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IBN BATUTA
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See also:IBN BATUTA , i.e. See also:ABU ABDULLAH MAHOMMED, surnamed IBN BATUTA (1304-1378), the greatest of Moslem travellers, was See also:born at See also:Tangier in 1304. He entered on his travels at twenty-one (1325) and closed them in 1355. He began by traversing the See also:coast of the Mediterranean from Tangier to See also:Alexandria, finding See also:time to marry two wives on the road. After some stay at See also:Cairo, then probably the greatest See also:city in the See also:world (excluding See also:China), and an unsuccessful See also:attempt to reach See also:Mecca from Aidhab on the See also:west coast of the Red See also:Sea, he visited See also:Palestine, See also:Aleppo and See also:Damascus. He then made the See also:pilgrimage to Mecca and See also:Medina, and visited the See also:shrine of See also:Ali at Mashhad-Ali, travelling thence to See also:Basra, and across the mountains of Khuzistan to See also:Isfahan, thence to See also:Shiraz and back to See also:Kufa and See also:Bagdad. After an excursion to See also:Mosul and Diarbekr, he made the haj a second time, staying at Mecca three years. He next sailed down the Red Sea to See also:Aden (then a See also:place of See also:great See also:trade), the singular position of which he describes, noticing its dependence for See also:water-See also:supply upon the great cisterns restored in See also:modern times. He continued his voyage down the See also:African coast, visiting, among other places, See also:Mombasa and Quiloa (See also:Kilwa). Returning See also:north he passed by the See also:chief cities of See also:Oman to New Ormuz (Hurmuz), which had about 15 years before, c. 1315, been transferred to its famous See also:island-site from the mainland (Old Ormuz). After visiting other parts of the gulf he crossed the breadth of See also:Arabia to Mecca, making the haj for the third time. See also:Crossing the Red Sea, he made a See also:journey of great hardship to Syene, and thence along the See also:Nile to Cairo. After this, travelling through See also:Syria, he made a See also:circuit among the See also:petty See also:Turkish states into which See also:Asia See also:Minor was divided after the fall of the See also:kingdom of See also:Rum (See also:Iconium). He now crossed the See also:Black Sea to See also:Kaffa, then mainly occupied by the Genoese, and apparently the first See also:Christian city he had seen, for he was much perturbed by the See also:bell-ringing. He next travelled into Kipchak (the Mongol khanate of See also:Russia), and joined the See also:camp of the reigning See also:khan Mahon-lined Uzbeg, from whom the great and heterogeneous Uzbeg See also:race is perhaps named. Among other places in this See also:empire he travelled to Bolghar (540 54' N.) in See also:order to See also:witness the shortness of the summer See also:night, and desired to continue his travels north into the " See also:band of Darkness " (in the extreme north of Russia), of which wondetful things were told, but was obliged to forego this. Returning to the khan's camp he joined the cortege of one of the Khatuns, who was a See also:Greek princess by See also:birth (probably illegitimate) and in her See also:train travelled to See also:Constantinople, where he had an interview with the See also:emperor Andronikos III. the Younger (1328-1341). He tells how, as he passed the city See also:gates, he heard the See also:guards muttering Sarakinu. Returning to the See also:court of Uzbeg, at Sarai on the See also:Volga, he crossed the See also:steppes to Khwarizm and See also:Bokhara; thence through See also:Khorasan and See also:Kabul, See also:awl over the See also:Hindu Kush (to which he gives that name, its first occurrence). He reached the See also:Indus, on his own statement, in See also:September, 1333. This closes the first See also:part of his narrative. From See also:Sind, which he traversed to the sea and back again, he proceeded to See also:Multan, and eventually, on the invitation of Mahommed Tughlak, the reigning See also:sovereign,to See also:Delhi. Mahommed was a singular See also:character, full of pretence at least to many accomplishments and virtues, the founder of public charities, and a profuse See also:patron of scholars, but a See also:parricide, a fratricide, and as madly capricious, bloodthirsty and unjust as Caligula. " No See also:day did his See also:palace See also:gate fail to witness the See also:elevation of some abject to affluence and the See also:torture and See also:murder of some living soul." He appointed the traveller to be kazi of Delhi, with a See also:present of 12,000 See also:silver dinars (rupees), and an See also:annual See also:salary of the same amount, besides an See also:assignment of See also:village lands. In the See also:sultan's service Ibn Batuta remained eight years; but his See also:good See also:fortune stimulated his natural extravagance, and his debts soon amounted to four or five times his salary. At last he See also:fell into disfavour and retired from court, only to be summoned again on a congenial See also:duty. The emperor of China, last of the Mongol See also:dynasty, had sent a See also:mission to Delhi, and the See also:Moor was to accompany the return See also:embassy (1342). The party travelled through central See also:India to See also:Cambay and thence sailed to See also:Calicut, classed by the traveller with the neighbouring Kaulam (See also:Quilon), Alexandria, Sudak in the See also:Crimea, and Zayton (See also:Amoy See also:harbour) in China, as one of the greatest trading havens in the world—an interesting enumeration from one who had seen them all. The mission party was to embark in See also:Chinese junks (the word used) and smaller