IBN BATTUTA (1304-1368 CE) EXPLORER PROFILE Macquarie University Big History School: Core

READING 7.3.8 IBN BATTUTA (1304-1368 CE) EXPLORER PROFILE Macquarie University Big History School: Core

Lexile® measure: 950L MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 7.3.8. EXPLORER PROFILE: IBN BATTUTA - 950L 2

In 632 CE, the Islamic Conquest exploded out of Arabia into much of the Old World. By 750 CE, Islamic armies controlled vast regions. They controlled the Middle East, Persia, and as far as Afghanistan and Pakistan. To the West, Islamic armies conquered all of North Africa and Spain. In the 1100s and 1200s, Turko-Islamic conquests took much of India, and the Islamic religion spread as far as Indonesia. This is the world that Ibn Battuta was born into, and explored for much of his life. IBN BATTUTA (1304-1368 CE) EXPLORER PROFILE By David Baker

Battuta was born in 1304 in Tangier, Morocco. His family were upper class Berbers and Islamic scholars. When Battuta was in his early twenties, he sought to make the traditional Pilgrimage to Mecca. This is known as Hajj. However, he was to travel much further than that. The Islamic view of the world was divided into three houses. Firstly, there was the House of Islam – Dar al-Islam. The House of Islam included regions conquered by Islam, ruled by many different Islamic rulers. Second was the House of Truces – the Dar al-Sulh. These were countries which had not come yet under Islamic rule, but were on good terms with the House of Islam. Finally, there was the House of War – Dar al- Harb. The House of War was not under Islamic control, nor had it made peace with the House of Islam. The majority of Ibn Battuta’s travels took him across the House of Islam. That world was more accessible to him because of his religion, and his usefulness as a practitioner of Islamic law. However, Battuta also made many journeys into the two other houses from Central Asia to China. MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 7.3.8. EXPLORER PROFILE: IBN BATTUTA - 950L 3

Battuta left his mother and father in Tangiers in 1325. He set out on his So, Battuta leapt at the opportunity to go to China as an ambassador. Hajj alone. During his travels, he joined many diplomatic missions and Several disasters at sea prevented Battuta from reaching China. Fearing caravans. He made many friends and supporters, and gathered many the Sultan of Delhi would have him executed, Battuta stayed in Kerala servants, wives and concubines. Battuta married and divorced a total of in Southwest India. After that, he moved on to the Maldives, where he 10 wives – however the law only allowed him to have four wives at any worked for many months. From there, Battuta went to Sri Lanka and time. He had many children all across Asia and Africa with his wives and Bangladesh. concubines. In one case, he returned to Damascus decades later to check Finally in 1345, Battuta made it into Southeast Asia. He spent some time on one of the women he had married and their child. on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which at the time was the furthest From 1325 to 1332, Ibn Battuta explored the House of Islam in Africa and extent of the House of Islam. Then he stayed in the Malay Peninsula the Middle East. Initially making his way to Mecca on the hajj, he slowly for a few days before heading on to China. It is unclear where in China made his way across North Africa. Battuta studied at many religious Battuta truly visited. Some of his descriptions don’t seem to fit, and schools, and conversed with famous leaders and scholars along the others seem plagiarized from other sources. Nevertheless he took note way. In Tunisia, he married his first wife. In Alexandria, a couple of holy of the porcelain (which he thought was made from coal), silk, and paper men apparently predicted that he would travel the world. He visited currency. It is possible Battuta explored China as far north as Beijing. the impressive library of Cairo. He went down the Nile, and crossed the His notes make clear he did not like China because of their devotion to Red Sea multiple times. He spent time at Damascus, which was the most “pagan” religion. From there he returned to Southeast Asia and headed notable place for a legal education in the Islamic world at the time. From back toward India. But he swerved away from Delhi for fear of being killed there, he headed to Medina and Mecca. During this time, he made at least by the Sultan. three return trips to Mecca and spent long stretches of time there. Battuta From there, Battuta travelled back through Persia. It was here that he went to Baghdad and explored much of the Islamic Hugalu Khanate that witnessed the fall of the Khanate. He reached Mecca again in 1348. At this ruled over Persia, much of Mesopotamia, and Anatolia. He sailed down point, Black Death was in full force in the world. He reached Tangier again the Red Sea to Yemen. From there, he then proceeded to Somalia and the in 1349. Here he learnt that his mother had died of the plague, and that Swahili Coast, which were also under Islamic control at the time. his father had died 15 years earlier. After spending some time at home, he In 1332, Ibn Battuta was in Mecca again. He decided that he wanted to set off on his travels again. Battuta visited the kingdom of Al-Andalus in travel to Delhi and seek a job from the ruling sultan. His travels took him Spain, before crossing the Sahara to visit the Mali Empire, Timbuktu, and through Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey. Ibn Battuta claims to have visited Gao. the Mongols of the Golden Horde in Crimea. He also travelled as far as He returned to Morocco in 1354, where he wrote his account of his travels, Bolghar and Astrakhan in Central Asia. From there, he joined a caravan titled A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the that would take him out of the House of Islam for the first time. He Marvels of Travelling. He settled down in Fez, married again, and died in travelled to Constantinople, which was under control of the Byzantine 1368 or 1369. Empire in the House of War. Battuta visited the Hagia Sophia, which was then an Orthodox church. He then travelled east through Bukhara, and Battuta’s travels lay out an amazing snapshot of the world in the 14th south through Afghanistan into India. century, just on the eve of the unification of the world zones. He makes clear how strong trade and networks were becoming in the Islamic world. Ibn Battuta met the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tugluq. He was These networks were also stretching out to the rest of the world too. Even apparently offered the job of a judge, after valiantly slaying a dozen in China, Battuta stayed with other Muslim emissaries and merchant bandits he met on the road. Battuta spent many years working in the traders. Afro-Eurasia was being united as never before into a network of sultan’s service. India at the time was majority Hindu, ruled over the collective learning. Now all that remained was to connect with the rest of Muslim minority. The Muslim rulers gained control of India after two the world zones… centuries of conflict, at the cost of millions of lives. They had to keep firm control over the country, and Muhammad bin Tughluq was known for being a very dangerous ruler. He was so unpredictable that Ibn Battuta spent his time in Delhi constantly being threatened with jail or execution. MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY BIG HISTORY SCHOOL: CORE - READING 7.3.8. EXPLORER PROFILE: IBN BATTUTA - 950L 4

REFERENCES Christian, David and Cynthia Stokes Brown and Craig Benjamin. Big History: Between Nothing and Everything. New York: McGraw Hill, 2014. Dunn, Ross. The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. McNeill, J.R. and William H. McNeill. The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.

IMAGE CREDITS ‘Caravan of Pilgrims in Ramleh’ Credit: Bibliothèque nationale de France, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yahy%C3%A2_ibn_Mahm%C3%BBd_al- W%C3%A2sit%C3%AE_005.jpg P ‘Les Grands Voyages et les Grands Voyageurs. Découverte de la Terre par Jules Verne’ Credit: Bibliothèque nationale de France, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65422974/ f95.image

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