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Ibn Battuta travels

Jan 1325 – Jan 1354

A hundred and twenty thousand kilometres, thirty years, three continents

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In depth

The journeys were possible because everywhere he went he could find Muslim communities sharing legal practice and norms of hospitality — the Islamic world functioned as a continuous travelling network. He worked as a judge in Delhi and in the Maldives. The account is partly second-hand and some stages are disputed, but it is invaluable precisely because it is written from within.

For children

Ibn Battuta of Morocco travelled for thirty years — to Mecca, Persia, India, China, Mali and Spain. He went further than Marco Polo. His book is one of the richest accounts we have of the fourteenth-century world.

Connects to

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org