 Muhammad Ibn Battuta (1304-1377 CE) was a

Moroccan traveler and writer.

 Also known as Shams ad-Din.
 Born in Tangier in Morocco in 1304 CE.
 Belonged to a family of Qadis (judges) and received an
education in Islamic law.
 Ibn Battuta was only 21-year-old when he set out on a
voyage.
 But driven by a spirit of adventure, he didn't return
home and decided to travel further and explore far
away foreign lands.
 Over the next 30 years, he would visit North Africa, the
Horn of Africa, West Africa, the middle east, India,
central Asia, South-East Asia and Chine before
returning home in 1354 CE.
 Towards the end of 1332, Ibn Battuta came to India via
Afghanistan.
 He is said to have crossed the Indus river on 12
September 1333 CE and made his way to Delhi
 India was then ruled by Muhammad bin Tughluq, then
considered to the wealthiest man in the Islamic world.
 The Sultan of Delhi, was impressed by his scholarship
and appointed him as the Qazi or judge of Delhi with a
salary of 12,000 dinars per year.
 In 1342, he was sent proceed to china as the Sultan’s
envoy to the Mongol ruler.
 By the time Ibn Battuta arrived in Delhi in the fourteenth
century, the subcontinent was part of a global network of
communication that stretched from China in the east to north-
west Africa and Europe in the west.
 He enjoyed spending time with learned men and rulers, often
officiating as qazi, and enjoying the cosmopolitan culture of
urban centers. Anything that was unfamiliar was particularly
highlighted to impress the readers or listeners.
 The state evidently took special measures to encourage
merchants.
 All trade routes were well supplied with inns and guest houses.
 He was amazed by the efficiency of the postal system which
allowed merchants to not only send information and remit credit
across long distances, but also to dispatch goods required at
short notice.
 Battuta found the cities in the subcontinent with full of exciting
opportunities for those who had the necessary drive, resources
and skills.
 They were densely populated and prosperous. Most cities had
crowed streets and bright and colorful markets with wide variety
of goods.
 He describes Delhi as a vast city, with a great population, the
largest in India.
 The bazaars were not only places of economic transactions, but
the hub of social and cultural activities.
 Most bazaars had a mosque and a temple and space were marked
for public performances by dancers, musicians and singers.
 He found Indian agriculture very productive because of the
fertility of soil.
 Ibn Battuta described a royal meal:
Bread (in thin round cakes); large slabs of meat (sheep);
Meat cooked with ghee, onions and green ginger;
Rice cooked in ghee with chicken on top;
“Sambusak" (triangular pastries made of hashed meat
and cooked with almonds, walnuts, pistachios, onions,
and spices put inside a piece of thin bread fried in ghee -
also known as "samosas");
Sweetcakes and sweetmeats (pastries) for dessert;
They drank sherbet of sugared water before the meal
and barley-water after.
These are samosas or as Ibn Battuta called
them – ‘sambusak’.
These are betel leaves for sale at a modern
market. They are still grown and chewed
(along with areca nuts).
 After he returned home, the Marinid
ruler of Morocco, Abu Inan Faris,
persuaded him to document his travel
experience.
 Ibn Battuta dictated an account of his
journeys to a scholar named Ibn
Juzayy
 A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the
Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of
Travelling, but is often simply referred
to as the Rihla, or "Journey".
 Fictional in places, the Rihla still gives
as complete an account as exists of
some parts of the world in the 14th
century.
 “Traveling—it
leaves you speechless,
then turns you into a
storyteller.”
― Ibn Battuta

The travels of Ibn Battutah