Wednesday, August 22, 2007
In around 1326, Ibn Battuta at long last performed his pilgrimage to Mecca. After this, he realized that he was interested more than ever in continuing to travel. He had no special destination, and with his only goal being to visit as many lands as possible, he took care in choosing different routes. He traveled across the entire Middle East, from South in Ethipoia to the north in Persia. "Then we traveled to Baghdad, the Abode of Peace and Capital of Islam. Here there are two bridges like that at Hilla, on which the people promenade night and day, both men and women. The baths at Baghdad are numerous and excellently constructed, most of them being painted with pitch, which has the appearance of black marble. This pitch is brought from a spring between Kufa and Basra, from which it flows continually. It gathers at the sides of the spring like clay and is shovelled up and brought to Baghdad. Each establishment has a number of private bathrooms, every one of which has also a wash-basin in the corner, with two taps supplying hot and cold water. Every bather is given three towels, one to wear round his waist when he goes in, another to wear round his waist when he comes out, and the third to dry himself with."
Moving along further North, Ibn Battuta took to exploring the Caspian and Black Sea regions as well as the South of Russia. His more interesting later travels were to be further east in Asia. He reached India, where he impressed the ruling Mongol emperor with his knowledge and tales. The emperor offered him a position at his court, which Ibn Battuta accepted. This gave him a chance to explore the whole of India. Having gained considerable experience during his travels around the country, he was then appointed as the Indian ambassador to China. This occupation was destined to be the final one for Battuta before he decided to return home. Facing a long journey back, he set out to his native lands. He reached north-west Africa around 1351. He made a short trip to Spain and then south to the Sahara before finally coming to Fez, Morocco in about 1353.
About Ibn Battuta