The Travels of Ibn Battutah
Ibn Battutah left Tangier in 1325 for the hajj and did not come home for twenty-nine years, travelling through North Africa, Arabia, East Africa, Anatolia, the Golden Horde, India, the Maldives, Sumatra and China. He worked as a jurist and an ambassador wherever he stopped, married repeatedly and kept setting off again. Tim Mackintosh-Smith’s edition is the readable way in.
Recommended by 1 Person
Ziauddin Sardar
Wherever he went, he found it easy to get employment as a jurist, or a courtier or an ambassador. His journeys involve swashbuckling adventures and chases with concubines in tow. He is a riveting read. The interesting thing with Ibn Battutah is that travel for him was not just going from one place to another; it was living in a place. Wherever he went, he made his home. He had a house, he married and he got a job.
Interview · November 2009
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