Ibn Battuta | The World's Greatest Traveler?

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spk_0 Wherever you live in the world, you've probably heard about some of history's great explorers.

spk_0 In the Western Hemisphere, that might include figures like Marco Polo and Magellan.

spk_0 Meanwhile, people in the east are more likely to have learned about Jungha or especially in the case of Muslim communities.

spk_0 A man named Ibn Batuta who trekked more than 100,000 kilometers across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

spk_0 Tonight will take you on a 30-year journey filled with excitement and peril that zig-zags across the medieval Muslim world.

spk_0 So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of Ibn Batuta.

spk_0 If you're among those who have never heard of Ibn Batuta, you will soon begin to wonder why.

spk_0 As important as we consider his 14th century contemporary Marco Polo to be, Marco Polo's explorations covered roughly a third of the distance Ibn Batuta traveled.

spk_0 Although historical sources are rarely certain, experts generally agree that Ibn Batuta was the most widely traveled explorer ever recorded in the time prior to the advent of the steam engine.

spk_0 His decades of travel took him across approximately 117,000 kilometers, which surpasses the tens of thousands of kilometers traveled by Jungha and the 24,000 kilometers covered by Marco Polo.

spk_0 Impressively, much of this was accomplished via donkey or caravan.

spk_0 In an era like ours, when even driving a car can become tedious, it is hard to fathom such an achievement.

spk_0 You may be wondering how it is that such a great traveler hasn't gained more prominence worldwide.

spk_0 One of the simple answers is that the written tales of his journey were unknown in western culture until the early 19th century.

spk_0 The accidental discovery of a manuscript by a European collector finally brought his grand adventures to light outside the Muslim world.

spk_0 That epic record of his life is now generally called the Rilla.

spk_0 Although there are aspects of the text that have since been questioned by scholars, there are also important sections of his trip that have been confirmed by corroborating sources.

spk_0 So while there are flaws in the timeline and perhaps the extent of his many journeys, there is enough confirmation of his achievements that his legacy is secure.

spk_0 To begin at the beginning, we know from his own writings that Ibn Batuta was born in Tangier, Morocco on February 24, 1304.

spk_0 The most common full name used for him is Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Batuta, but the last two names are the ones most frequently cited.

spk_0 As a child and a family of Islamic legal scholars, he was probably educated in a Sunni Malik school which was traditional for the time in North Africa.

spk_0 Ultimately, he followed in the footsteps of his elders becoming a Muslim judge called Akadi.

spk_0 At the age of 21, in June of the year 1325, Batuta set off on a pilgrimage to Mecca known to Muslims as the Hajj.

spk_0 This was an arduous journey that generally lasted for 16 months, but Batuta was eager to spread his wings.

spk_0 He later wrote, I set out alone having neither fellow traveler in whose companionship I might find cheer, nor Caravan, whose part I might join.

spk_0 But swayed by an overmastering impulse within me and a desire long cherished in my bosom to visit these illustrious sanctuaries.

spk_0 So I braced my resolution to quit my dear ones and forsook my home as birds forsake their nests.

spk_0 The first stage of his pilgrimage without friends or fame must have taken a lot of courage.

spk_0 He traveled on a donkey crossing what is now Algeria and then Tunisia where he decided to pause for a couple of months.

spk_0 During that time, he married a local woman.

spk_0 However, in what would become a long string of marriages and divorces, he soon left town without his new wife, owing a dispute with her father.

spk_0 This small drama, playing out on a holy pilgrimage, is an early taste of Batuta's life philosophy.

spk_0 As one learns more and more of his story, it's easy to see that he was not an explorer driven by a mission or a higher purpose.

spk_0 As much as he was open to experiencing life's unexpected twists and turns.

spk_0 The overarching philosophy became a defining factor in the course of his life, allowing him much freedom, but also taking him through many lengthy diversions.

spk_0 Batuta then continued a circuit as route over 3500 kilometers that propelled him to the port of Alexandria in Egypt.

spk_0 While he was there, sources say that he conferred with two separate religious men who predicted his future as a world traveler.

spk_0 Thus encouraging him in a lifestyle he was already enjoying.

spk_0 Onward he journeyed to Cairo, at which point he selected the least traveled and reportedly the safest final leg of his route to Mecca.

spk_0 This took him up the Nile Valley, then on to the Red Sea Port.

spk_0 But when he got there, a local rebellion forced him to retrace his steps and he found himself starting over again in Cairo.

