Ibn Battuta

(1304 - c.. 1369, or 1377)
Born in Tangiers, February 25, 1304 in the family accepted Islam Berber scholars and judges. His full name - Mohammed ibn Abdallah ibn Battuta. In 1325, determined to fulfill the cherished duty of a Muslim and a pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan coast of North Africa to Cairo and from there traveled to Damascus, where he joined a caravan. Between 1326 and 1327 pilgrimages traveled to southern Persia and Iraq. After a year or two, visited Yemen, went by sea from Aden to the Arab factor in East Africa and returned to Mecca in Oman and the Persian Gulf.
Then he matured plan to visit India, because he had heard a lot about Muhammad ibn Tugluke, the Sultan of Delhi. However, in Jeddah to find a ship bound for India, failed, and Ibn Battuta decided to travel by land. Crossed Asia Minor and sailed from Sinope to the Crimea, and then got to the shed, the residence of Khan's Golden Horde, and went to the Caucasus. Taking advantage of the opportunity to visit Constantinople, and returned through the steppes of Sarai on the Volga River and continued on his way through Khiva, Samarkand, Khorasan and Afghanistan. September 12, 1333 successfully reached the border with India, held on r.Ind.

In Delhi, Ibn Battuta was given a warm reception, and he lived there for eight years. In 1342 he was sent a messenger to the Mongol emperor, who ruled China, but at Calicut in southern India, his unit was in trouble. Not wishing to return to Delhi, Ibn Battuta sailed to the Maldives, where he spent 18 months as a qadi (Muslim judge). He visited Ceylon and the east coast of peninsular India (Coromandel Coast), and Bengal, and then Sumatra, where he got on the ship, heading for Zaytoun (modern Xiamen, or Amoy) in China. His stay in China was short-lived, returning to southern India, he again went to Mecca. After this, Ibn Battuta decided to return to Morocco and reached the city of Fez in November, 1349. This was followed by a trip to Granada. In 1352-1353, Ibn Battuta made one last trip and crossed the Sahara. I reached the country Mandingo people in the upper r.Niger (sovr. Mali), returned home in Fez. In Fez, dictated a description of his travels to one of the scribes of the Moroccan sultan. Ibn Battuta died in Fez in about 1369 (according to other sources in 1377) and was buried at home - in Tangiers.