Ibn Battuta: He Left Home for a Pilgrimage… and Travelled for 29 Years

In 1325, a young man of twenty-one left his home in Morocco alone.

He planned a pilgrimage of a year or two.

He came home twenty-four years later, and then he left again.

This is the story of Ibn Battuta.

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Pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is a long journey to a holy place for religious reasons.

In 1325, he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Caravan. A caravan is a group of people and animals travelling together, especially across a desert.

He soon joined a caravan of pilgrims.

Hospitality. Hospitality is a warm and generous welcome for guests and strangers.

Strangers showed him remarkable hospitality.

Wander. To wander means to travel from place to place without a fixed plan.

For almost thirty years, he wandered from country to country.

Chronicle. A chronicle is a written record of events in the order they happened.

His chronicle is still read today.

Now, one pattern: would for past habits.

We use would plus a verb for things someone did again and again in the past.

He stayed for months.

Then he moved on.

He would stay for months before moving on.

Ready? Let's begin.

Ibn Battuta was born in 1304 in Tangier, a busy port in Morocco.

His family were judges, and he studied Islamic law.

But the young scholar wanted to see the world.

In June 1325, he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca, alone.

He later wrote that he left home as birds leave their nests.

He soon joined a caravan of pilgrims, and in 1326 he reached Mecca.

But he did not go home.

For almost thirty years, he wandered from country to country: Iraq, Persia, the coast of East Africa, the lands of today's Turkey.

He would stay for months before moving on.

He would visit holy men and scholars, and rulers would give him gifts, horses and robes.

Strangers showed him remarkable hospitality.

Lodges along the roads would give travellers free food and a bed.

In one town, two groups of young men argued so fiercely over who would host him that they almost came to blows.

In India, the Sultan of Delhi made him a judge and paid him a fortune.

He stayed about seven years.

Then, in 1341, the Sultan sent him to carry rich gifts to the Emperor of China.

Would he ever see home again?

At Calicut, on the coast, the ships were ready.

He was on shore for Friday prayers when a storm hit.

The great ship with the gifts was smashed, and no one on board survived.

His own ship sailed away without him.

He stood on the beach with a prayer mat and ten gold coins.

He had lost the gifts, his money and his friends.

Anyone else might have turned back.

Ibn Battuta kept going: to the Maldives, where he became a judge, then to Sri Lanka and China.

At last, he turned for home.

On the way, he learned that his father had died years before.

His mother died of the plague just months before he arrived.

In late 1349, after twenty-four years, he walked into Fez.

And then he left again.

He crossed into Spain, and later rode across the Sahara with a camel caravan to the empire of Mali.

In one desert town, even the houses were built from blocks of salt.

Back in Morocco, the Sultan asked him to tell his story, and a young scholar wrote it all down.

In about thirty years, he had travelled roughly 120,000 kilometres, much farther than Marco Polo.

He died around 1368, but his chronicle is still read today.

Let's review. In 1325, he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

He soon joined a caravan of pilgrims.

Strangers showed him remarkable hospitality.

For almost thirty years, he wandered from country to country.

His chronicle is still read today.

And remember: he would stay for months before moving on.

Ibn Battuta's story teaches us: the world is full of strangers ready to welcome you.

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