Ibn Battuta in Black Africa

ISBN 10: 1558763368 / ISBN 13: 9781558763364

Published by Markus Wiener Publishers, 2009

Seller Inventory # mon0000319345

Synopsis:

Abu Abdalla ibn Battuta (1304–1354) was one of the greatest travelers of pre-modern times. He traveled to Black Africa twice. He reported about the wealthy, multi-cultural trading centers of the African East coast, such as Mombasa and Kilwa, and the warm hospitality he experienced in Mogadishu. He also visited the courts of Mansa Musa and neighboring states during its period of prosperity from mining and the trans-Saharan trade. He wrote disapprovingly of sexual integration in families and of a “hostility toward the white man.” Ibn Battuta’s description is a unique document of the high culture, pride, and independence of Black African states in the fourteenth century. This book is one of the most important documents about Black Africa written by a non-European Medieval historian. The new appendices include reports by contemporary Arab travelers who witnessed events described by Ibn Battuta, such as Ibn Khaldun, al-Maqqari, Ibn al-Dawadari and Al-Maqrizi. New foreword and bibliography by Ross Dunn. New and expanded appendices.

About the Author: Ibn Battuta (1304-1377) was one of the first great travellers in world history – a century before Marco Polo. He was a scholar of Islamic law and found employment all over the Muslim world as a traveling judge or advisor to the rulers. He travelled to medieval Ghana, Mecca, India, and China and wrote his travel stories after his return to his native Tangier, Morocco, which were widely translated numerous times from Arabic.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Ibn Battuta in Black Africa
Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers
Publication Date: 2009
Binding: paperback
Condition: Acceptable