About this Site

Welcome to Ibn Battuta on the Web

This site is devoted to Ibn Battuta, the great 14th century Muslim traveler. Starting out on a simple Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), Ibn Battuta wound up touring almost the entire Muslim world, from West Africa and Spain to China and the Maldives. After his travels were over, he dictated a lengthy and pungent account commonly known as the Rihla. These "travels" paint an unforgettable picture of Islamic Civilization at its apogee—confident, world-spanning, diverse and cosmopolitan.

What you can find here

This site collects, sorts and annotates more than 125 resources about Ibn Battuta and his travels. This is nearly everything on the web, including many hard-to-find sites. Overviews long and short can be found in Ibn Battuta and His Travels. Selections from his work are in Translations of the Rihla. The Region-by-Region section assembles resources for each of the areas he visits. Maps and Pictures provide some visual evidence—although the pictures are all fantastic. In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta highlights moderns who chose to follow part of Ibn Battuta's path. Finally, there is an extensive Foreign Language and Kids. Anything else goes in Miscellaneous!

Add yourself to my Ibn Battuta list. You'll receive an update when major new features appear. If you like I can keep you up to date on my other Islamic culture sites, including Ibn Khaldun on the Web and Sir Richard F. Burton on the Web. I'll never send you more than one email per month, I promise.

Ibn Battuta is also sometimes spelled Ibn Batuta, Ibn Battouta and Ibn Battutah. This sentence helps the search engines, so sue me. :)

Thank you for visiting!

Tim Spalding
Portland, Maine
[email protected]