Ibn Battuta Completes His Travelogue - Dec. 13, 1355

Ibn Battuta, one of the most accomplished travelers of the medieval Islamic world, completed his travelogue known as the Rihla, or Journey, on this day in 1355.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff
Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff you
missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore
the past, one day at a time with a quick
look at what happened today in history. Hi there, and
welcome to the podcast. I'm Christopher haciotas your temporary hosts,

(00:21):
sitting in for Tracy V. Wilson. Will be back in
four days. But today It's December thirteenth, and Ibn Batuta
completed the account of his world travels on this day.
In thirteen fifty five, demand born Abu Abdullah Mohammed, Ibn
Batuta became one of the most accomplished travelers of history.
He was born in Tangier on February four Now Tangier

(00:42):
is in what's today known as Morocco, but the city's
history may go back as far as the Phoenicians. In
the tenth century b c e. When Ibn Batuta was born,
Morocco was ruled by the Marinids, one of several Berber
dynasties from medieval times. Batuta left Tangier when he was
twenty years old, setting out on the Hajj to Mecca.
He wrote, I left Tangiers, my birthplace, on Thursday, the

(01:03):
second of Rajab seven twenty five, that's seven five in
the Hider Islamic calendar, with the intention of going on
pilgrimage to Mecca. I set out alone, having neither fellow
traveler in whose companionship I might find cheer, nor caravan
whose part I might join, but swayed by an overmastering
impulse within me, and a desire long cherished in my
bosom to visit these illustrious sanctuaries. So I braced my

(01:26):
resolution to quit my dear ones, female and male, and
forsook my home as birds forsake their nests. My parents
being yet in the bonds of life, it weighed sorely
upon me to part from them, and both they and
I were afflicted with sorrow at this separation. I was
then only twenty Iban Buttuta traveled east from the Maghreb

(01:47):
along the southern Mediterranean coast through Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Alexandria.
Sometimes he joined caravans for safety numbers. Sometimes he met
people along the way. He married a woman in Spacks,
for instance, in what is now Tunisia. He spent Ramadan
in Damascus, then went on to Medina and finally completed
his Hajj in Mecca. But after performing his pilgrimage, he

(02:09):
just decided to keep traveling. He could have returned home,
but instead headed towards now Iraq, Iran, Somalia, the eastern
coast of Africa, Anatolia, Crimea, India, Pakistan, Indonesia. He did,
over his lifetime return to Mecca for several Hajj pilgrimages,
but on his travels he met with many rulers, emperors,

(02:30):
sheikhs and viziers. He served for a while as a
local judge in the islands known as the Maldives, which
had then recently converted to Islam. While there he married
into the royal family. In fact, Ibn Batuta had a
number of marriages over the years and in multiple countries.
He made his way to China under Mongol rule. While
there he saw paper money and was very very impressed. Now,

(02:52):
by the time Batuta wrapped up his life of travel,
he'd have visited forty four different countries if you're judging
by today's boundaries. He he hit up Central Asia and
South Asia, China, and parts of Southern Africa and eastern Europe.
He covered the majority of the Islamic world, also known
as Dara Islam. Ibn Batuta traveled seventy five thousand miles

(03:13):
or a hundred and twenty one thousand kilometers. He spent
twenty nine years traveling. He was a geographer, a botanist,
a legal scholar, a kadi or judge, and he finally
did make his way back to Tangier in thirteen forty nine.
Both of his parents had passed away by then, and
upon learning that news, Batuta set out to explore the Sahara.
He went to Ulata and Timbuctoo in the Mali Empire,

(03:36):
and finally returned to Morocco in thirteen fifty four. Now,
throughout his travels he didn't keep a diary, he didn't
keep a journal, and it was only in thirteen fifty
four that he dictated his travels to a man named
ibn Jus. There were no sources that iben Jus sited,
and some passages that he wrote were the same as
other sources. There were some conflicting information, and again all

(03:59):
of this travel was membered by Ibn Batuta, but it
was eventually published as Tufat alan Zar figarab Alam sara
jaib alas Far, or a gift to those who contemplate
the wonders of cities and the marvels of traveling. Now
that title can be a bit much, but Batuta's travelog
is generally just referred to as The rich La or

(04:20):
the Journey. It was published in thirteen fifty five. After
that the details of Batuta's life become a little less certain.
He was appointed a judge in Morocco and eventually died
in either thirteen sixty eight or thirteen sixty nine. Now,
Batuta was little known outside the Islamic world until the
eighteenth century, when his works began to be translated. He's
often been compared to other world travelers, like Marco Polo,

(04:42):
for instance. For more about Ibn Batuta, give a listen
to the August second, two thousand seventeen episode of Stuffy
Missed in History Class. It's called Ibn Batuta, The Traveler
of Islam. Thanks to Casey Pegram and Chandler Mays for
their audio work on this show. You can subscribe to
This Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, the I
Heart Radio app, or wherever else you like to find

(05:02):
your podcasts. Please tune in tomorrow for the anniversary of
an ambitious expedition finally reaching its goal.