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He was born at Tangier, Morocco. His family made a living as scholars and judges of the Islamic legal system. Following the famiy tradition, Ibn Battuta recieved a good edcuation and his goal was to make a hajj, or a pilgrimage, to Mecca.
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He was 21 years old when he finally decided to make his first hajj. Ibn Battuta left his hometown in 1325 and began the journey to Mecca. He ended up spending 30 years visiting every major Muslim country.
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On his way to Mecca, he stopped in Alexandria. Alexandria was one of the greatest cities during his time.
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Ibn Battuta finally reached Mecca in 1326. After completing his first hajj he went to many major Islamic cities in present day Persia, Iraq, and Iran.
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He moved back to Mecca and lived there for about three years
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In the winter of about 1330, he returned to Mecca for his third pilgrimage.
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After his pilgrimage, Ibn Battuta stayed in India for eight years as a quadi, or judge, for the Sultan of Delhi. He claimed in his jounals that Delhi was "the greatest city of Hindustan, and indeed of all Islamism in the East"
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After serving the Sultan for eight years, he departed from India to deliver gifts back to the Chinese emperor.
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Ibn Battuta arrived in the Maldive Islands off of India and served the Maldivians until August of 1344.
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He possibly went to China in the summer of 1346, however it may not have actually happened. In his jounals, he said that "the Chinese are all infidels" but he also mentioned that the "fruits, agriculture, gold and silver... [was] without a parallel."
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He traveled through Aleppo Seria on his way back to Mecca. Here he learned about the Bubonic Plague. Luckily, he did not catch the deadly disease and quickly left Aleppo. In the winter of 1347, he reached Zafar, Yemen.
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After Zafar, he stopped by the Strait of Hormuz before going up the Persian coast and reached Baghdad, Iraq in January of 1348. He then crossed the desert and reached Damascus, Seria. He stayed there until July. Then he went to Cairo before making his fourth pilgrimage to Mecca. After his pilgrimage, he returned to Cairo.
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From Egypt, he sailed along the coast of North Africa and stopped by Tunisia in May. He then returned home to Tangier, only to find out that his mother had past away a few weeks before his arrival from the bubonic plague. He left Tangier and went to Fez, Morocco.
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Battuta made his final travels in 1352 after he decided to visit the only major Islamic land he had not yet seen. This was a long journey, as it was across the Sahara Desert. In July he reached the empire of Mali. In Feburary of 1353, he then traveled along the Niger River and visited the cities of Timbuktu and Gao.
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After his many journies, Ibn Battuta was ready to settle down. He was 50 years old and had traveled more than 75,000 miles. However, Sultan Abu Inan ordered him to write a rihla based on his travels and experiences. A rihla is a type of literature that focuses on religious pilgrimages. Working with an Andalusian scholar named Ibn Juzayy, Ibn Battuta worked on this manuscript from 1354 to1355. Ibn Juzayy finished the book and Battuta probably did not even read the final version.
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Unfortunetly, his rihla was not appreciated or well known. He spent the remaining of his life as a minor qadi, or judge in a Moroccan town. He died in either 1368 or 1369.
