Page 130 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

ibn khaldun 949

the Maldive Islands, Sudanic West Africa, and several Gibb, H. A. R. (Trans.). (1958–2001). The travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D.
other regions. 1325–1354, Translated with Notes from the Arabic Text (C. Defremery
& B. R. Sanguinetti, Eds.) Vols. 1–3, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
The book belongs to the genre of literature known as University Press for the Hakluyt Society;. Vol. 4, London: Hakluyt
rihla, that is, an account of journeys usually centered on Society; Vol. 5 (Index,A. D. H. Bivar, Compiler),Aldershot, UK: Ash-
gate Publishing.
a pilgrimage to Mecca. This genre flowered in North
Hamdun, S., & King, N. (Trans. & Eds.). (1994). Ibn Battuta in Black
Africa and Muslim Spain between the twelfth and fif- Africa. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener.
teenth centuries, and Ibn Battuta’s text is the most am- Hrbek, I. (1962).The chronology of Ibn Battuta’s travels. Archiv Orien-
talni, 30, 409–486.
bitious representation of it. Scholars agree on the Mackintosh-Smith, T. (2001). Travels with a tangerine: A journey in the
authenticity and reliability of the Rihla in general, and footnotes of Ibn Battutah. London: Picador.
Mackintosh-Smith,T. (Ed.). (2003). The travels of Ibn Battutah. London:
independent sources have corroborated many of the trav-
Picador.
eler’s detailed observations. Even so, the itinerary and Université Abdelmalek Essaadi. (1996). Ibn Battuta: Actes du Colloque
chronology present numerous inconsistencies and conun- international organizé par l’Ecole Supérieure Roi Fahd de Traduction
à Tanger les 27, 28, 29 Octobre 1993.[ Ibn Battuta: Proceedings of
drums, and the journeyer’s statements are sometimes the International Colloquium Organized by the King Fahd Advanced
inaccurate. Parts of the descriptions of Syria, Iraq, and School of Translation at Tangier le 27, 28, and 29 October, 1993]
Tangier, Morocco: L’Ecole Supérieure Roi Fahd de Traduction.
Arabia are copied, usually without attestation, from at
least two other earlier travel accounts, though we cannot
be sure how much responsibility for this borrowing might
lie with Ibn Juzayy or later copyists. Scholars have also
concluded that the accounts of journeys to Bulghar on Ibn Khaldun
the upper Volga River, to the city of Sanaa in Yemen, and (1332–1406)
to northern China are almost certainly fabrications. More- Arab historian
over, debate continues regarding the trustworthiness of
Ibn Battuta’s claim to have visited any part of China. Nev- bn Khaldun (or Abu Zayd ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Khal-
ertheless, the Rihla is a preeminent source for fourteenth- Idun) is widely regarded as the greatest Arab-Muslim
century world history, and because its author reveals so historian and sociological thinker of the pre-modern peri-
much about his own personality, attitudes, and opinions od. His writings have been compared to those of intel-
(far more than does his near contemporary Marco Polo), lectual giants such as Aristotle, Thucydides, Ibn Rushd
the narrative continues to captivate modern readers. (Averroes), Machiavelli, and Vico, as well as to world his-
torians of the twentieth century. While Ibn Khaldun’s
Ross E. Dunn
fame is largely a result of his historical and sociological
See also Islamic World thought, he also led a career as a well-traveled statesman,
which included the kind of cross-cultural encounters
Further Reading normally associated with the great premodern travelers
Abercrombie,T. J. (1991). Ibn Battuta: Prince of travelers. National Geo- Marco Polo (1254–1324) and Ibn Battuta (1304–
graphic,180(6), 3–49. 1368/69).
Beckingham, C. F. (1993). The Rihla: Fact or fiction? In I. R. Netton
(Ed.), Golden roads: Migration, pilgrimage and travel in mediaeval Ibn Khaldun’s family came to Spain during the Arab
and modern Islam (pp. 86–94). Richmond, UK: Curzon Press. conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. During their four cen-
Dunn, R. E. (1993). Migrations of literate Muslims in the middle periods: turies in Spain, they served under the Umayyad, Almo-
The case of Ibn Battuta. In I. R. Netton (Ed.), Golden roads: Migra-
tion, pilgrimage and travel in mediaeval and modern Islam (pp. 75– ravid, and Almohad dynasties, holding high positions in
85). Richmond, UK: Curzon Press. administrative and military affairs. His family fled Spain
Dunn, R. E. (2004). The adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim traveler of
the 14th century (2nd ed). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of in 1248, immediately before the Christian reconquest of
California Press. the Iberian Peninsula, and settled in North Africa.