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Author
Douglas Bullis
Douglas Bullis is a researcher and writer who specializes in the Arab and Asian Muslim worlds. He divides his time between Southeast Asia and India, and can be reached at douglasbullis@hotmail.com.
Articles by this author
The Longest Hajj: The Journeys of Ibn Battuta - Introduction
History
September 19, 2000
In the early 14th century, a well-educated young man set out from Tangier, on the western edge of the Islamic world, to make the pilgrimage to Makkah. But unlike most pilgrims, he went on from there, beginning some 30 years of travel that took him as far as China, on the Islamic world’s other edge. As he roamed three continents he earned his living, and a growing reputation, as a judge, advisor and diplomat in the service of local rulers; survived piracy, shipwreck and royal disfavor; and saw more of the world than anyone else in his time. When he finally returned to Morocco, the memoirs he dictated became a turning point in Arab literature.