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
"The houses in this land are made of mud and straw, and they are very small. I had to bend over to enter them."
"The people of this place are not good, and they are not pious."
"The Chinese are a people who do not have shame, and they do not care about their honor."
"The people of this city are very hospitable. They invited me into their homes and fed me delicious meals, even though I was a stranger."
"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."
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.