Through the Eyes of Travellers
Ibn Battuta's Rihla
Trace Ibn Battuta's route and explain the dangers of travel.
Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier (Morocco) into a family of experts in Islamic law, the shari'a. Though educated in that tradition, he valued experience gained through travel over knowledge from books.
He reached Sind in 1333. Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq, impressed by his scholarship, appointed him qazi (judge) of Delhi. In 1342, the Sultan sent him as his envoy to China.
On the way, he went through Malabar, the Maldives (where he was qazi for eighteen months), Sri Lanka, Bengal, Assam and Sumatra, to Zaytun (Quanzhou) in China, and travelled as far as Beijing.
Travel was slow: it took forty days to go from Multan to Delhi. And it was dangerous: Ibn Battuta was attacked by robbers several times, and suffered illness and loneliness.
When he returned home, the ruler of Morocco ordered that his stories be recorded. Ibn Juzayy wrote down what Ibn Battuta dictated: the Rihla (travels), written to entertain and edify (instruct) its readers. Experience over books.
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