Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan scholar and explorer who lived 1304-1368 or 1377 AD. A native of Tangiers, Morocco, between 1325 and 1354 he traveled much of the Islamic world recording his trips in Rihla or "Journey." Taking advantage of the respect shown to scholars throughout the Islamic world, and the network of scholar-teacher relationships, he was received with honour in all places he visited and accepted as a judge - from Mali in his native Africa as far a-field as Sumatra, China and Central Asia.

Battuta covered more miles than the better-known Marco Polo, an estimated 75,000 miles (120,000 km), although Polo went far beyond the borders of his religious roots. Where Polo used the Pax Monglica and the friendship of the Great Khan as his passport, Ibn Battuta used the ubiquity of his faith.

See also[edit]

• Marco Polo

Reference: "The Times Atlas of the Islamic World".