Ibn Battuta: The Explorer
For one reason or another, from leaders of nations to military generals, scholars, religious figures, and even explorers, many from the West may first think of famous explorers like Marco Polo or Christopher Columbus. But Europe wasn’t the only continent to produce such renowned adventurers. One particularly prominent explorer from outside the West was Ibn Battuta.
Ibn Battuta was a man of Berber descent, born in Tangier under the reign of the Marinid dynasty in February of 1304. His family was made up of Islamic legal scholars who belonged to the Lowata Berber tribe. Ibn Battuta himself would likely have studied at a Sunni Maliki school and was offered a job as a religious judge. However, he soon realized that his heart yearned for much more.
At the age of 21, our protagonist decided to leave his typical life in Morocco and set off for a pilgrimage to Mecca. This trip would usually take roughly 16 months to complete, but Ibn Battuta would not return to his hometown for 24 years. He set out alone, having neither fellow travelers whose companionship he might find cheer in, nor a caravan to join. Swayed by an overmastering impulse and a long-cherished desire to visit these illustrious sanctuaries, he braced himself to part from his dear ones and forsook his home as birds forsake their nests. His parents, still living, were deeply afflicted by this separation.
As he describes in his own words, Ibn Battuta began his journey entirely solo. During this time, he first traveled by land across the North African coast, passing through Tlemcen, Béjaïa, and Tunis. Here in Tunis, he stopped for a couple of months before continuing on his voyage. He eventually arrived at the port of Alexandria in the spring of 1326, where he met two notable men who would further fuel his desire for travel. One of these men, Sheikh Morshidi, is said to have interpreted the meaning of one of Ibn Battuta’s dreams, confirming that he was meant to be a world traveler. The other, Sheikh Buru Nadine, was believed to have predicted Ibn Battuta’s destiny as a world traveler, even advising him to visit his brothers in India, Sindh, and China.
Ibn Battuta explored around Alexandria and then headed off to Cairo, where he remained for a month. At some point, he met a man who warned him that he would only be able to reach Mecca if he traveled through Syria. Upon leaving Cairo, the capital of the Mamluk Sultanate, Ibn Battuta continued his adventure, initially staying within Mamluk territories. He traveled up the Nile Valley and eventually to the port of Aydhab. However, he was forced to turn back to Cairo after encountering a local revolt.
Recalling the message from the mysterious man he met in Cairo, Ibn Battuta headed to Damascus, stopping in Hebron, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem along the way. Once in Damascus, he decided to stay for the entirety of Ramadan before moving on to Medina, another important Islamic site. Four days later, Ibn Battuta finally made his way to Mecca. With the long-awaited completion of his first pilgrimage, Ibn Battuta was honored with a significant title.
Having achieved his first major goal, many believed he would now return home to Morocco. However, Ibn Battuta chose to continue his journey. As 1326 neared its end, he joined a caravan of fellow pilgrims on a trip elsewhere. They first passed through Najaf, where Ibn Battuta visited the mausoleum of Ali. From there, he parted ways with the caravan and traveled to Baghdad, eventually making his way to Wasit, then along the Tigris River to Basra, and into Iran. He stopped in Isfahan, reached Shiraz, and eventually arrived in Baghdad in the early summer of 1327.
In Baghdad, Ibn Battuta encountered Abu Saeed, the final Mongol leader of the unified Ilkhanate, who was fleeing north. Ibn Battuta decided to accompany him on his journey, an opportunity he could not pass up. At some point, he parted from the royal retinue and journeyed along the Silk Road until he reached Tabriz. He then became the guest of another prominent figure when he traveled to Mosul and was invited to meet with the Ilkhanate governor. From there, he visited Caesarea, Mardin, and Sinjar before heading back to Mosul to join another caravan of pilgrims.
The timeline of the next leg of his journey is slightly disputed, but Ibn Battuta eventually made his way back to Mecca in 1327, likely staying until either 1328 or 1330. Over the next year, he found himself at the port of Jeddah, from which he journeyed along the Red Sea coast to Yemen. He explored important cities in Yemen and met the Mujahid Nur al-Din Ali, the ruler of the Rasulid dynasty. After this, Ibn Battuta likely arrived in either Sana’a or Aden, then took a ship from Aden to Zila. After a week there, he moved on to Cape Guardafui, where he stayed for an additional seven days.
By 1332, he arrived in Mogadishu, stayed for a bit, and then voyaged to Mombasa and the Swahili coast. He traveled to Kilwa, back to Oman, followed by the Strait of Hormuz, and then returned to Mecca. Despite having traveled more than many ever would in their entire lives, Ibn Battuta was still far from done.
His next adventure took him across the Red Sea and up the Nile Valley toward Cairo again. From there, he journeyed to Palestine and eventually to the port of Latakia. He then went by ship to Alanya, traveled by land to Agridir, where he spent that year’s Ramadan. After Ramadan, there is a period of Ibn Battuta’s travels that is tricky to understand and possibly told out of order, but according to him, he left Agridir for Milas, then made his way to Konya, eventually ending up in Erzurum and finally in Bergama.
This segment of his journey seems jumbled and out of order, but it is the path Ibn Battuta described. Over the next leg of his journey, he visited İznik, Bursa, the Beylik of Adin, Ephesus, İzmir, and Balıkesir. Finally departing from Anatolia through Sinop, he traveled by sea to the Golden Horde and eventually to the port of Azov. From Azov, he made his way to Majar, Mount Beshtau, Bogatyr, and eventually Astrakhan.
