Ibn Battuta — "I saw a bird that was as large as a camel, and it had a long neck."
I saw a bird that was as large as a camel, and it had a long neck.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"The sea is one of the most powerful and wonderful things I have ever seen and I wish to remain by the sea all the time."
"I saw in this city many things that are contrary to our religion."
"I was invited to a feast, and they served me a dish of roasted dog."
"The women of this land are very beautiful, and they do not cover their faces, even in the presence of men."
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About Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
Moroccan Muslim scholar and explorer whose Rihla (travels) covered ~75,000 miles across the Islamic world from Mali to China — the most-traveled person of the medieval world. Closely associated with Marco Polo (his Venetian counterpart, traveling 50 years earlier in the opposite direction). For an intellectual contrast, see medieval European Christian insularity, the sheltered monastic-feudal worldview of 14th-century Latin Christendom — Ibn Battuta's 30-year journey demonstrates that the 14th-century Dar al-Islam was a single intellectual ecosystem from West Africa to Beijing, while medieval Europe was still tribal and parochial. The cleanest 'connectedness vs insularity' contrast in pre-modern history — Battuta could find a familiar Maliki judge in any city from Mali to Sumatra.