Think travel guides are new? Think again. In 1325 a Muslim called Ibn Battuta started on his travels when 20. He travelled for 29 years and covered 75,000 miles visiting the equivalent of 44 modern countries.
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta was born in Morocco, 1304 CE. He died in 1369. He was the only medieval traveller to visit the land of every Muslim ruler of his time. He travelled through North Africa, Palestine, Syria, Makkah, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, East Africa, performed 7 Hajj and remained in Makkah for 3 years.
Next was Ukraine, Constantinople, Afghanistan and India. He reached Delhi and stayed for several years. He was sent as Delhi Sultan's envoy to China via Ceylon, Sumatra and Cambodia. He returned home in 1348. He then visited Muslim Spain and the lands across the Sahara.The Sultan of Morocco got Ibn Battuta to dictate his story in the Rihla (My Travels), which we can read today.
He was the most remarkable traveller of all time, visited China 60 years after Marco Polo and travelled much more than Marco Polo. Yet he is rarely mentioned in geography books in Muslim countries, let alone the West.
His contribution to geography is as great as that of any geographer yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible except to the specialist.
All great Muslims whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists or chemists suffer the same fate.
The Journalist: Ibn Battuta
