Ibn Battuta — "The people of this country are not good, and they are not hospitable."
The people of this country are not good, and they are not hospitable.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I saw a mountain in this land that was made entirely of salt. It was a truly astonishing sight."
"The women of this country do not cover their heads, and they are not ashamed of this. We saw many of them whose faces were more beautiful than the faces of the men."
"I was once caught in a sandstorm in this land. The sand was so thick I could not see my hand in front of my face."
"I saw a fish in this land that had legs and could walk on land. It was a most extraordinary creature."
"The women of this land are very beautiful, and they do not cover their faces, even in the presence of men."
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.