Ibn Battuta Lesson Plan
Central Historical Question:
What was the Muslim world like in the 1320s?
Materials:
• Ibn Battuta PowerPoint
• Copies of Documents A-C and Guiding Questions
• Graphic Organizer and Suggested Answers
• Map of North Africa and Middle East (teacher provided)
Common Core State Standards Alignment (pp. 61, 65-66 of Common Core State
Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies,
Science, and Technical Subjects): RH #1 (Gr. 6-12), RH #4 (Gr. 6-10), RH #6 (Gr. 68), RH #8 (Gr. 6-12), RH #9 (Gr. 6-8), WST #1 (GR. 6-12),
Plan of Instruction:
Note: Ideally, students should have some experience categorizing historical information
by whether it is political, economic, social/cultural, or environmental before doing this
lesson.
Although this is a longer lesson, it can be shortened in several ways. Depending on
students’ reading abilities, the Guiding Questions for Documents A and B can be
omitted. Also, to reduce the amount of reading, Ibn Battuta’s accounts in Documents A
and B can be divided up between groups of students in a couple of ways. You can
assign specific places to different groups of students (Tripoli, Syria, etc.) or you can
assign specific context categories to different groups of students (political, social, etc.).
1. Use the PowerPoint slides to establish background on Ibn Battuta and introduce the
inquiry.
a. Slide 1: Title slide.
b. Slide 2: Ibn Battuta. In 1325, a young explorer named Ibn Battuta left his
home in Morocco to make a ritual pilgrimage, called a haj, to the holy Muslim
cities of Mecca and Medina.
c. Slide 3: The Rihla. Battuta continued to travel and explore for the next three
decades. When he returned home in 1355, Battuta described his travels to
the scholar Ibn Juzayy, who wrote them down in The Rihla, which means “the
journey.” Although some historians have questioned its accuracy, Ibn
Battuta’s Rihla has remained a resource for historians to learn about the
Muslim world in the 1320s.
d. Slide 4: Central Historical Question. Today, you will use selections of Ibn
Battuta’s writings to investigate and answer the question: What was the
Muslim world like in the 1320s?
e. Slide 5: Evaluating Evidence. To do this work, we must carefully consider the
documents we are using to understand the past. What does it mean to
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
evaluate evidence? As historians, we try to understand what happened in the
past by looking at different accounts about the past. For each account that we
examine, we need to consider what useful information it provides about the
time period that we are studying. We also need to remember that one account
is never enough information to understand what happened in the past. That
means that we must consider the limitations of each document that we
examine and think about what other information we might need.
2. Hand out Document A, map, Guiding Questions and Graphic Organizer.
a. Before students begin reading the document, you should provide an overview
of Battuta’s travels on the map.
b. In pairs, students read Document A and answer Guiding Questions.
c. Share out responses.
3. Model how to fill out the chart for Cairo. Show students how they can make
inferences from specific details. For examples with entries from other cities, see
Suggested Answers for suggestions.
Example: In the first sentence of his Cairo entry, Ibn Battuta says that Cairo was
“the mother of all cities and the seat of Pharaoh the tyrant.” Because he says
tyrant, I know that Egypt wasn’t a democracy at that time, so I can write “Lack of
democracy” under political. He says it is the “mother of all cities,” which allows
me to infer that it was one of the largest cities Ibn Battuta ever saw. I can write
“likely a population center” for social. Ibn Battuta also described 36,000 boats
travelling up and down the Nile carrying goods. This tells me that these boats
were probably involved in trading, so I can write, “Nile supported trade” in the
economic box. Finally, Ibn Battuta seems impressed at the number of madrasas
and the quality of the hospital in Cairo. This tells me these educational and
medical facilities were probably quite well developed in Cairo. So I can write
“Cairo likely a key cultural and intellectual center with colleges and hospitals” in
the social/cultural box.
4. Hand out Document B.
a. In pairs, students read Document B and answer Guiding Questions.
b. Students share out their responses.
c. In pairs, students complete Graphic Organizer for Damascus, Mecca, and
Baghdad.
d. Share out what students noted about life in the Muslim world in the 1320s.
5. Final descriptions.
a. Students write 4-5 sentences describing what they can infer about life in the
Muslim world in the 14th century.
b. In pairs, students share descriptions.
6. Hand out Document C.
a. In pairs, students read Document C and answer Guiding Questions.
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
b. Share out responses.
7. Discussion: Today, we used Ibn Battuta’s descriptions of his travels in North Africa
and the Arabian Peninsula to get a picture of the Muslim world in the 14th century.
Historians have argued that Ibn Battuta may have made up at least some of his
account. Can we still rely Ibn Battuta’s account to learn about the context of the
Muslim world in the 14th century? Why or why not?
a. Make sure that students recognize that we might not want to rely on him
because now we don’t know what’s real and what’s made up.
b. On the other hand, Dunn points out that Ibn Battuta seems to have copied his
accounts from earlier sources, so perhaps we simply want to look at his
account as a secondary source. And, we do know that Ibn Battuta did travel
extensively during this time. Plus, Dunn argues the Bulghar account (not the
accounts students read in Documents A and B) is the only one that is
definitely false. Moreover, Dunn only points out these inaccuracies in a
footnote, which is not a prominent part of a history book.
c. In the end, stress the fact that there is no right answer about the appropriate
use of this source and that historians often have to make tough decisions
about what a source can and can’t be used for. Rarely, if ever, are accounts
of the past based on single historical sources.
Citations
Documents A-B
“Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354 in “Internet History Sourcebooks,”
Fordham University. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1354-ibnbattuta.asp
Document C
Dunn, Ross E. The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth
Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
Document A: Ibn Battuta’s Rihla (Part 1)
Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta is known for his extensive travels throughout the
Middle East, Africa and Asia. His travel account, written after his return home to
Tangier in 1355, offers historians insight into social, political, economic and
cultural context of the 14th century.