spk_0 Eventually he made it to Mecca by passing through Syria.

spk_0 Along the way he visited numerous other holy sites such as Hebron, Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

spk_0 By November of 1326 he was finally able to take the honorific El-Haji indicating he had completed his pilgrimage.

spk_0 Despite his many stops and setbacks, he had finished the trip in the same amount of time it was normally accomplished.

spk_0 Also along the way he spent time with experts who helped him complete his judicial studies.

spk_0 But Ibn Batuta had been bitten by the travel bug and he decided he was not ready to return home.

spk_0 Instead he set his sights on an area of the Mongol Empire that is now occupied by Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

spk_0 This time he traveled part of the way with the Karevan.

spk_0 He eventually parted ways with them and did his own six month detour of surrounding areas before ending up in Baghdad on his own.

spk_0 While he was there he met a Mongol ruler named Abu Saeed and traveled with his Karevan for a while.

spk_0 Eventually taking a solo jaunt up the Silk Road to Tabriz.

spk_0 He then ended up back in Baghdad and joined a Karevan to make a second pilgrimage to Mecca.

spk_0 After achieving that second goal he stayed put in the area for at least a number of months.

spk_0 His narrative claims that he paused his traveling for three years.

spk_0 However this is one of many examples of places where historians question his accuracy claiming he may have left sooner than that.

spk_0 Whatever the case he seems to have gone to the port of Chetta and then slowly sailed around the Red Sea visiting various cities and in one case meeting a king.

spk_0 After that he crossed land and ended up at the Yemeni port city of Odin sometime between 1329 and 1331.

spk_0 At that point a new leg of his travels began.

spk_0 He sailed for the city of Zeyla on the coast of Somalia.

spk_0 Once he arrived there he worked his way down the coast of Somalia stopping for short periods along the way.

spk_0 In 1332 he arrived in Mogadishu.

spk_0 Mogadishu seems to have impressed Patuta.

spk_0 He spoke of its sheer size in the Rilla calling it an enormous town and adding that its inhabitants are merchants and have many camels.

spk_0 He praised its vibrant trade with important partners such as Egypt.

spk_0 Patuta also seemed dazzled by the court of the Somali Sultan Abu Bakr and appeared flattered by the attention paid to him.

spk_0 He said we stayed there three days food being brought to us three times a day and on the fourth if Friday the Kadi and one of the Wazir's brought me us to the city.

spk_0 We then went to the mosque and prayed behind the Sultan's screen.

spk_0 When the shake came out I greeted him and he bade me welcome.

spk_0 He put on his sandals ordering the Kadi and myself to do the same and set out for his palace on foot.

spk_0 All the other people walked barefooted over his head were carried for canopies of colored silk each surmounted by a golden bird.

spk_0 After the palace ceremonies were over all those present saluted and retired.

spk_0 This admiration of wealth and privilege seems to have shaped his traveling choices as the years went on spurring him to seek invitations from influential hosts during his visits.

spk_0 Upon departing Mogadishu he headed for the Swahili coast visiting the island of Mombasa first.

spk_0 Once there he noted the inhabitants are pious, honorable and upright and they have well built wooden mosques.

spk_0 But he also found it noteworthy that they had no cereals and survived largely on bananas and fish.

spk_0 After leaving Mombasa he proceeded to the town of Kilwa in what is now Tanzania.

spk_0 He was dazzled by the center of the gold trade calling it one of the finest and most beautifully built towns.

spk_0 The sultan there was named Al-Hasan Ibn Suleiman but he is often referred to as Abu Al-Mawahib which means father of gifts.

spk_0 Batuda commented favorably on his charity and the excellence of his rule.

spk_0 Having departed Kilwa Batuda sailed on to Dovar which is in southern Oman.

spk_0 From his writing it is clear that Batuda was not very happy there, characterizing the market as dirty and marveling at how livestock were fed exclusively with sardines.

spk_0 Leaving Dovar he traversed the strait of Hormuz and then returned to Mecca for a third time.

spk_0 This portion of his travels was likely completed by 1332.

spk_0 Ibn Batuda had now been in a near constant state of travel for about seven years but he had not tired of wandering.

spk_0 In fact he appears to have set his sights on gaining prestige.

spk_0 He wished to journey to the city of Delhi so he could attain employment under the powerful sultan Muhammad bin Tugluk.

spk_0 His journey to reach Delhi was not a direct one.

