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Ibn Battuta was born in 1304 to parents of Berber descent in Tangier, Morocco.
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Ibn Battuta was only 20 years old when he set out on his first adventure east in 1325. He wanted to go on a Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca like most Muslims of the time. Little did he know his adevnture would last for about 29 years, and he would travel 75,00 miles.
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Ibn Battuta made his first pilgrimage - almost known as a hajj - to Islam's holiest city in October 1326. At first he road alone on a donkey, but to avoid getting in danger he joined a carvan including several thousand pilgrims. The trip was a grand study tour of the World of Islam - Dar al-Islam. For Ibn Battuta it was an opportunity to acquire knowledge of religion and law, and meet with other Muslim scholars
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After his first pilgrimage, Ibn Battuta returned to Islam's holiest city and lived there for three years. He had taken a year and a half to reach his destination of Mecca from his homeland of Morocco, and he would make three other trips to Mecca in his lifetime. But rather than return home, he thought about the adventures of travel, of getting a job as a scholar or judge. He had heard about the opportunities opening up to ambitious and learned men in the court of the Sultan of India.
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Ibn Battuta stayed in Byzantine capital for a month in he early 1330s. He said that; "the churche, monasteries and other places of worship within the city are almost innumerable".
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Ibn Battuta reached India in 1334 and lived there for eight years. He spent these years as a judge, also known as a "qadi". He thought that Delhi was the greatest city of Hindustan, and all of the Islamism East.
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Ibn Battuta lived on these islands for nine months. He learned to live and eat like the locals. During this time he wrote about the inhanitants: " [there was] a strong incentive to venery. I had some slave girls and four wives during my residence here."
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Ibn Battuta sailed to Ceylon to visit Adam's Peak, to explore his Muslim beliefs. Muslims believed that a footprint shaped depression at the top of the mountain is the spot where Adam landed after being expelled fom Eden.
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In June 1348, Ibn Buttuta stopped in Aleppo where he learned about the outbreak of the bubonic plague - the Black Death. Thankfully he avoided getting ill but the plague took away the lives of 75 million, including his mother.
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After all his adventures, Ibn Battuta finally decided to settle down in Fez. He then dedicated to writing his memoir "A Gift to the Observers Concerning the Curisosites of the Cities and the Marvels Encountered in Travels".
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Ibn Battuta later died in 1368 after journeying for more then 30 years and covering 100,000km.
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