The Rihla of Ibn Battuta (1325-1354)

1. 1. Tangier

   Today: Tangier, Morocco · Arrived 14 June 1325

   The surviving testimony does not cover this stage — help us find one.

   The record survives. Why is this stage empty?

2. 2. Tunis

   Today: Tunis, Tunisia · Arrived 1 August 1325

   During his first outward journey toward Mecca, Ibn Battuta arrived in Tunis, where he was later nominated as qadi (judge) for the assembled Hijaz pilgrim caravan before it set out along the coast road toward Tripoli.

   We left Tunis early in November, following the coa£t road through Siisa, Sfax, and Qabis , 9 where we stayed for ten days on account of incessant rains.

3. 3. Cairo (al-Qahira)

   Today: Cairo, Egypt · Arrived 1 April 1326

   Ibn Battuta arrived in Cairo, which he describes in glowing terms as 'mother of cities' and a vast metropolis, having traveled along the chain of bazaars from Alexandria through Egypt.

   I arrived at length at Cairo, mother of cities and seat of Pharaoh the tyrant, mistress of broad regions and fruitful lands, boundless in multitude of buildings, peerless in beauty and splendour, the meeting-place of comer and goer, the halting-place of feeble and mighty, whose throngs surge as the waves of the sea, and can scarce be contained in her for all her size and capacity.

4. 4. Damascus

   Today: Damascus, Syria · Arrived 9 August 1326

   Ibn Battuta arrived in Damascus on Thursday 9 Ramadan 726 (9 August 1326), lodging at the Malikite college called ash-Sharabishiya, and praised the city and its Umayyad Mosque as unmatched in the world.

   T entered Damascus on Thursday 9th Ramadan 726 [9th AuguSt, 1326], and lodged at the Malikite college called ash-Sharabishiya. Damascus surpasses all other cities in beauty, and no description, how¬ ever full, can do justice to its charms.

5. 5. Madina (Tayba)

   Today: Medina, Saudi Arabia · Arrived 1 September 1326

   The surviving testimony does not cover this stage — help us find one.

   The record survives. Why is this stage empty?

6. 6. Mecca (the City of Surety)

   Today: Mecca, Saudi Arabia · Arrived 1 November 1326

   Ibn Battuta and his fellow pilgrims travelled from Madina through Badr, the Vale of Bazwa, Rabigh, Khulays, and the Bottom of Marr, arriving at last at Mecca, where they entered the sanctuary and began the rites of pilgrimage.

   We set out at night from this blessed valley, with hearts full of joy at reaching the goal of our hopes, and in the morning arrived at the City of Surety, Mecca (may God ennoble her !), where we immediately entered the holy sanctuary and began the rites of pilgrimage.

7. 7. Mash-had 'Ali (Najaf)

   Today: Najaf, Iraq · Arrived 1 January 1347

   Ibn Battuta visited the town of Mash-had 'Ali at Najaf, describing it as a fine, populous, and substantially built city in 'Iraq with clean bazaars, entering through the outer Bab al-Hadra to reach the shrine believed to hold the tomb of 'Ali.

   We went on from there and alighted in the town of Mash-had ‘Alf at Najaf. It is a fine town, situated in a wide rocky plain—one of the finest, moSt populous, and moSl substantially built cities in ‘Iraq. It has beautiful clean bazaars.

8. 8. Mecca

   Today: Mecca, Saudi Arabia · Arrived 1 January 1327

   After completing the Hajj, Ibn Battuta remained in Mecca for an extended residence, staying through subsequent pilgrimages (including that of 1328) over several years devoted to pious exercises.

   At the end of the Pilgrimage I remained at Mecca all that year, giving myself up entirely to pious exercises and leading a modi agreeable existence. After the next Pilgrimage [of 1328] I spent another year there, and yet another after that.

9. 9. Maqdashaw

   Today: Mogadishu, Somalia · Arrived 1 January 1331

   After a rough crossing from Zayla', Ibn Battuta arrived at Mogadishu, describing it as an enormous trading town whose merchant inhabitants kept many camels and were greeted by young men bringing food to arriving ships.

   On leaving Zayla' we sailed for fifteen days and came to Maqdashaw [Mogdishu], which is an enormous town. Its inhabitants are merchants and have many camels, of which they slaughter hundreds every day [for food].

10. 10. ‘Alaya

    Today: Alanya, Turkey · Arrived 1 January 1331 · position reconstructed

    After a ten-night sea crossing from Ladhiqiya aboard a Genoese galley, Ibn Battuta landed at ‘Alaya, the port marking the start of Bilad ar-Rum (Anatolia), praising the beauty of the land and its people.

    We were ten nights at sea, and the Chris¬ tian treated us kindly and took no passage money from us. On the tenth day we reached ‘Alaya, where the province begins.

    Why is this position reconstructed?

11. 11. Constantinople the Great

    Today: Istanbul, Turkey · Arrived 1 January 1332

    Ibn Battuta, travelling in the retinue of the khatun Bayalun (daughter of the Byzantine emperor and wife of Sultan Uzbeg of the Golden Horde), journeyed from the Golden Horde lands through Baba Saltuq and across Greek territory to reach Constantinople, where he was received at the imperial palace after initially being barred entry as a Muslim.

    Our entry into Constantinople the Great was made about noon or a little later, and they rang their bells until the very skies shook with the mingling of their sounds.

12. 12. Bukhara

    Today: Bukhara, Uzbekistan · Arrived 1 January 1333

    Ibn Battuta travelled through the desert and past the town of Wabkana, crossing a fertile stretch of orchards and streams, before arriving at the great city of Bukhara, once the capital of the region.