spk_0 His writings on this topic are a bit confused and even scholars are unable to say for certain which route he took.

spk_0 This section of the Rilla is an example of a portion where his own account doesn't line up with all the facts.

spk_0 So there are parts of his journeys that will forever remain only educated guesses.

spk_0 It does seem apparent however that he traveled pretty extensively through Asha Minor receiving hospitality from many local dignitaries.

spk_0 At one point he was entertained by the wife of an absent sultan and reported being quite impressed with his fine treatment.

spk_0 It was during this period of meeting Turkish sultans that he received his first gifts of enslaved people and became accustomed to accumulating more and more wealth.

spk_0 With that in mind it's easy to see why Patuta wanted to be in Tugluk's orbit.

spk_0 The sultan in Delhi was known to be extremely well educated and fairly tolerant of different religions.

spk_0 He was also famously generous so much so that Patuta actually criticized his gift giving extremes in later years.

spk_0 But the sultan was also notoriously mercurial.

spk_0 Known at times as the eccentric prince or the mad sultan he was prone to grand plans that were hastily and poorly executed.

spk_0 He also violently turned on people who fell out of his favor.

spk_0 Patuta did land position under Tugluk but he eventually came to regret it.

spk_0 When he arrived in Delhi he was showered with money and put up in the house.

spk_0 The sultan was away but he hired Patuta sight unseen and had him sign a contract.

spk_0 He was regularly in the sultan's company.

spk_0 Although the lifestyle was costly, Tugluk continued to give him generous salaries and gifts.

spk_0 At one point the sultan had to leave town to suppress a rebellion and Patuta acted as a judge in his absence.

spk_0 But there was a dark side to his position.

spk_0 Patuta has been praised for his insightful commentary about this complicated man and he became very aware of how easy it was to run a foul of him.

spk_0 Patuta wrote that the sultan used to punish small faults and great without respect of persons whether men of learning or piety were noble descent.

spk_0 Eventually Patuta's luck also ran out.

spk_0 Because of his association with people who had offended the sultan Patuta was arrested.

spk_0 For many months he lived in fear of the sultan's notorious retribution.

spk_0 But finally a method of escape presented itself.

spk_0 The sultan had a fit of generosity.

spk_0 He ordered the disgraced Patuta to journey to the Mongol court in China as an emissary carrying a cargo of gifts.

spk_0 Patuta set off with a large retinue no doubt breathing a huge sigh of relief.

spk_0 But he continued to be plagued with bad luck.

spk_0 The Keravan first departed Delhi laden with riches.

spk_0 But on his cross country journey to begin the sea voyage to China, Patuta and his company were beset by Hindu rebels.

spk_0 He reportedly escaped with nothing but the pants he was wearing.

spk_0 Sources indicate that he was able to catch up with the people who had preceded him in his party.

spk_0 But when the ships were ready to launch at the Indian port of Calacate, now Corycord, they blew out to sea in a storm and sank.

spk_0 Patuta had lost absolutely everything.

spk_0 At this point fearing the temper of the sultan, Patuta pulled off a maneuver few people could manage in the modern world.

spk_0 He made himself disappear.

spk_0 Instead of returning to Delhi a failure, he rerouted himself to the archipelago of the Maldivs in the Indian Ocean.

spk_0 In typical fashion, Patuta managed to set himself up nicely in the Maldivs.

spk_0 He once again took up the legal profession and seems to have married several more wives.

spk_0 In his writings, he suggested that it was not uncommon for travelers to have temporary wives in the Maldivs, divorcing them when they moved on.

spk_0 Despite apparently enjoying island life, Patuta had a falling out with the rulers there and had to resume his journey to China after only a year.

spk_0 Hopping merchant vessels, he made his way slowly, almost going down with the ship off of Sri Lanka.

spk_0 He was saved by another vessel which was subsequently attacked by pirates.

spk_0 Giving up on sea travel for a while, he continued across land, paused again in India and finally boarded yet another ship.

spk_0 From this point, he traveled through Southeast Asia on more merchant vessels for some time.

spk_0 He finally got to China in 1345, four years after he had first set off from Delhi.

spk_0 The best way to learn about Patuta's time in China is to look at a variety of sources and there seems to be some disagreement about his experiences there.

spk_0 Although his writings offer many detailed observations about life and customs in Mongol China, scholars dispute some of his claims about the places he traveled to.

spk_0 He also mixed up important facts such as confusing the Yellow River with the Grand Canal.

