8/17/2019 Who Was Ibn Battuta

1/2

Who was Ibn Battuta?The Man

[1] Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta was born in 1304 in

Morocco’s northern port of Tanier! "ise be#ond his #ears$ at an earl# ae he shortened his

name to Ibn Battuta$ thereb# ma%in sure that he would not be remembered in histor# as &Abu

"hat’s'(is')ame$ the *reatest Tra+eller "ho ,+er Li+ed’!

[2] But ma%e no mista%e$ Ibn Battuta was indeed the reatest tra+eler to e+er wal% the earth! In

an era when +er# few people had the mone#$ the time or the courae for curiosit# and to tra+el

o- the map’s ede$ Ibn Battuta set out to complete Islam’s traditional pilrimae to Mecca$ and

.nall# spent most of his life wanderin the world!

The Journey

[3] In nearl# 30 #ears’ tra+ellin$ Ibn Battuta crossed )orth Africa$ ,#pt and the /wahili coast!

Before he reached Mecca on the Arabian eninsula$ he had passed throuh the Le+ant countries

(e tra+elled throuh Anatolia and ersia to Afhanistan and crossed the (imala#as to India$ then

on to /ri Lan%a and the Maldi+es! Ibn Battuta had reached as far as the eastern coast of hina

before turnin around and 2i2ain all the wa# bac% to Morocco!

[4] Ibn Battuta was a trained adi$ or jude$ but he was also pro.cient in eoraph#$ botan# andIslamic theolo#$ and he possessed a social scientist’s capacit# to obser+e e+er#thin around

him! (owe+er$ the primar# reason Ibn Battuta li+es on toda# is because of his writin!

The Story

  Althouh his prose ma# not ha+e been the most ecitin$ Ibn Battuta established the art of

tra+el writin! 5urin his journe#$ he recorded copious obser+ations$ notes and lessons! This

enormous collection of writin was preser+ed b# a #oun scribe who$ at the reuest of the /ultan

of Morocco$ had spent man# months transcribin Ibn Battuta’s stor#$ which resulted in 6al'7ihla’

or The Tra+els’!

Answer the followin !uestions

a In which town was Ibn Battuta born8

9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

9999999999999999999999

b "h# did he ma%e his.rst journe#8

9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

9999999999999999999999

" :or how man# #ears did he tra+el8

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

# "hat was the .nal countr# he reached before returnin home8

9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

9999999999999999999999

e "h# is Ibn Battuta remembered toda#8

9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

9999999999999999999999

8/17/2019 Who Was Ibn Battuta

2/2