Ibn Battuta — "The animals in this land are very wild. I saw a leopard once, and it was so clos…"
The animals in this land are very wild. I saw a leopard once, and it was so close I could almost touch it.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Ibn Battuta
"I saw a mountain in this land that was made entirely of salt. It was a truly astonishing sight."
"I saw a market in this city where they sold human flesh. It was a most disturbing sight, and I quickly left."
"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 was once offered a princess in marriage in this land, but I declined, for I was already married and had a long journey ahead of me."
"I saw in this country many things that are contrary to Islam."
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.