Ibn Battuta Departs Tangier
June 14, 1325 · Medieval
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta departed his hometown of Tangier, Morocco, at age 21, initially intending to perform the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Traveling overland alone on a donkey, he crossed North Africa through Tlemcen, Tunis, and Constantine before reaching Alexandria in early 1326. What began as a religious journey extended into a 24-year odyssey covering approximately 75,000 miles across the Islamic world, from West Africa to China. His travels were later dictated to scholar Ibn Juzayy, producing the Rihla.
Key Figures
Ibn BattutaIbn Juzayy
Locations
Tangier, Morocco
Topics
medieval Islamic travelhajj pilgrimageRihla travel literatureNorth African trade routescross-cultural encounter
Connected Events — 5 Connections
Mansa Musa's 1324 pilgrimage occurred one year before Ibn Battuta's departure; both traversed the Islamic world Mansa Musa's Pilgrimage to Mecca
Ibn Battuta's 1325 departure began the journey that later brought him to Kilwa on the Swahili Coast in 1331 Ibn Battuta Visits Kilwa and Documents the Swahili Coast
Ibn Battuta's later travels covered much of the geographic scope al-Idrisi had mapped Al-Idrisi Completes the Tabula Rogeriana World Map
Ibn Battuta documented the Swahili Coast trade networks connected to Great Zimbabwe's gold exports Construction of Great Zimbabwe
Ibn Battuta visited Timbuktu during the same era that Mansa Musa was building its scholarly institutions Timbuktu Becomes a Center of Islamic Learning
The Time Detectives® · Cadet Mission
Investigate This Event
Place it on the timeline. Earn points. Master the connections.
New to The Time Detectives?
Learn what it is →