Ibn Battuta

I have been meaning to read this for at least a decade: the Islamic world's answer to Marco Polo. Read this on the heels of [b:The Travels of Sir John Mandeville|964338|The Travels of Sir John Mandeville|John Mandeville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547378674l/964338._SY75_.jpg|984851]Mandeville's adventures, and Battuta in comparison seems much more believable. The drawback of this is that Battuta's account is much drier. It's 90% a list of places he went and people he met, and 10% wild shit like people getting shot out of ballistae.

Battuta's account really puts into perspective our Eurocentric notions of the middle ages - if we thought that the world beyond Europe was barely known or that Europe was the centre of civilisation Battuta proves that a lie. He travels from Africa to Indonesia with barely any mention of Europe. In comparison, the Islamic world was unimaginably broad and diverse.

Many of the drawbacks of this book come down to the translator, a Christian Reverend of the Victorian era who clearly holds bigoted ideas against Islam. Even Mandeville was less prejudiced toward Islam! He was also very intent on showing his work, providing original Arabic text for every proper noun and assuming the reader can understand the French and Latin excerpts he quotes without translation in his footnotes. The translation could also do with updating, as the English spelling of Arabic names seems extremely outdated, to the extent that it is very difficult to look up personages mentioned for more information.

We could also have done with more cultural context. Battuta seems to have a habit of acquiring and losing slave girls, or marrying women on a temporary basis, despite otherwise presenting himself as a pious and law-abiding man. Is this...normal? I have no idea!

Regardless, this is an important work if you want to get a fuller understanding of the world in the Middle Ages, and is humbling for those raised on a Eurocentric framework. Great to read in comparison with Mandeville's work. I haven't read Marco Polo yet, but I expect it would also make a good comparison.… (more)

A highly abridged version of the account of the greatest world travellor of them all, who is said to have covered some 75,000 miles in the 14th century, from his home in Morocco to the far east in China. The editor, Mackintosh-Smith, says that he has edited out three-fifths of the original, the cuts being more heavy in the borrowed detaails of the holy sites and rites of Mecca and the Ummayyad mosqques, and the fulsome praise of Ibn Battutah's patrons. Of great interest are the accounts of medieval India of Mohammad Tughlaq (the one who trashed the currency and emptied out Delhi in a fit of pique against the critics in the capital), and of China of the last of the Yuan (Mongol) emperors; also such exotic places as the Maldives and an island of amazons in Southeast Asia (still not identified). One wonders what has been lost in editing, tempting a dip into the original.… (more)

Ibn Battutah traveled most of 14th century muslim world and later had his recollections written up by a servant. This book largely is not in his own words but instead recounted by the editor along with some supplementary historical information from other sources for background.

Battutah's journeys took him from Morocco, where he was born a Berber, across northern Africa and around the middle east, south far along the east African coast, north to the Black Sea, southeast to India, then to Malaysia and south east China. He visited also southern Spain and western Africa south of the Sahara.

Battutah's account was intended, according to the style of the time, to read more as an entertainment than as history. His personality does not much show itself. He was educated in Muslim law and was devout but was not otherwise particularly well-educated. He nearly lost his life several times. He met with several of the most powerful rulers of the time and was generally afforded great respect as a traveller and jurist.

Students of historical Islam may rate this five stars. Readers without interest in the history of this time and place will want to pass on this.… (more)