How Ibn Battuta discovered the world in detail.

Throughout history, many people, for one reason or another, have left their mark on the world.

From sultans and military strategists to scientists, religious figures and adventurers, this collection brings to mind the illustrious names of explorers celebrated in Western novels, including Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and others.

But Europe was not the only continent that spawned such famous adventurers.

One particularly notable explorer is Ibn Battuta...

Who is Iban Battuta and how his adventures began.

Ibn Battuta was a man of Amazigh origin born in Tangier during the Marinid dynasty in February 1304.

His family consists of scholars of Islamic law who belong to the Berber tribe of Lawata.

Ibn Battuta himself may have studied at a Sunni Maliki school and been offered a job as a Sharia judge, but he soon realized that his heart longed for much more...

At the age of 21, the protagonist decides that he will leave his model life in Morocco and set off for the Hajj in Mecca.

This journey usually takes about 16 months, but Ibn Battuta will not return to his hometown for 24 years...

"I set out alone, with no travelling companion with whom I might find joy, no caravan to join, but I was influenced by an overwhelming motivation within me and a long-cherished desire to visit these illustrious sanctuaries. I resolved to leave my loved ones, both female and male, and abandoned my home like birds leave their nests. My parents were alive, their separation weighed on me, and both of them hurt us and I was saddened by this separation..."

As he describes in his own words, Ibn Battuta began his journey entirely alone, travelling for the first time by land across the North African coast, passing through Tlemcen, Bejaia and Tunisia.

Beyond Baghdad: From the City of Peace to the Ends of the World

Once in Baghdad, the traveler met someone important Ja.

Abu Said, the last Mongol leader in the unified khanate, was fleeing to the north when Ibn Battuta came across him and decided to accompany him on his journey—a show he could not miss. But at some point along the way, as he had done with the previous caravan, Ibn Battuta broke away from the royal entourage and traveled along the Silk Road until he reached Tabriz.

He soon became a guest of another prominent figure, this time when he traveled to Mosul, where he was invited to meet with the governor of the khanate. From there, Ibn Battuta left for Jazira, Mardin, then Sinjar, before heading back to Mosul to rejoin another convoy of pilgrims. The timeline for the next phase of his journey is somewhat disputed, but Ibn Battuta eventually returned to Mecca in 1327 and likely remained until 1328 or 1330.

Over the next year or so, he found himself in the port of Jeddah from which he traveled along the Red Sea coast until he set foot in Yemen, then explored some of its important cities, and even met the mujahid Nur al-Din Ali, the ruler of the Rasulid state. Afterwards, Ibn Battuta probably arrived either in Sana'a or Aden, and then boarded a ship from Aden to Zaila. A week later, he moved to Cape Gardavoy, where he stayed for an additional 7 days.

By 1332, he had arrived in Mogadishu where he stayed for a while before travelling to Mombasa and the coastal coast. He then travelled to Killua, then returned to Oman and then the Strait of Hormuz, and then returned again to Mecca.

As if he had already traveled more than at any time in his entire life, Ibn Battuta is still far from the end

Trip to Byzantium

By the end of 1332, Egirdır left for Milas, then made his way to Konya, eventually ending up in Erzurum, and finally to Birgi. Finally, Ibn Battuta left Anatolia via Sinop, going by sea to the Golden Horde and eventually to the port of Azov.

From Azov, he made his way to Magar, Mount Peshtaw, Bulgar, and finally Astrakhan. He then somehow persuaded Oz Bek Khan, who was with him at the time, to let him accompany Princess Bayalon, Khan's pregnant wife, back to Constantinople where she would give birth. Upon their arrival, Ibn Battuta was able to meet Byzantium Emperor Andronicus III before visiting Hagia Sophia and choosing to stay in the city for a whole month.

In Wonderland: Exploring India

Once ready to leave Constantinople, Ibn Battuta set his sights on the new Sarai, followed by Bukhara and Samarkand, where he would meet another Mughal governor in the latter before now heading to Afghanistan on his way to India.

Delhi will hold his first significant Indian adventure when he meets the remarkably wealthy Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad ibn Tughluk. Ibn Battuta was soon admired by the sultan, and the veteran explorer was given the job of judge in Delhi, essentially a judge.

While this was a great honour, it was somewhat difficult for Ibn Battuta to do much from his position. Eventually, the adventurer will nevertheless continue his journey to the rest of India.