spk_0 Some sources suggest that he may have been hampered in this adventure by his discomfort outside the Muslim world.

spk_0 Although he had traveled very extensively at this point, he had rarely been truly an outsider.

spk_0 His commentary on China was mixed.

spk_0 On one hand, he was impressed by the size of the cities and their relative safety.

spk_0 On the other hand, he was not complimentary to the Chinese people, calling them pagans and infidels.

spk_0 Once again landing on his feet however, he met up with a wealthy Muslim merchant who traveled with him to finally see the Emperor in Hangzhou.

spk_0 This merchant also provided him with gifts to replace the ones he had lost long ago.

spk_0 In the company of a Muslim friend, he seemed to enjoy Hangzhou very much, commenting on its natural beauty and wealth.

spk_0 From there, Patuta eventually reached the Emperor in Beijing, or so his writings say.

spk_0 And there, he managed to get an audience by referring to himself as the long-lost ambassador from the Delhi Sultanate.

spk_0 He was admitted finally completing his mission.

spk_0 But Ibn Batuta's heart seemed to yearn for more familiar places.

spk_0 After seeing the Emperor, he retraced his steps.

spk_0 It's important to point out that there isn't scholarly agreement on everything he saw and did in China.

spk_0 It's one of the murkier parts of his life.

spk_0 But we can put together a picture of his general impressions and travels there, filling in an unusual part of his life outside the Muslim world.

spk_0 After his adventure in China, Patuta returned to home base for a little while, reorienting himself in his hometown of Hong Kong.

spk_0 But the open road called him again before too long.

spk_0 He set off on a trip that took him to Granada in Andalusia, Spain.

spk_0 Following that, he journeyed through Morocco to Mara Keshe, where he found the town very quiet and the wake of about with the plague.

spk_0 Never one to rest long in solitude, he continued on to the northern edge of the Sahara in the autumn of 1351.

spk_0 Once there, he bolstered his supplies.

spk_0 And a few months later, he departed with the caravan heading into North Africa.

spk_0 After about a month of travel, he reached the salt mining village of Tagaza.

spk_0 His detailed account of this place, which was inhabited entirely by enslaved people, was not favorable.

spk_0 He tells of Hong's literally built of salt, which was traded like gold and provided the only currency for the community.

spk_0 He wrote, we passed ten days of discomfort there because the water is brackish and the place is plagued with flies.

spk_0 Water supplies are laid in at Tagaza for the crossing of the desert, which lies beyond it, which is a ten nights journey with no water on the way,

spk_0 except on rare occasions.

spk_0 We indeed had the good fortune to find water in plenty, in pools left by the rain.

spk_0 One day, we found a pool of sweet water between two rocky prominences.

spk_0 We quenched our thirst at it and then washed our clothes.

spk_0 After a brief stop at a nearby oasis, his caravan then commenced the last major leg of his grueling two-month journey across the desert, which comprised roughly 1600 kilometers in total.

spk_0 Patuta then encountered the Nishair River, which he mistook for the Nile.

spk_0 He traveled along the river until he reached the city of Mali, arguably the capital of the sprawling Mali Empire, although historians differ on whether or not a capital can be determined.

spk_0 This uncertainty is not surprising as the Mali Empire spend the modern day countries of Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, and parts of Nishair and Burkina Faso.

spk_0 But the king, Monsa Suleiman, was in residence in Mali, so it had a strong claim to the title.

spk_0 Patuta's opinions about Mali were not particularly flattering.

spk_0 He disapproved of how revealing some of the women's attire was, and he also seemed to feel that he did not receive enough respect and consideration from the king or the people in general.

spk_0 But worst of all, he related that his party became horribly ill shortly after they arrived.

spk_0 Patuta linked the sickness to food they all ate.

spk_0 Some of them didn't survive, and he himself was too sick to socialize for two months.

spk_0 At the end of that time, he finally met Monsa Suleiman.

spk_0 However, as a man accustomed to gifts and deference, he had a very low opinion of the king's reception.

spk_0 He wrote, he is a miserly king, not a man for whom one might hope for a rich present.

spk_0 The Sultan's hospitality gift was sent to me.

spk_0 My host came hurrying out of his house barefooted, and entered my room saying, stand up, here comes the Sultan's stuff and gift to you.

spk_0 So I stood up thinking since he had called its stuff that it consisted of robes of honor and money, and, alo, it was three cakes of bread and a piece of beef fried in native oil and a calabash of sour curds.