He then convinced Özbek Khan, with whom he had been traveling, to allow him to accompany Princess Byalun Khan’s pregnant wife back to Constantinople, where she would give birth. Upon arrival in Constantinople, Ibn Battuta met Emperor Andronicus III of Byzantium before visiting the Hagia Sophia and choosing to stay in the city for a full month.
Once he was ready to leave Constantinople, Ibn Battuta set his sights on Sarai al-Jadid, followed by Bukhara and Samarkand, where he met another Mongol ruler. He then headed off to Afghanistan and, on his way to India, arrived in Delhi. There, he met the remarkably wealthy Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq, who quickly took a liking to Ibn Battuta. The seasoned explorer was given the job of Qadi, essentially a judge in Delhi.
Although this was a great honor, it was difficult for Ibn Battuta to enforce Islamic law due to the general opinion of it in India outside of Delhi. Nonetheless, he continued his journey into the rest of India. While in India, Ibn Battuta was kidnapped by a group of Hindu rebels and robbed. Fortunately, he was eventually freed and continued his travels. He visited modern-day Pakistan, including the shrine of Baba Farid and then Hansi and Sindh.
After completing his exploration of India, Ibn Battuta wanted to embark on another pilgrimage to Mecca. However, the Sultan of Delhi had other plans for his new judge. It wasn’t until 1341 that Ibn Battuta would be allowed to leave, only because he was tasked with joining a Chinese embassy that hoped to rebuild a Himalayan Buddhist temple. While traveling with the embassy, he was once again kidnapped and robbed, becoming separated from his fellow travelers. Nevertheless, he rejoined them less than two weeks later and they proceeded to Calcutta, where he became the guest of a local monarch.
Once ready to leave Calcutta, Ibn Battuta faced more bad luck. One of the ships he and his group had taken was destroyed by a storm, and the other was taken by some of his companions without him on board. Determined not to return to Delhi, Ibn Battuta was essentially stuck in southern India as he sought protection from the Sultan of Nawahit. When the sultan and his sultanate ultimately collapsed, the traveler had to leave India altogether. He eventually found himself on the Maldives Islands for the next nine months, convinced by local leadership to become their chief judge. His later resignation was likely due to growing political tensions caused by his actions as chief judge in the newly Islamic realm.
He soon left the Maldives and reached Sri Lanka, where circumstances were again unfavorable as his own ship was nearly destroyed and another vessel trying to rescue him was overcome by pirates. Despite all this, Ibn Battuta was still hoping to reach China as he had originally planned. However, he had to take some detours, first to the Madurai Kingdom, then to the Maldives, and finally to the port of Chittagong. He subsequently made his way to Sylhet, where he became the guest of Shah Jalal in 1345.
From there, his journey continued to the Samudra Pasai Sultanate and then Malacca, where he met the local ruler. Three days later, he departed for Kei Lukari and finally landed in China, arriving in Guangzhou in 1345. Ibn Battuta was given a theatrical welcome by the native Muslim merchants and enjoyed his stay by exploring the town and even visiting the Mount of the Hermit.
After wrapping up his trip in Guangzhou, Ibn Battuta continued his voyage through China, reaching Hangzhou, which he noted was one of the largest cities he had ever stepped foot in. After attending a banquet for a nearby Yuan Mongol leader, he arrived in Beijing, where he styled himself as the long-lost ambassador from Delhi, earning him more invitations from local authorities. He then backtracked to Guangzhou and left for Southeast Asia and his return home at long last to Morocco.
It was now 1346 and Ibn Battuta was homebound. He arrived in Damascus on his way back to Morocco in 1348, but was forced to pause due to the rapidly spreading Black Death. Once he was able to travel again, he went back to Damascus, then to Gaza, and next to Abusir before returning once again to Mecca for a pilgrimage. He then went to Sardinia and finally entered his hometown in Morocco in 1349.
Upon his arrival back in Tangier, Ibn Battuta learned that his mother had passed away only a few months prior and his father had actually died 15 years before. Although understandably saddened by the news, Ibn Battuta no longer had anything tying him down to Morocco. A few days after his homecoming, he left for a second time, making his way to the Iberian Peninsula, where he arrived in Al-Andalus with the intention of joining a group of other Muslims who hoped to defend the port of Gibraltar after King Alfonso XI of Castile and León had threatened to attack it. By the time he arrived, Alfonso had died, and there was no longer a need to defend Gibraltar.
Instead, Ibn Battuta continued traveling, going next to Valencia and Granada. The eager explorer then returned to Morocco for some local adventures, stopping next in Marrakesh and Fez before leaving for Sijilmasa in 1351, where he stayed for a few months. At the start of 1352, Ibn Battuta’s next destination was Taghaza. After a short stay there, he left for Tazarine, where he and his accompanying caravan had water sent from Oualata to meet them. After reaching Oualata, the group moved on.
He then journeyed through the Mali Empire, arriving in and departing from Gao before heading next to Takeda. Ibn Battuta received a message from the Sultan of Morocco demanding that he return to his hometown. The now-famous traveler agreed to do so and arrived back in Morocco in 1354. He then went on to write a travelogue about his entire life so far, providing marvelously detailed accounts of all that he had experienced throughout his travels across the globe.
It is thanks to his own work, the Rihla, that we now know the fascinating and vastly impressive life and legacy of Ibn Battuta, who died in 1369 and remains one of the most remarkable, though perhaps sadly underrated, explorers to ever walk, sail, and ride around the Earth.
