The Muslim Ibn Batuta, a young judge from Morocco who traveled to more than fifty countries in the 14th century, had traveled more roads than him before the Age of Discovery, so why did he go to strange places?
Ibn Battuta
Up to 30 years of travel
When it comes to travelers, many people should first think of Marco Polo, who was born in Venice. Indeed, Marco Polo is remembered by the world for his "Travels of Marco Polo", which was written after living in the Yuan Dynasty for 17 years. However, Marco Polo's contemporary, Ibn Batuta, was even more unprecedented than he was.
Ibn Batuta traveled 117,000 kilometers, and in addition to Western Europe, he traveled all over Eurasia and Africa. In today's country, his journey spans more than 50 countries and almost spans the Islamic world.
Thanks to the prosperity of the medieval Islamic world, the entire Islamic world was equipped at that time with transportation routes connecting cities to cities, that is, the network of roads between the Islamic world was very developed. In addition, there are public facilities to support travelers throughout Islamic cities.
Most of these facilities are maintained by wakuf property (Turkish: vakf), a property donation system unique to the Islamic world, and provide free accommodation and food for passing travelers. In Islam, the traveler is a being that God has given countless graces and should be protected.
Everywhere Ibn Batuta went, he was warmly invited to his home by the locals and was treated with food and clothing.
Although the infrastructure of the Islamic world is very well developed, his journey has not been smooth. During this 30-year-long journey, he fell ill several times, was attacked by thieves and infidels, and sometimes even stripped naked. Nevertheless, he felt supreme joy at learning the truth about the world, and he continued to travel in order to see the world with his own eyes.
Marco polo
At the age of 21, across Africa and Asia, he traveled alone to the holy city of Mecca
Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier (present-day ancient city in northern Morocco) on the 17th month of rajb (24 February 1304) in the 703rd AH calendar. At this time, Tangier was under the rule of the Islamic Dynasty of Marin (1269-1465).
There is little documentation about Ibn Battuta's family, and there is much to be seen for lack of clarity, but judging by his father and his father's cousin's appointment as local judges, their family is considered a family of jurisprudential intellectuals.
At the age of 21, Ibn Batuta took the first step in his great journey to Mecca, the holy land of Islam. Located on the Arabian Peninsula, Mecca is one of the "Five Pillars" that underpin the Islamic faith and is known as a holy place for Islam.
On 14 June 1325, Ibn Batuta embarked on a journey to Mecca alone like a bird leaving its nest. At that time, he probably never dreamed that this trip would go down in history.
Ibn Batuta, who had left his hometown, arrived in Tunisia on 10 September of the same year. During his time in Tunis, a caravan of hajj mecca was formed, and he was appointed a recognized judge of the hajj. It can be seen that he had the knowledge of a judge at the age of 21.
On his journey to Mecca, Ibn Batuta married for the first time to the daughters of fellow caravan companions, but they divorced in a very short time, and then Ibn remarried with the daughters of fellow scholars. The second wife stayed in Damascus during the trip and bore him a son in the same year. Ibn Batuta also married several times during his long journey. It can be seen that he is an amorous person.
Holy Land of Mecca
The trip does not stop, after the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, head to India and China
Ibn Battuta arrived safely in Mecca and completed the first Hajj at the Hajj festival held from 4 to 10 November 1326. But instead of returning to his hometown, he embarked on a new journey.
On November 17 of the same year, he set out from Mecca for various parts of Iraq and Iran. About half a year later, he returned to Mecca, where he stayed for 3 years as an outsider, during which time he learned from famous scholars and saints.
In 1330, after the pilgrimage, he sailed south from the Red Sea to Yemen, and the following year to East and South Africa. In 1332, he returned to Mecca again after passing through Southern Iran, Khazar, and Yemamai.
Upon his return to Mecca, Ibn Batuta took part in a pilgrimage from 30 August to 5 September of the same year, after which he decided to travel to India.
He took a major detour through Eurasia, including Syria, Anatolia, Constantinople, and the Kipchak steppe, on the way he met The Sultan of the Kipchak Khanate, Muhammad Uzbagh, who is said to be a devout Muslim.
Ibn Batuta's detailed account of the Kipchak Sultanate and its rituals during this period in his travels is one of the most valuable historical documents for the study of the history of the Kipchak Khanate.
