Timeline Ibn Battuta: Traveller of Islam

Ibn Battuta: Traveller of Islam 18

• 1304 Ibn Battuta is born in Tangier Born into a Berber family of Islamic legal scholars Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier, Morocco, into a family of qadis, and received a traditional education in Maliki Islamic law.
• 1325 Ibn Battuta leaves Tangier on pilgrimage to Mecca At 21 he sets out alone overland across North Africa Ibn Battuta left Tangier to perform the hajj, travelling overland along the North African coast towards Egypt. The journey was the start of travels that kept him away from home for 24 years.
• 1326 Ibn Battuta completes his first hajj in Mecca Reaches Mecca with the caravan from Damascus After travelling through Egypt, Palestine and Syria, Ibn Battuta reached Mecca and performed the pilgrimage. He then decided to keep travelling instead of returning home.
• 1327 Ibn Battuta travels through Iraq and Persia Visits Najaf, Basra, Isfahan, Tabriz and Baghdad Ibn Battuta joined a caravan to Iraq and travelled through Persia. In Baghdad he met the Ilkhanate ruler Abu Sa'id before returning to Mecca.
• 1330 Ibn Battuta sails down the Swahili coast of East Africa Visits Mogadishu, Mombasa and Kilwa Sailing from Aden, Ibn Battuta visited the trading cities of the East African coast, including Mogadishu, Mombasa and Kilwa. He described Kilwa as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Historians date the voyage to about 1330, though some place it a year or two later.
• 1332 Ibn Battuta visits Constantinople with a Golden Horde princess Accompanies Princess Bayalun, wife of Özbeg Khan After travelling through Anatolia and the Golden Horde lands, Ibn Battuta accompanied Özbeg Khan's Byzantine-born wife to Constantinople, where he saw Hagia Sophia from outside. The date is uncertain and is given as either 1332 or 1334.
• 1333 Ibn Battuta crosses the Hindu Kush and reaches the Indus Arrives at the frontier of the Delhi Sultanate After crossing Central Asia and Afghanistan through the Hindu Kush, Ibn Battuta reached the Indus River, which he dated to the start of the Islamic year 734.
• 1334 Ibn Battuta becomes a qadi in Delhi under Muhammad bin Tughluq Appointed judge by the Sultan of Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq appointed Ibn Battuta as a qadi in Delhi with a large salary. He served at the unpredictable sultan's court for about seven years.
• 1341 Ibn Battuta is named the Delhi Sultan's envoy to Yuan China Leads an embassy to the Mongol emperor of China Muhammad bin Tughluq chose Ibn Battuta to lead an embassy to the Yuan court. The mission went badly when the junk carrying the gifts was wrecked in a storm off Calicut.
• 1343 – 1344 Ibn Battuta serves as qadi in the Maldives Judge in the island sultanate for about nine months Unwilling to return to Delhi, Ibn Battuta went to the Maldives, where he became chief qadi and married into the ruling elite. He left after clashing with the islands' rulers.
• 1344 Ibn Battuta climbs Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka Pilgrimage to the sacred mountain In Ceylon, Ibn Battuta visited the court of the Aryacakravarti ruler of Jaffna and climbed Adam's Peak, which is venerated by Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.
• 1345 Ibn Battuta reaches China at the port of Quanzhou Arrives in Zaitun, then travels inland Travelling by way of Bengal and Southeast Asia, Ibn Battuta landed at Quanzhou, which Arabs called Zaitun. He described its huge harbour and its Muslim merchant community. His account of journeys deeper into China is disputed.
• 1348 Ibn Battuta witnesses the Black Death in Syria and Egypt Sees the plague sweep through Damascus and Cairo On his way home, Ibn Battuta passed through Syria and Egypt while the Black Death was raging and recorded huge daily death tolls. He then made a final hajj to Mecca.
• 1349 Ibn Battuta returns to Morocco at Fez Back home after 24 years of travel Ibn Battuta arrived in Fez, the Marinid capital, and presented himself to Sultan Abu Inan Faris. He learned that his mother had died of the plague a few months earlier.
• 1350 Ibn Battuta travels to al-Andalus Visits Gibraltar, Málaga and Granada Ibn Battuta crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and toured the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, the last Muslim state in the Iberian Peninsula.
• 1352 – 1353 Ibn Battuta crosses the Sahara to the Mali Empire Visits the court of Mansa Sulayman and Timbuktu Ibn Battuta crossed the Sahara by caravan from Sijilmasa to the Mali Empire and stayed at the court of Mansa Sulayman. On his way back he visited Timbuktu, then returned to Morocco in 1354.
• 1355 Ibn Battuta's Rihla is completed with Ibn Juzayy Travel account dictated at the order of Sultan Abu Inan At the order of the Marinid sultan, Ibn Battuta dictated an account of his journeys to the scholar Ibn Juzayy in Fez. The work, known as the Rihla, became one of the major travel writings of the medieval world.
• 1368 – 1369 Ibn Battuta dies in Morocco Dies after serving as a judge in a Moroccan town Ibn Battuta spent his final years as a qadi in Morocco and died in 1368 or 1369. Little is known about his last years, and the place of his grave is uncertain.