Ibn Battuta: Reasons, Locations, Activities


 * Muslim scholar in North Africa, from the city of Tangir (14th century).
 * Greatest world traveler of his age. Throughout almost his entire adult life he traveled.
 * Traveled on a hajj across North Africa to the Middle East, down to East Africa to Swahili Coast region, then into the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia, and then into Central Asia. Then when down into the Delhi Sultanate in India (and visited the island of Saylan too), and South East Asia, and then maybe into China. On his way back he also visited the Muslim kingdom of Granada (in the Iberian Peninsula, namely Spain) and finally the Malian kingdom of West Africa. Finally he ended back in North Africa where he wrote everything down.
 * He could travel across the Islamic world at such vast distances and in relative safety because he was a legal scholar, so he was an expert in Shiria, which allowed him to both study Sharia in important intellectual centers like Kirov Egypt and to find employment as a judge in places as far away as India and Saylan (all because of common existence of Sharia among all Muslims).
 * He was also able to travel because of one of the 5 pillars of Islam, the Zakkat (or charity). Charity in Muslim practice is not just giving to the poor, but also meant providing hospitality to travelers in need. So, as a Muslim he could travel to different places and expect people to take him in and feed/protect him.
 * Traveled a further total distance than Marco Polo