At some point while in India, Ibn Battuta was kidnapped by a group of insurgents and robbed. Eventually, he was released to return to his travels, at which point he made his way to modern Pakistan, where he visited the mausoleum of Baba Farid and then found his way to Hansi and Sindh.

After exploring India, the traveler wanted to leave for the hajj again in Mecca, but the Sultan of Delhi had other plans for his new judge.

To the Middle Kingdom: An Epic Journey to China

Ibn Battuta was not allowed to leave until 1341, only because he was commissioned to join a Chinese embassy that hoped to rebuild a Buddhist temple in the Himalayas.

While traveling with the embassy, he was kidnapped and robbed again, and is now separated from fellow travelers.

However, the experienced adventurer will catch up with the others in less than two weeks, from there they will make their way to Khambhat and then Calicut, where he again becomes a guest of a local king.

Once he was ready to leave Calicut, Ibn Battuta faced even more bad luck, as a storm destroyed one of the ships he and his group boarded to reach the city, while some of his comrades captured the other without being on board.

At this point, he was determined not to return to Delhi, although he was mainly stuck in South India while seeking the protection of the contemporary sultan of Nawayath.

But when the sultan and his sultanate eventually collapsed completely, the traveler now had to leave India altogether, eventually finding himself in the Maldives for 9 months after the local leadership persuaded him to become chief justice.

He soon left the islands to reach Sri Lanka, where circumstances were again unfavorable, as his ship almost sank completely, and pirates overcame another ship trying to rescue him. Through all this, Ibn Battuta still hoped to reach China, as originally planned when he was released by the Sultan of Delhi, but then had to take some remittances, first to the Madurai Kingdom, then back to the Maldives, and finally the port of Chittagong.

He then made his way to Sylhet, where he was a guest of Shahjalal in 1345. From there, the journey continued to the Sultanate of Samudra Pasay and then Malacca where he met the local ruler.

Three days later, he left and finally arrived in China.

Upon his arrival in Quanzhou in 1345, Ibn Battuta was theatrically welcomed by local Muslim merchants, and enjoyed his stay by exploring the city and even visiting Mount Hermit.

After concluding his journey in Quanzhou, Ibn Battuta continued his journey through China, and has now arrived in Guangzhou, where he stayed for two weeks before moving to Fuzhou, where he met a new friend and travel companion, whose human name was he, whom he had joined on a visit to Hangzhou, which Ibn Battuta referred to as one of the largest cities he had set foot on.

After attending a banquet for a nearby Mongolian yuan leader, Ibn Battuta finally arrived in Beijing, where he proclaimed himself a long-lost ambassador from Delhi, earning him back more invitations from local authorities.

He then retreated until he reached Quanzhou again, and now left for Southeast Asia, returning home, at long last, to Morocco...

Back to the roots: Ibn Battuta's journey home

It was now 1346, and Ibn Battuta was returning home. He arrived in Damascus on his way back to Morocco in 1348, then set off for Homs, where he had to stop because the Black Death spread rapidly all around him.

Once he was able to travel again, he returned to Damascus, then to Gaza, and next to Abu Sir, before returning again to Mecca for the pilgrimage, then to Sardinia, and finally, entering his hometown of Morocco in 1349.

Upon his return to Tangier, Ibn Battuta learned that his mother had died only a few months earlier, and that his father had already died 15 years earlier.

Despite his understandable sadness at the news, Ibn Battuta no longer had anything to connect him to Morocco, and just a few days after returning home, he left for the second time.

Across New Frontiers: Second Departure from Home

Now he made his way to the Iberian Peninsula, where he arrived in Andalusia 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 Leon publicly threatened to attack him.

Alfonso had died upon their arrival and there was no longer a need to defend Gibraltar. Instead, Ibn Battuta continued to travel simply, heading to Valencia and Granada.

The avid explorer then returned to Morocco for some local adventures, stopping in Marrakesh and Fez before leaving for Sijilmassa in 1351, where he stayed for a few months.

At the beginning of 1352, Ibn Battuta's next destination was Taghaza. After a short stay there, he left for Tsarhale, where water was sent to him and his caravan from Walata.

After they reached Walata themselves, the group moved elsewhere.

The world through his eyes: the "journey" (journey)

However, he then traveled through the Mali Empire. After arriving in Gao and leaving, heading next to Takeda, Ibn Battuta received a letter from the Sultan of Morocco asking him to return to his hometown.

The now-famous traveler agreed to do so and returned to Morocco in 1354, and later wrote a journey account of his entire life to date, providing fascinating detailed accounts of everything he experienced during his travels around the world.