2023 Reprint of the 1929 U.S. Edition. Illustrated Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Ibn Battutah - ethnographer, biographer, anecdotal historian and occasional botanist - was just twenty-one when he set out in 1325 from his native Tangier on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He is perhaps the greatest medieval Muslim traveler and the author of one of the most famous travel books, the
Riḥlah
(Travels). His great work describes his extensive travels covering some 75,000 miles (120,000 km) in trips to almost all of the Muslim countries and as far as China and Sumatra (now part of Indonesia). In this travel narrative he writes of his adventures along the way, and comes across as a superb ethnographer, biographer, anecdotal historian and occasional botanist and gastronome. He was attacked by bandits, almost drowned in a sinking ship, and nearly beheaded by a tyrant ruler. He also had a few marriages and lovers and fathered several children on his travels.