Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Lawati ibn Battuta, or "ibn Battuta" for short, (1304-1368?) was a Muslim legal scholar and traveler of the fourteenth century.
Let me start by saying that we just don't know very many details about his personal history. Born and raised in Morocco, ibn Battuta set off on the hajj to Mecca in 1325 and did not come back for a very long time. His journeys included trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa and Eastern Europe in the west, and to the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and even China in the east. Although some scholars doubt whether he actually made it to all of these places, that is still an impressive list of travels for the fourteenth century, and it indicates that long-distance travel was still going on at that time.
When Battuta did finally return home, he dictated an account of his travels, the Rihla (travels, or journey, or quest). Though possibly fictional in places, or inclusive of materials from other travel accounts, the Rihla, which scholar Ross Dunn has loosely translated and adapted as The Adventures of Ibn Battuta, (2004) remains an important account and one of the most important historical sources about the nature and scope of Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam) in the fourteenth century. In this course, we focus on Battuta's travels to the kingdom of Mali in western Africa.
Some recommended online resources
- Ibn Battuta (The Wikipedia entry is solid.)
- One Man's Odyssey (a Time graphic of the travels)
- The Travels of Ibn Battuta
- A Tangerine in Delhi — Saudi Aramco World article by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (March/April 2006).
- The Longest Hajj: The Journeys of Ibn Battuta — Saudi Aramco World article by Douglas Bullis (July/August 2000).
- Ibn Battuta (Images and explanation by the editors of Muslim Heritage)
- Ibn Battuta Mall (thought that this was interesting)
- Reza Aslan, World Wanderer
- The journey of ibn Battuta (YouTube video)
- Following in the footsteps of Ibn Battuta - Episode 1 (YouTube video)
- Khan Academy Ibn Battuta, Muslim Traveling Judge
- Map of the Muslim World about 1300
- Ibn Battuta: The Greatest Traveler in the Middle Ages
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant website for this unit of the course. Send the title of the site, the URL and a brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to the material being studied in this unit.