Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah, commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berber Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, largely in the Muslim world. He travelled more than any other explorer in pre-modern history, totalling around 117,000 km (73,000 mi), surpassing Zheng He with about 50,000 km (31,000 mi) and Marco Polo with 24,000 km (15,000 mi). Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of southern Eurasia, including Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, he dictated an account of his journeys, titled A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling, but commonly known as The Rihla.
Mecca is the holiest city in Islam and the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015. Its estimated metro population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.
Riḥla refers to both a journey and the written account of that journey, or travelogue. It constitutes a genre of Arabic literature. Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of "travel in search of knowledge", the riḥla as a genre of medieval and early-modern Arabic literature usually describes a journey taken with the intent of performing the Hajj, but can include an itinerary that vastly exceeds that original route. The classical riḥla in medieval Arabic travel literature, like those written by Ibn Battuta and Ibn Jubayr, includes a description of the "personalities, places, governments, customs, and curiosities" experienced by traveler, and usually within the boundaries of the Muslim world. However, the term rihla can be applied to other Arabic travel narratives describing journeys taken for reasons other than pilgrimage; for instance the 19th century riḥlas of Muhammad as-Saffar and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi both follow conventions of the riḥla genre by recording not only the journey to France from Morocco and Egypt, respectively, but also their experiences and observations.
Cultural exchange between western peoples, particularly Arabs and Chinese have been occurring for centuries. The earliest records go back to 635 with the discovery of the Nestorian Stone and are then followed by the more famous travels of Marco Polo and Ibn Batutta several centuries later. The records of the latter would influence the perception and invigorate interest in trade and travel with the Chinese.
Honnavara is a town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India.
The Tughlaq dynasty was a Turkic Muslim dynasty which ruled over the Delhi sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. The dynasty ended in 1413.
Ramhormoz is the capital city of Ramhormoz County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. In ancient times it had been known as Samangan, having been established by the Sassanid king Hormizd I, although an Elamite tomb has been found as well. The historical territory of Ramshir is located in this area, only 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away from the city.
Hu or Huw is the modern name of an Egyptian town on the Nile, which in more ancient times was the capital of the 7th Nome of Upper Egypt.
Ibn Jubayr, also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade. His chronicle describes Saladin's domains in Egypt and the Levant which he passed through on his way to Mecca. Further, on his return journey, he passed through Christian Sicily, which had been recaptured from the Muslims only a century before, and he made several observations on the hybrid polyglot culture that flourished there.
Ma'bar Sultanate, unofficially known as the Madurai Sultanate, was a short lived kingdom based in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India. The sultanate was proclaimed in 1335 in Madurai led by the Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan declared his independence from the Delhi Sultanate. Ahsan Khan and his descendants ruled Madurai and surrounding territories until 1378 when the last sultan, Ala-ud-Din Sikandar Shah fell in battle against the forces of the Vijayanagara Kingdom. During this short span of 43 years, the Sultanate had 8 different rulers.
Abdelhadi Tazi was a scholar, writer, historian and former Moroccan ambassador in various countries.
The Gazi Chelebi was the nickname of a naval commander who controlled the Black Sea port of Sinop in the first decades of the 14th century.
Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta is an IMAX dramatised documentary film charting the first real-life journey made by the Islamic scholar Ibn Battuta from his native Morocco to Mecca for the Hajj, in 1325.
The Sultanate of Mogadishu, also known as the Kingdom of Magadazo, was a medieval Somali sultanate centered in southern Somalia. It rose as one of the pre-eminent powers in the Horn of Africa under the rule of Fakhr al-Din before becoming part of the powerful and expanding Ajuran Empire in the 13th century. The Mogadishu Sultanate maintained a vast trading network, dominated the regional gold trade, minted its own currency, and left an extensive architectural legacy in present-day southern Somalia.
Indonesia and Morocco established diplomatic relations in 1960. Both are the Muslim-majority countries; Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world, while Morocco is also a Muslim majority nation. Morocco praised Indonesia as a strong democratic nation, and pointed out that both nations face the same challenges of separatism and terrorism. Diplomatic relations were established in 1960. Indonesia has an embassy in Rabat and a consulate in Casablanca, while Morocco has an embassy in Jakarta. Both nations are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Non-Aligned Movement and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The Rihla, formal title A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling, is the travelogue written by Ibn Battuta, documenting his lifetime of travel and exploration, which according to his description covered about 70,000 miles. Rihla is the Arabic word for a journey or the travelogue that documents it.
During the Trans-Saharan slave trade, slaves were transported across the Sahara desert. Most were moved from Sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa to be sold to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations; a small percentage went the other direction. Estimates of the total number of black slaves moved from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Muslim world range from 11-17 million, and the trans-Saharan trade routes conveyed a significant number of this total, with one estimate tallying around 7.2 million slaves crossing the Sahara from the mid-7th century until the 20th century.
