Customer Reviews

Ibn Battuta in Black Africa

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Ibn Battuta (born in Tangier, Morocco, 1304 AD) probably traveled more miles overland than any person in history before the invention of motor vehicles. Beginning with a trip to Mecca for the Islamic pilgrimage, he spent nearly three decades traveling and working in almost every Islamic country in the Eastern Hemisphere (He also traveled in many non-Islamic countries). His "Rihlah" ("Travels") is the monumental achievement in travel writing, made all the more amazing by the fact that he accomplished his travels almost 700 years ago. Most of his writing covers his travels outside of Africa (Arabia, Persia, India, and China). However, his written accounts of his visits to the nascent Swahili city-states on Africa's East Coast and the West African kingdom of Mali are the only primary historical sources for these civilizations in medieval times. Battuta is truly a window to the past, giving modern readers a look at the social, cultural, and political history of medieval African Islamic civilization.

"Ibn Battuta in Black Africa" is a well-edited collection of Battuta's travels in Sub-Saharan Africa. The book is not a lengthy one (it can be easily read in an evening), but it is full of useful information in the introduction and notes on Battuta's text. This is a very good introduction to Ibn Battuta for the student of African history.

Also see "The Travels of Ibn Battuta" (three volumes) by Sir Hamilton Gibb: an unabridged translation with excellent notes.

This book is worth going through in detail. It isn't a large book so that is easily possible. One gets to journey through sub-Sahara Africa with Battuta in Battuta's own words. Plus the book gives you counsel from experts in helping to understand Battuta's record.

I was reading Dunn's commentary and historic amplification of Battuta's travels when my daughter noticed what I was reading and gave me this book (it had been an assigned text in a college history course). It happened that I was then reading Dunn's commentary on Ibn Battuta's travels in the western Arabian Sea and down the east coast of Africa (c. 1330 AD), so I set aside Dunn's book while I read this one. Aside from the obvious historical importance of Ibn Battuta's accounts (due to Ibn Juzayy), this was an excellent enlargement on Dunn's commentary. No matter the translation of Ibn Battuta's travels that you may read, Dunn's book is important to refining an understanding of IB's most impressive globetrotting, as well as to engaging the 14th century culture and politics of Africa and Asia.

"Ibn Battuta's narrative allows us to look at that country through eyes unlike our own. For once, sub-Saharan Africa is viewed without the intrusion of colonialism and racism, as just another corner of a large and fascinating world. . . . This book provides much food for thought, combined with the simple pleasure of a good travel tale well told."
-The Boston Globe

" . . . lively translation . . . outstanding introduction . . . appealing illustrations . . . useful maps. . . ."
-World History Bulletin

First one is " A muslim Traveller of the 14th Century", and other one is "Ibn Battuta in Black Africa."I also like to review his Biography and Islamic Empire.