    Thence we travelled for a whole day through a continuous series of orchards, ftreams, trees and buildings, and reached the city of Bukhara. This city was formerly the capital of the

13. 13. Dihli

    Today: Delhi, India · Arrived 1 January 1334

    Ibn Battuta, after being received by officials sent by the sultan and halting near the village of Palam, arrived at the city of Delhi, the vast and magnificent capital of India.

    We then set out from Mas'iid Abad and halted near a village called Palam. On the next day we arrived at the city of Dihli [Delhi], the metropolis of India, a vadt and magnificent city, uniting beauty with strength.

14. 14. Calicut

    Today: Kozhikode, Kerala, India · Arrived 1 January 1341

    Ibn Battuta's fleet arrived at Calicut with great ceremony, welcomed by the sultan's representatives and merchants with drums and trumpets, and stayed three months awaiting favorable sailing season; soon after, a violent storm wrecked the junks in the harbor, drowning many aboard including the Chinese ambassadors' companions and the sultan's present.

    We entered the harbour in great pomp, the like of which I have never seen in those lands, but it was a joy to be followed by distress. We Stopped in the port of Calicut, in which there were at the time thirteen__ Chinese vessels, and disembarked.

15. 15. Mahal (Maldive Islands)

    Today: Malé, Maldives · Arrived 1 January 1341

    After sailing from Kannalus and visiting several other islands, Ibn Battuta arrived at the island of Mahal, the seat of the Sultana Khadija and her husband, and anchored in its harbour, where he was required to visit the Wazir before going ashore.

    When I had spent a fortnight at Kannalus, I set sail again with my companions, and having visited on our way several other islands, at which we were received with honour and hospitably entertained, arrived on the tenth day at the island of Mahal, the seat of the Sultana and her husband, and anchored in its harbour.

16. 16. Saylan (Ceylon)

    Today: Sri Lanka · Arrived 1 September 1344

    Ibn Battuta's ship, sailing without an experienced pilot from an island near Ma'bar, made a nine-day crossing and arrived at the island of Ceylon, where the travelers sighted the towering peak of Sarandib (Adam's Peak) and were warned that the nearby port lay in the territory of a hostile pirate-sultan.

    We set sail without an experienced pilot on board, the distance between the island and Ma'bar being a three days’ journey, and travelled for nine days, emerging on the ninth day at the island of Saylan [Ceylon]. We saw the mountain of Sarandib there, rising into the heavens like a column of smoke.

17. 17. Sunurkawan

    Today: Sonargaon, Bangladesh · Arrived 1 January 1345

    The surviving testimony does not cover this stage — help us find one.

    The record survives. Why is this stage empty?

18. 18. Zaytun (land of China)

    Today: Quanzhou, Fujian, China · Arrived 1345-1346

    After a stormy voyage from the kingdom of Tawalisi, Ibn Battuta's ship, aided by a favouring wind, completed a seventeen-day crossing and made landfall in China, entering at the great port city of Zaytun where Chinese junks were built and foreign traders disembarked.

    The surviving testimony does not cover this stage — help us find one.

    The record survives. Why is this stage empty?

19. 19. Caliciit

    Today: Calicut (Kozhikode), Kerala, India · Arrived 1 January 1347

    On his return voyage from China, Ibn Battuta came back to Calicut, where two of his slaves who had survived the wreck of the junk carrying his goods and presents brought him news that his slave-girls had been seized by the ruler of Sumatra and his companions scattered among China, Sumatra, and Bengal.

    Two slaves of mine who had been on the kakam arrived at Caliciit and told me that the ruler of Sumatra had taken my slave-girls, that my goods had been seized by various hands, and that my companions were scattered to China, Sumatra and Bengal.

20. 20. Damascus

    Today: Damascus, Syria · Arrived 1 January 1348

    The surviving testimony does not cover this stage — help us find one.

    The record survives. Why is this stage empty?

21. 21. Mecca

    Today: Mecca, Saudi Arabia · Arrived 16 November 1348

    Ibn Battuta, travelling via Upper Egypt and Judda, reached Mecca on 22nd Sha'ban of the year 49 (16th November 1348), arriving for what would be his final pilgrimage there.

    whence I took ship to Judda, and thence reached Mecca on 22nd Sha'ban of the year 49 [16th November 1348].

22. 22. Fez

    Today: Fez, Morocco · Arrived 13 November 1349

    Ibn Battuta, having traveled from Taza after learning of his mother's death from plague, arrived in the royal city of Fez and presented himself before the Sultan Abu 'Inan.

    Then I set out from Taza and arrived at the royal city of Fez on Friday, at the end of the month of Sha'ban of the year 75° [13th November 1349].

23. 23. Gharnata

    Today: Granada, Spain · Arrived 1 January 1350

    Ibn Battuta visited Granada, the last great stronghold of Muslim Andalusia, where he encountered a community of scholars and exiles who had gathered there from many distant lands. He later departed the city, travelling back through al-Hamma, Ballash, and Malaqa toward Ronda and Gibraltar.

    One is from Samarqand, another from Tabriz, a third from Qiiniya [Konia], one from Khurasan, two from India, and so on.

24. 24. Malli

    Today: Niani (traditional site of the Mali Empire capital), Guinea · Arrived 28 June 1352

    Ibn Battuta reached the capital of the Mali Empire, recording the exact date of his arrival, and remained there for several months before departing in early 1353 accompanied by a merchant, Abu Bakr ibn Ya'qub, on the road toward Timbuktu.

    The date of my arrival at Mali! was 14th Jumada I., [seven hundred and] fifty-three [28th June 1352] and of my departure from it 22 nd Muharram of the year fifty-four [27th February 1353].

Published under CC BY-SA 4.0. Sources keep their own open licences. See the Magna Carta of the Seas for how this was verified.