In 1325 the twenty-one-year-old Ibn Battuta left Tangier on what was supposed to be the hajj; he did not return for twenty-nine years. Along the way he visited the Mali empire, Constantinople, the Maldives, India (where he served as a judge under Muhammad bin Tughluq), Sumatra, and the Yuan dynasty Chinese coast. His dictated travel account — the Rihla, set down by the Granadan secretary Ibn Juzayy — is the most extensive surviving travel narrative of the medieval world.
Recurring themes
the medieval travel narrative
the Dar al-Islam at its widest extent
the judge as observer
the Maghrebi abroad
Selected works
- 1355The Rihla