Ibn Khaldun, << `ihb` uhn khahl DOON >> (1332-1406), was an Arab historian. His seven-volume Universal History is a monumental study of world civilization. It is considered one of the major historical works of the Middle Ages, the period from about the A.D. 400’s through the 1400’s.
Ibn Khaldun believed states and empires rise and fall in constant cycles. Hard work and cooperation lead to state formation and prosperity. But then tyranny, corruption, and decline set in. He expressed his theories in Muqaddimah, the first volume of Universal History. The British historian Arnold J. Toynbee called Muqaddimah “the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created.”
Ibn Khaldun described his experiences as a politician, scholar, and statesman in his Autobiography. He was born on May 27, 1332, in the North African city of Tunis. He died on March 17, 1406, in Cairo.
