Ibn Battūta << IHB uhn bat TOO tah >> (1304-1377?) was a famous Arab traveler and writer. He visited western Europe, western Africa, and the Far East. Ibn Battūta recorded his travels in the book Rihla (Journey). Its accounts of Asia Minor (now part of Turkey), India, and western Africa have long been important to historians.
Ibn Battūta was born on Feb. 24, 1304, in Tangier, Morocco. His full name was Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Battūta (also spelled Batuta). He was educated in Islamic law and religion, and began traveling in 1325. Ibn Battūta journeyed first to the city of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. Afterward, his trips included visits to Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia (now mainly Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan), India, Indonesia, and China. In 1349, after 24 years of travel, Ibn Battūta returned to Morocco. But he soon set out again and went to Andalusia, a region in Spain, and to Timbuktu, a center of the Mali Empire in western Africa.