vessels, but that carrying the other envoys and the presents, which started before Ibn Batuta was ready, was wrecked totally; the See also:vessel that he had engaged went off with his See also:property, and he was See also:left on the See also:beach of Ca/licut. Not daring to return to Delhi, he remained about Hon and other cities of the western coast, taking part in various adventures, among others the See also:capture of Sindabur (See also:Goa), and visiting the Maldive Islands, where he became kazi, and married four wives, and of which he has left the best See also:medieval See also:account, hardly surpassed by any modern. In See also:August 1344 he left the Maldives for See also:Ceylon; here he made the pilgrimage to the " Footmark of our See also:Father See also:Adam." Thence he betook himself to Maabar (the Coromandel coast), where he joined a Mussulman adventurer, residing at See also:Madura, who had made himself See also:master of much of that region. After once more visiting See also:Malabar, Canara and the Maldives, he departed for See also:Bengal, a voyage of See also:forty-three days, landing at Sadkawan (See also:Chittagong). In Bengal he visited the famous Moslem See also:saint Shaykh Jalaluddin, whose shrine (Shah Jalal at Silhet) is still maintained. Returning to the See also:delta, he took See also:ship at Sunarganw (near See also:Dacca) on a See also:junk See also:bound for See also:Java (i.e. Java Minor of Marco See also:Polo, or See also:Sumatra). Touching the coast of See also:Arakan or See also:Burma, he reached Sumatra in forty days, and was provided with a junk for China by Malik al Dhahir, a zealous See also:disciple of See also:Islam, which had recently spread among the states on the See also:northern coast of that island. Calling (apparently) at See also:Cambodia on his way, Ibn Batuta reached China at Zayton (Amoy harbour), famous from Marco Polo; he also visited See also:Sin Kalan or See also:Canton, and professes to have been in See also:Khansa (Kinsey of Marco Polo, i.e. Hangchau), and Khanbalik (See also:Cambaluc or See also:Peking). The truth of his visit to these two cities, and especially to the last, has been questioned. The traveller's See also:history, not least in China, singularly illustrates the See also:free See also:masonry of Islam, and its See also:power of carrying a Moslem See also:doctor over the known world of Asia and See also:Africa. On his way See also:home he saw the great See also:bird Rukh (evidently, from his description, an island lifted by See also:refraction); revisited Sumatra, Malabar, Oman, See also:Persia, Bagdad, and crossed the great See also:desert to See also:Palmyra and Damascus, where he got his first See also:news of home, and heard of his father's See also:death fifteen years before. Diverging to Hamath and Aleppo, on his return to Damascus, he found the Black Death
raging, so that two thousand four See also:hundred died in one day.
Revisiting See also:Jerusalem and Cairo he made the- haj a See also:fourth time,
and finally reappeared at See also:Fez (visiting See also:Sardinia en route) on
the 8th of See also:November 1349, after twenty-four years' See also:absence.
See also:Morocco, he See also:felt, was, after all, the best of countries. "The
did:erns of the West are but little; but then you get more forthem." After going home to Tangier, Ibn Batuta crossed into See also:Spain and made the See also:round of See also:Andalusia, including See also:Gibraltar, which had just then stood a See also:siege from the " See also:Roman See also:tyrant Adfunus " (See also:Alphonso XI. of See also:Castile, 1312-1350). In 1352 the restless See also:man started for Central Africa, passing by the oases of the See also:Sahara (where the houses were built of See also:rock-See also:salt, as See also:Herodotus tells, and roofed with See also:camel skins) to See also:Timbuktu and See also:Gogo on the See also:Niger, a See also:river which he calls the Nile, believing it to flow down into See also:Egypt, an See also:opinion maintained by some up to the date of See also:Lander's See also:discovery. Being then recalled by his own See also: Thus ended his twenty-eight years ' wanderings which in their See also:main lines alone exceeded 75,000 M. By royal order he dictated his narrative to 1\,Iahommed Ibn Juzai, who concludes the See also:work, 13th of See also:December 1355 (A.D.) with the See also:declaration: " This Shaykh is the traveller of our See also:age; and he who should See also:call him the traveller of the whole See also:body of Islam would not exceed the truth." Ibn Batuta died in 1378, aged seventy-three.
Ibn Batuta's travels have only been known in See also:Europe during the 19th See also:century; at first merely by Arabic abridgments in the See also:Gotha and See also:Cambridge See also:libraries. Notices or extracts had been published by See also:Seetzen (c. 1808), Kosegarten (1818), Apetz (1819), and See also:Burckhardt (1819), when in 1829 Dr S. See also: 535-538. Though there are some singular See also:chronological difficulties in the narrative, and a good many cursory inaccuracies and exaggerations, there is no part of it except, perhaps, certain portions of the journeys in north China, which is open to doubt. The accounts of the Maldive Islands, and of the See also:Negro countries on the Niger, are replete with interesting and accurate particulars. The former agrees surprisingly with that given by the only other See also:foreign See also:resident we know of, Pyrard de la Val, two hundred and fifty years later. Ibn Batuta's statements and anecdotes regarding the showy virtues and solid vices of Sultan Muhammad Tughlak are in entire agreement with See also:Indian historians, and add many fresh details. (H. Y.; C. R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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