spk_0 When I saw this, I burst out laughing and thought it a most amazing thing that they could be so foolish and make so much of such a paltry matter.

spk_0 At the same time, Patuta also had some positive things to say about the people in Mali.

spk_0 He wrote, they are seldom unjust and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people.

spk_0 And also that there is complete security in their country, neither travel or nor inhabitant in it as anything to fear from robbers or men of violence.

spk_0 Regarding their biasness, he added approvingly.

spk_0 They are careful to observe the hours of prayer and a siguous in attending them in congregations and in bringing up their children to them.

spk_0 With this mixed experience in Mali, Patuta continued on to Timbuktu, which was not yet a major city at that time.

spk_0 Then he continued to the city of Gau in a canoe.

spk_0 This community was a larger hive of activity.

spk_0 He described it as one of their biggest and best provisioned towns with rice in plenty, milk and fish.

spk_0 Of note, during this journey, he saw his first hippopotamus, which he described in fascinating detail.

spk_0 He also reported an encounter with a crocodile.

spk_0 After a month in Gau, he proceeded to the oasis of Takedah, which was located in what is now Nizhyeir.

spk_0 While he was en route, he was summoned home by the Sultan in Morocco.

spk_0 He complied and arrived home once again in 1354.

spk_0 Once Patuta was back, the Sultan demanded that he make a record of all his travels.

spk_0 He dictated his sprawling story in Arabic to an end illusion scholar named Ibn Juzae,

spk_0 whom he had met earlier in Granada.

spk_0 The translation of the full title of the work is a masterpiece to those who contemplate the wonders of cities and the marvels of traveling.

spk_0 The commonly used name Rila translates simply to the travels.

spk_0 It's important to keep a few factors in mind when discussing the Rila.

spk_0 First, Patuta had to rely entirely on his memory to report his travels of nearly 30 years.

spk_0 He had no notes or previous writings to refer to.

spk_0 Second, the scribe who took down his story seems to have liberally borrowed from other people's accounts and not given them any credit.

spk_0 As such, the Rila may not always be entirely accurate, and it is not always safe to assume a given account is due to the fact that the Rila is not safe.

spk_0 It's genuinely that of Ibn Patuta.

spk_0 Of course, it's helpful to see these stories anyway, even if they were plagiarized from other travelers.

spk_0 However, some sections of the document are considered quite valid and original.

spk_0 Due simply to the fact that Patuta was the only person to describe some of the sites in such detail, his book provides the primary source of information for certain areas of the Muslim world at that given time.

spk_0 For example, his rich observations about his final African trip are highly prized by historians.

spk_0 Encyclopedia Britannica asserts that the name of the traveler of Islam, which is often applied to Patuta, is well-earned.

spk_0 Although his journeys did not result in the discovery of lands previously unknown to the people he was traveling on behalf of, he covered the Muslim world with incredible thoroughness, missing only a few sections in his three decades of adventure.

spk_0 Although his account is imperfect, historians are nonetheless grateful for its impressive accuracy in many areas.

spk_0 Important aspects of his narrative have been confirmed by other sources of the era.

spk_0 Further, his story is imbued with the insightfulness of a man who was intrigued by the human experience and never tired of observing people from a vast array of cultures.

spk_0 One source quipped that Ibn Patuta became a geographer in spite of himself.

spk_0 Once he had dictated his memoirs, little is known of Patuta's final years.

spk_0 He appears to have worked as a judge in Morocco from that time forward.

spk_0 He likely passed away in 1368 or 1369.

spk_0 Taking a step back and viewing his accidental epic, it's hard not to enjoy the fact that Ibn Patuta jumped headfirst into living his greatest passion.

spk_0 Without a plan, he made himself a medieval celebrity in the process.

spk_0 The 60 rulers he met along the way would impress the paparazzi even today.

spk_0 In a strange way like a modern celebrity, his persona was all about being really good at travel.

spk_0 Today, if you journey to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, you might see the Ibn Patuta Mall.

spk_0 Likewise, the Ibn Patuta Airport welcomes people flying into danger.

spk_0 And so, centuries later, Patuta's name remains well known and he is well loved, particularly in the region he loved the very most.

spk_0 The Ibn Patuta Mall is a very famous city in the United Arab Emirates.

spk_0

spk_0 It is a very famous city in the United Arab Emirates.

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Ibn Battuta | The World's Greatest Traveler?

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