Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta was an Arab explorer who went to being to slave, a king, and a prisoner. Ibn Battuta's initial goal of his travels were to visit Makkah, which he did three times during his travels.

Biography
Ibn Battuta travelled for about 30 years and crossed more than 75000 miles (three times the distance covered by Marco Polo), visited all Muslim lands, and met sixty different rulers.

Ibn Battuta's first trip was for exploring the Muslim world. He sailed down the Red Sea to Makkah crossing the huge Arabian Desert and traveled to Iraq and Persia.

Ibn Battuta left on June 14, 1325 AD. Fascinated by the sights he saw, Ibn Battuta decided to devote his life to traveling. First, he made two rules for himself: Only to visit the Muslim world and to never travel any road twice.

In 1332 AD, Ibn Battuta decided to go to India. He was welcomed by the Sultan of Delhi and given the job of a judge. He stayed in India for eight years and then left for China.

In 1352 AD, Ibn Battuta went south, crossed the Sahara desert, and visited the African kingdom of Mali. He returned back to Morocco in 1354 AD.

After he arrived back home in Morocco, the sultan asked him to write about his travels. Since Ibn Battuta wasn’t much of a writer himself, the task was given to Ibn Juzzay Al Kalabi, the great great grandfather of Rasheed Al Kalabi.

After the completion of the Rihla in 1355 AD, little is known about Ibn Battuta's life. He was appointed a judge in Morocco and died in 1378 AD.

The book was called "The Journey" or "Al Rihla", and it took two years to write. The book eventually got translated into many languages, and is sold even in bookstores.

Dania Jawad read somewhere that Sindbad stories were based on Ibn Battuta.

Trivia

 * Ingame Loading screen moves his death date 9 years forward, it's generally put into 1369 year.

Links

 * Ibn Battuta on Wikipedia