Overview

Overview

The passages in this feature are adapted and summarized from the travelog of Ibn Batuta, a famous Arab traveler and writer. Ibn Batuta was born in Tangier, Morocco. His full name was Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Batuta (also spelled Battuta). He was educated in Islamic law and religion, and began traveling in 1325. Ibn Batuta journeyed first to the city of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. Afterward, his trips included visits to Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia (now mainly Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan), India, Indonesia, and China. In 1349, after 24 years of travel, Ibn Batuta returned to Morocco. But he soon set out again and went to Andalusia, a region in Spain, and to Timbuktu, a center of the Mali Empire in western Africa.