\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs24 The most popular of the Arab travelers is undoubtedly Ibn Batuta, who in the fourteenth century undertook a journey that lasted
thirty years, traveling from Spain to\b \cf1 \ATXht53 Mecca\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 and visiting the countries of the \b \cf2 \ATXht11302 Maghreb\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , Sudan, Egypt, Arabia, Iraq, and Persia. He traveled as far as China and the islands of the India
n Ocean. Ibn Batuta was a geographer, chronicler, and poet û he compares cities to pearls, flowers, and fruit û and has left us an invaluable record of the political and economic affairs of his time.\par