Kipchak Mosque (present-day Turkmenistan)
On 12 September 1333, Ibn Batuta arrived on the Banks of the Indus River, bypassing the Sindh region (present-day Pakistan) and arriving in Delhi, India. He then served as a judge for more than 8 years under The Tughruq Sultan Mohammed Shah II, whose capital was Delhi.
Ibn Batuta originally knew only Arabic, but after a long time in India, he became able to understand quite a bit of Persian and a little Turkish.
In 1342, Ibn was ordered by the Sultan to send an envoy to the Yuan Dynasty of China, and on July 22 of the same year he set out from Delhi. On the way, he was arrested by the pagans, but finally managed to escape, passing through the Maldives Islands, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and other places, and finally arrived at the harbor of Quanzhou in Fujian.
According to the Travels of Ibn Battuta, Ibn Battuta, which landed in Quanzhou, passed through Guangdong and Hangzhou to reach the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (now Beijing).
However, because there are many stories heard from others, as well as legends mixed with reality and fiction, some people have questioned Ibn Batuta's journey to China.
After that, Ibn Batuta set off from Quanzhou to Damascus, Syria, where he met again with his wife, who was pregnant with Rokka 20 years ago, and learned that his son had been dead for 15 years, and that among the parents in his hometown, his father had died, but his mother was still alive.
After a brief stay in Damascus, Ibn Batuta returned to Mecca on 15 November 1348. At that time, Mecca was plagued by the plague, and he also witnessed the terrible situation of the plague everywhere.
The following year, after participating in the Hajj celebration in Mecca, Ibn Battuta traveled to Cairo, Egypt, via Medina, Jerusalem and other places.
At this time, due to the prosperity of the Marin Dynasty in his hometown of Morocco, and the rumors that the Sultan of the Marin Dynasty, Abu Inan Farris, was a famous monarch, Ibn's homesickness was high, and he decided to return home.
On November 12, 1349, he returned to Fas, the capital of the Marin Dynasty. Ibn Batuta, who left his hometown at the age of 21, is 45 years old.
The prosperous harbor city of Quanzhou
The Sahara Desert – Ibn's last journey
Ibn Batuta met sultan Abu Inan, and after meeting the sultan, Ibn decided that "there is no better country than this land", so he gave up the crutches of travel and returned to his hometown of Tangier, where he moved to Sebutah. However, unwilling to be lonely, he soon picked up the crutches of travel again.
After 3 months of illness, in order to fight the Christian army, Ibn Batuta set out for the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
At that time in Granada, Spain, Ibn Battuta met Ibn Yuza Kelebi, a young writer who later compiled Ibn Battuta's Travels.
After returning from the Iberian Peninsula, Ibn Batuta traveled to the Sultanate, the hinterland of the Sahara Desert, on his last trip. It is also believed that the purpose of Ibn's trip was to gather intelligence on the hinterland of the Sahara Desert on the orders of the Marin Sultan.
On 18 February 1352, Ibn Batuta set out from Sijilmāsa, the base of The Saharan trade, and on 28 June visited Mali, the capital of the Kingdom of Mali.
Kingdom of Mali
After visiting Mali, Ibn embarked on the road back home, braving heavy snow, and crossed the pass of the High Atlas Mountains back to Fas. Ibn Batuta once said: "The trip to Mali was a difficult journey I had never seen before. ”
Ibn Battuta's long journey had finally come to an end, when he was 50 years old.
Upon his return, at the request of Sultan Abu Inan, Ibn Batuta informed his attendants of his travel experience and wrote it in a draft.
The draft was prepared by Ibn Judzha Kelbe, whom he met in Granada. Ibn Judzha Kelbe is well versed in poetry and history, especially as a writer with a first-class level. He compiled the Travels of Ibn Batuta on the basis of Ibn Batuta's drafts, which he completed in the month of Safar (4 February/3 March 1356) in the 757 AH calendar.
Ibn Batuta's travel career
What kind of life did Ibn Batuta go through after his trip?
There are various theories about the year of Ibn Battuta's death, and it is now accepted that he died in 1368 or 1369 at the age of 65 (66).
In addition, Ibn Yuza Kelbe died at the age of 36 in December 1356, about nine months after the compilation of Ibn Battuta's Travels.
The manuscript of Ibn Yuza Kelbe's Travels of Ibn Battuta is still in the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The paper is yellow, the ink is faded, worms are everywhere, and many places become illegible. Nevertheless, Ibn Yuza Kelbe's beautiful handwriting still tells the story of Ibn Battuta's incredible and never-ending journey.