Customer Reviews

The Travels of Ibn Battuta: in the Near East, Asia and Africa, 1325-1354 (Dover Books on Travel, Adventure)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is actually a translation from the 1820s so the translation is very archaic & the spelling of the Arabic names is very nonstandard compared to modern transliteration equivalents. Likewise the notes are very dated and not very helpful. There seem to be missing parts and the ordering does not reflect the true itinerary.

Not to mention the fact that for all but experts in the Muslim world, much of this book would be very difficult to understand and much would be missed.

To really get a good idea of Ibn's travels, read the 'Adventures of Ibn...' by Ross. It may not have every word of the work, but it more than makes up for it by providing tons of cultural and historical background and by being very readable. There's a new paperback version out. See my review on that page.

If you must read the real book as well, don't try this one. Unfortunately, most other versions aren't complete and only cover parts of the travels. Even if you try a version of the full text, I recommend reading Ross 1st to help make the text more comprehensible & meaningful.

Ibn Battuta was certainly one of the bravest and most amazing human beings ever to walk the earth: and walk the earth he did! This Arab gentleman set out for the holy city of Mecca in about the year 1327, and he continued his journeys for the next quarter-century, traveling a total of about 75,000 miles! Ibn Battuta was not only an intrepid traveler, he was also, luckily for posterity, a skilled writer whose memoirs of his voyages abroad make for the read of a lifetime. Battuta's trek took him across Africa, Russia, India, China, Europe, Persia and the so-called Holy Land, as well as Mecca and vast portions of the Arabian peninsula. Those he meets, those with whom he trades, those he and his companions feared, loved, hated and looked on with fascination, they are all described in this absolutely authentic record of a journey across the surface of the known 14th century world. Battuta's writings give us a wealth of information and are truly a treasure!

Ibn Batuta describes his encounters with peoples and lands west of his native Tangiers (Morocco) in the 14 C. By avoiding to travel the same route twice, he comes to the same places a number of times (Baghdad, Delhi) spinning and zigzagging his ways through mountains and seas. As he explores with brio this world, he unfolds himself and as in most cross-cultural encounters, this maybe one of the most interesting features of the book. He accepts miraculous events with a candor I have not found in any other Middle Age traveler of those lands (from Marco Polo to the Jesuits). He gives little description of the way people live in the places he visits - which I regret - apart from detailed descriptions of the gowns and other garments he is given by some of the Sheikhs of the places he visits. The descriptions of how those sheikhs succeeded to govern illustrate how (extremely) fragile power was and is in those regions.
Names are sometimes difficult to relate to those we know - which is regretful.
Don't follow Ibn Batuta's advice, read (and enjoy) the book twice!

I know this edition may be outdated, but this book was truly fascinating. What I found very interesting is that it was told from a completely non-European, pre-colonial perspective, yet the similarities between his points of view and observations to those of European societies are striking.

I experienced a bit of disappointment when I compared this volume, which covers Ibn Batuta's travels in 243 pages, to the Arabic version I have "Rihla Ibn Batuta" Dar Al Beirut (1997) which describes his travels from page 14 to page 701. A lot of interesting material has been excised. It is not the fault of the translator inasmuch as he translated from an abridged Arabic manuscript. This is made clear from the back cover of the Dover publication of Rev. Lee's translation.
Nonetheless, this book is an interesting historical document in itself. Interspersed throughout the translation, Rev. Lee provides valuable notes and, in his preface, provides an insightful historiography. The translation includes, in numerous footnotes, various terms and places in Arabic. The orthography is quite legible. However, some of the places are arcane and there is no attempt to decipher them. This is a minor quibble as such an exercise would require the translator to also be a historical geographer.
I would ignore the review of this book that awarded this work only one star. It would appear that that reviewer is merely revealing more of his own limitations than those of the Rev. Lee.
Finally, the Dover edition is aesthetically pleasing and printed on high quality paper. I found it to be good value for money. Owing to its incompleteness, however, I can only give it a qualified recommendation.

Author: Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuda
Title: The Travels (edited by al-Bailuni)
Time: 1325-1354
Destination:
Asia, Northern Africa, Eastern Europe
Length: 29 years
Type: overland & by ship
Rating: 6/10
A wagging finger

[Please note: I've been reading a German translation that is based on the abridged edition published by al-Bailuni in the 17th century.]

The story: AAMIB is only a very young man when he embarks on his hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. But he doesn't stop there. Instead he goes on and on and on, and several travels during the next three decades will take him almost everywhere in the known world - he is much like Marco Polo, or Johann Schiltberger, Fernão Mendes Pinto or John Mandeville (about whom I will write later).

Of course, being a man of the Middle Ages, there is more that he has in common with those other guys: their world is full of magic and mystery (and also prejudice). They don't compose stories with defined plots, like modern readers might expect them to. And nobody can ever be sure if what they are saying is true or not.

Considering all of the above, this one was okay. For one thing, AAMIB really gets around. And much like Marco Polo's travelogue, this one is fun to read when the author is trying to show off his awesomeness (it seems like he owns an official post, money, and a wife in every other place he visits).

But on the other hand, I found this book a bit slow at times. While Marco Polo had his humorous remarks about sexual customs, and Johann Schiltberger had the raw credibility of someone who walked with the infamous Tamerlan, AAMIB seemed a bit stiff most of the time, as if he was constantly wagging his finger at the things that went against his Muslim beliefs.

That doesn't make it bad, but it's a bit slow. Maybe because of that beautiful, magical name my expectations were too high?

It's a 6/10.

Obstensibly, Ibn Battuta left Tangier to undertake his pilgrimage in 1325 to Mecca. After travelling half of the known world he finally returned to his home in 1354. Although there are somewhat abbreviated descriptions of cities, peoples and nations that he visited, there are also vividly detailed descriptions of quite diverse cultures and customs. His world view struck me as benign and pragmatic in how he absorbed and then recounted different episodes of his odyssey. This book is indeed "a rare and important work" and gives insight into the medieval world of the Middle East. However, of the 243 pages in this particular edition (Dover Publications), translated by Reverend Samuel Lee, the travelogue is about half; the remaining pages are taken up with long-winded notes written by the translator. I found the way the book was set out as clumsy and made it awkward to keep focus on the actual journey. The book is too academic for my liking and would have preferred an uncluttered edition.