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Ibn Battuta
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Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) is to this day known as one of the great travelers of all time. His journeys covered the entire Moslem world of his day plus Ceylon, Byzantium, China, and southern Russia. The length of his travels is estimated to be 75,000 miles. His last trip was to West Africa, across the Sahara to the Kingdom of Mali in 1353. This journey lasted until 1355, when he returned to his home in Morocco to stay.
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Ibn Battuta was 21 when he started his journey from Algeria to Egypt, Mecca and the near East in 1325-1326. Despite being strangely dismissive of the constant domination of this landscape by ancient remains. Nevertheless it is a book of interest to both expert and general reader.
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In Alanya, a city of medieval Anatolia, Ibn Battuta had his first introduction to the interesting organization known as the fityan. He was invited to dinner by a remarkably shabby man in an odd felt hat. Ibn Battuta accepted politely, but doubted that the young fellow had enough money to manage a proper feast.
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One last part of Dar al-Islam remained that Ibn Battuta had not visited--the West African empire of Mali. It lay a thousand miles south of Morocco across "the empty waste" of the Sahara Desert. In 1352, Ibn Battuta joined a desert caravan headed for Mali on his last great adventure.
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Ibn Battuta traveled many roads through Dar al-Islam, home of Islam. His journey began during the period known as Pax Mongolia when Mongol Khans were converting to Islam. This period of peace allowed for increased movement, expansion of commerce, the arts, literature, law and government. On camels, horses, donkeys and boats Ibn Battuta was determined to visit the Islamic world. A man of meager means he was fed entertained and cared for along the way by royalty, merchants and Mongol Kings. The Muslim practice of granting hospitality to pilgrims journeying to Mecca fulfills one of the Five Pillars of Faith.
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In the course of his first journey, Ibn Battuta travelled through Algiers, Tunis, Egypt, Palestine and Syria to Makkah. After visiting Iraq, Shiraz and Mesopotamia he once more returned to perform the Hajj at Makkah and remained there for three years. Then travelling to Jeddah he went to Yemen by sea, visited Aden andset sail for Mombasa, East Africa. After going up to Kulwa he came back to Oman and repeated pilgrimage to Makkah in 1332 C.E. via Hormuz, Siraf, Bahrain and Yamama. Subsequently he set out with the purpose of going to India, but on reaching Jeddah, he appears to have changed his mind (due perhaps to the unavailability of a ship bound for India), and revisited Cairo, Palestine and Syria, thereafter arriving at Aleya (Asia Minor) by sea and travelled across Anatolia and Sinope.
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Ibn Battuta