At a glance
- Roles
- traveler · writer
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
- Region
- Maghreb
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
TravelHistory-writing and social thought
Place in the story
- Traveller and observerTradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
On screen
- Journey to Mecca· Documentary, 2009 · About · documentary
A brave traveler who set out from Tangier, journeyed for many years, and visited far lands to meet people and record his travels.
Muhammad ibn Battuta was a Moroccan traveler who began his journey from Tangier to perform the Hajj, traveling across the Islamic world and beyond for nearly thirty years. He visited Mecca, Egypt, Africa, Persia, India, the Maldives, and China, dictating his famous travelogue describing peoples, cultures, and traditions.
Storytellers (10–12) read the Explorers text, then cross to the Scholars text.
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Battuta (703–779 AH / 1304–1377 CE), the renowned Moroccan scholar and explorer acclaimed as the foremost traveler of the medieval world. Departing Tangier in 725 AH for the pilgrimage, his journeys spanned roughly thirty years and 73,000 miles across North and West Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, and China. Dictated to the scribe Ibn Juzayy in his travel narrative 'The Rihla' (Tuhfat al-Nuzzar), his account remains an invaluable historical and anthropological record of 14th-century societies across Afro-Eurasia.
Overview
Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Lawati al-Tanji, known as Ibn Battuta, a traveller from Tangier in the Maghrib. He visited many lands of the Islamic world and wrote his well-known travel account. 1
He was born in 703 AH (1304 CE) and died in 776 AH (1374 CE), according to report. 1
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Connections
People and things also explored
Mecca· Delhi· Fez· Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca)· Ibn Battuta completes his first pilgrimage· Ibn Battuta dictates his travels· Ibn Battuta named envoy to China· Ibn Battuta travels to Mali
Sources
- Mawsu'at A'lam al-Ulama' wa-l-Adaba' al-Arab wa-l-Muslimin — Dar al-Jil / ALECSO
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Ibn Battuta, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/ibn-battuta-muhammad/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-29.