For any one of the travellers mentioned in the chapter, find out more about his life and writings. Prepare a report on his travels, noting in particular how he described society, and comparing these descriptions with the excerpts included in the chapter.

Ibn Battuta:

I. Life : He was born in Tangier (Morocco, an African country). He belonged to one of the most respectable and educated familes of Tangier. The members of his family were well known for their experience in Islamic religious law. Due to the tradition of his family, Ibn Battuta received literary and scholastic education when he was quite young.

Ibn Battuta left Tangier in 1324. Before he set off for India in 1332-33, he had made pilgrimage trips to Mecca, and had already travelled extensively in Syria, Iraq, Persia, Yemen, Oman and a few trading ports on the coast of East Africa.

Travelling over land through Central Asia,Ibn Battuta reached Sind in 1333. He had heard about Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi, and lured by his reputation as a generous patron of arts and letters, set off for Delhi, passing through Multan and Uch. The Sultan was impressed by his scholarship, and appointed his the qazi or judge of Delhi. He remained in that position for several years, until he fell out of favour and was thrown into prison. Once the misunderstanding between him and the Sultan was cleared, he was restored to imperial service, and was ordered in 1342 to proceed to China as the Sultan's envoy to the Mongol ruler.

With the new assignment, Ibn Battuta proceeded to the Malabar coast through central India. From Malabar he went to the Maldives, where he stayed for eighteen months as the qazi, but eventually decided to proceed to Sri Lanka. He then went back once more to the Malabar coast and the Maldives,and before resuming his mission to China, visited Bengal and Assam as well. He took a ship to Sumatra, and from there another ship for the Chinese port town of Zaytun (now known as Quanzhou). He travelled extensively in China, going as far as Beijing, but did not stay for long, deciding to return home in 1347.

II. Writings of the Ibn Battuta : Unlike most other member of his class, Ibn Battuta considered experience gained through travels to be a more important source of knowledge than books.

Ibn Battuta meticulously recorded his observations about new cultures, peoples, beliefs, values etc. We need to bear in mind that this globe-trotter was travelling in the fourteenth century, when it was much more arduous and hazardous to travel than it is today. According to Ibn Battuta, it took forty days to travel from Multan to Delhi and about fifty days from Sind to Delhi. The distance from Daulatabad to Delhi was covered in forty days, while that from Gwalior to Delhi took ten days.

The writings of Ibn Battuta tell us that law and order was not very good at that time. Generally robbers use to rob the stranger and foreign visitor. This thing is certified the writing of Ibn Battula.