and milk, Ibn Battutua soon warmed to them for their hospitality and love of justice. Of the latter he wrote: “The negroes possess some admirable qualities. They are seldom unjust and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. Their sultan (the mansa) shows no mercy to any one guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence.” Taken from my Reference book History of Africa By Kevin Shillington.
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Ibn Battuta wrote that the Mandingo were seldom unjust and that they had a greater dislike of injustice than any other people. In his words, there was complete security in their country, and neither traveler nor inhabitant had anything to fear.” Taken from my personal reference book Encyclopedia of Pre Colonial Africa. From the Chapter Prehistory of Africa.
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Some people call him this writer the Arab Marco Polo Because he wrote about so many places. Born in Tangiers, Morocco he spent almost three decades from 1325-1354 covering more than 75,000 miles. Like Marco Polo, he visited China and was well received. He also visited all the Muslim countries, writing about Mecca (in present day Saudi Arabia) Persia (now called Iran) Mesopotamia(Iraq) , Asia Minor, Bokhara (In present day) Uzbekistan), southern Spain, and the North African city of Timbuktu, as well as India and Sumatra. He then settled in Fez, Morocco, and dictated the story of his journeys’ his book, Rihlah, is a memoir of cultural, social, and political observations. Taken from my Reference Book World History For Dummies: Chapter 21 Explorers and Discovers: Places to Go, People to See
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One of my favorite historical figures. Thanks for putting together a chronology. I read the Rihla in translation several years ago, and I loved the translation by Said Hamdun of his travels in West Africa and the Swahili Coast (Ibn Battuta in Black Africa).
His statements in West Africa, visiting the Mali Empire in the 1300s, are full of praise for their orderly laws, system of justice, and government’s protection of foreigners and traders. Unfortunately, there are certainly ethnocentric statements about the ‘lax’ Islam he saw in parts of the Mali empire, and he asserts a non-European tradition of ‘whiteness’ as he complained about how miserly some people were in Mali when it came to foreigners like him. He was also not impressed by the court rituals of the Malian emperor, who was Suleiman or something like that, a nephew of the famous Mansa Musa (If I remember correctly).
On the Swahili Coast, Ibn Battuta was full of praise of the beautiful mosques! He also described people on the Swahili Coast who had ‘black skin’ and facial tattoos or practiced scarification, pointing to common traits with hinterland societies of East Africa.
When I was reading translations of his travels around other parts of the world, it was amusing but disturbing how often he got married and how comfortable he was taking and selling slaves…Some scholars dispute his claims about visiting China, however.
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Reblogged this on Project ENGAGE.
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