Question 1

He left home to make one pilgrimage — and came back twenty-nine years later, having crossed most of the known world. What made that even possible?

Accepted Answer

A shared language, a shared law and a chain of cities that all recognised the same qualification. Ibn Battuta could arrive anywhere from Mali to China, say he was a judge trained in Maliki law, and be given work, lodging and a horse.

Question 2

Ibn Battuta: what happened in June 1325?

Accepted Answer

He leaves for Mecca, alone — Twenty-one years old, with no companion and no caravan. He would not see his parents again.

Question 3

Ibn Battuta: what happened in 1334–1341?

Accepted Answer

Chief judge of Delhi — Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq gives him an enormous salary and a job he is not qualified for, in a court where falling out of favour could be fatal. He spends eight years there, increasingly frightened.

Question 4

Ibn Battuta: what happened in 1348–1349?

Accepted Answer

Home, through the Black Death — He is in Damascus at the height of the plague and records around 2,400 deaths a day. He arrives in Tangier to find his mother died of it a few months before.

Ibn Battuta — Africa · Asia · 29 years away · Great Explorers

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