I left Tangier, my birthplace, on Thursday, 2nd Rajab 725 [June 14, 1325],
with the intention of making the Pilgrimage to the Holy House [at Mecca] and the
Tomb of the Prophet [at Medina].
Tripoli
Some time later I joined a pilgrim caravan. We left Tunis early in November
[1325], following the coast road through Susa Sfax, and Qabis, where we stayed
for ten days on account of incessant rains. Then we set out for Tripoli,
accompanied for several stages by a hundred or more horsemen as well as a
detachment of archers, out of respect for whom the Arab robbers kept their
distance. . . . There is an uninterrupted chain of bazaars from Alexandria to
Cairo, and from Cairo to Assuan [Aswan] in Upper Egypt.
Cairo
I arrived at length at Cairo, mother of all cities and seat of Pharaoh the
tyrant. It is said that in Cairo there are twelve thousand water-carriers who
transport water on camels, and thirty thousand hirers of mules and donkeys, and
that on the Nile there are thirty-six thousand boats belonging to the sultan and
his subjects which sail upstream to Upper Egypt and downstream to Alexandria
and Damietta, laden with goods and profitable merchandise of all kinds. . . .The
madrasas of Cairo cannot be counted. . . . As for the Maristan, which lies
"between the two castles" near the mausoleum of Sultan Qala'un, no description
is adequate to its beauties.
Source: Excerpts from “Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354.”
Vocabulary
bazaar: a marketplace
incessant: continuing without interruption sultan: head of state or leader
detachment: a group of military troops
laden: heavily loaded
madrasas: religious schools
Maristan: hospital
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
Document B: Ibn Battuta’s Rihla (Part 2)
Crossing the border into Syria (1326)
At the station of Qatya customs-dues are collected from the
merchants, and their goods and baggage are thoroughly examined and
searched. There are offices here, with officers, clerks, and notaries, and the
daily revenue is a thousand gold dinars. No one is allowed to pass into
Syria without a passport from Egypt, nor into Egypt without a passport from
Syria, for the protection of the property of the subjects and as a measure of
precaution against spies from Iraq.
Damascus
I entered Damascus on Thursday 9th Ramadan 726 [9th August,
1326], and lodged at the Malikite college. Damascus surpasses all other
cities in beauty, and no description can do justice to its charms. The
Cathedral Mosque, known as the Umayyad Mosque, is the most
magnificent mosque in the world. When the new moon of the month
Shawwal appeared in the same year [1st September, 1326], the caravan left
Damascus and I set off along with it. . . . On the third day after leaving
Damascus the great caravan halted at Tabuk for four days to rest and to
water the camels and pack water for the terrible desert between Tabuk
and al-Ula.
Mecca
I got rid of my tailored clothes, bathed, and putting on the pilgrim’s
garment, I prayed and dedicated myself to the pilgrimage. The inhabitants
of Mecca have many excellent and noble activities and qualities. They are
good to the humble and weak, and kind to strangers. When any of them
makes a feast, he begins by giving food to the religious devotees who are
poor and without resources.
Source: Excerpts from “Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354.”
Vocabulary
Malikite: one of four schools of Islamic law
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
Document C: Ross Dunn
Published in 1986, Ross Dunn’s The Adventures of Ibn Battuta attempts to
reconstruct Ibn Battuta’s journey. In a footnote, Dunn, a professor of history
at San Diego State University, notes that Ibn Battuta’s account of his
journey may not have been entirely accurate. In this excerpt, he focuses on
the problems with Ibn Battuta’s account of his journey to the city of Bulghar,
in modern day Russia.
At this point in the narrative Ibn Battuta claims to have made a
journey within the month of Ramadan . . . to Bulghar and back . . . a total
distance of 800 miles. [Historian] Stephen Janiscek argued convincingly
that this trip never took place. Janiscek shows that Ibn Battuta’s description
of Bulghar is based on earlier geographic writings in Arabic. He also points
out that Ibn Battuta could not possibly have made the journey in anywhere
near the time he allots to it and that he says virtually nothing about his
route, his companions, his personal experiences, or the sights he would
have seen along the way. The Bulghar trip is the only section of the Rihla
whose falsity has been proven almost beyond any doubt, though the
veracity of some other journeys may be suspected.
Source: Ross Dunn, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of
the Fourteenth Century, 1986.
Vocabulary
falsity: untruthfulness
veracity: truthfulness
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
Guiding Questions
Central Historical Question:
What was the Muslim world like in the 1320s?
Document A: Tripoli to Cairo
1. Why did Ibn Battuta decide to travel?
2. What time of year did he leave? What challenge did he face?
3. How safe was the North African coast road? Cite a specific piece of evidence from the
document.
4. Why does Battuta describe Cairo as the “mother of all cities”?
Document B: Syria to Mecca
1. Why does Battuta stop at the Syrian border?
2. What geographical challenge does Battuta face in traveling from Damascus to Mecca?
3. How does Ibn Battuta describe the people of Mecca? Do you think this is trustworthy
description? Why or why not?
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
Document C: Ross Dunn
1. What is Ross Dunn’s claim about Ibn Battuta’s travels?
2. What two pieces of evidence does Dunn offer to support his claim that Ibn Battuta did not
actually take this trip?
3. After reading the Dunn excerpt, do you think we can still use Ibn Battuta’s travel accounts
to learn about what life was like in the Muslim world during the 14th century? Why or Why
not?
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu
Final Questions
1. According to Ibn Battua, what was life like in the Muslim world in the 1320s? Explain in
four to five sentences.
2. What are three limitations of using Ibn Battuta’s account, a single source, to understand
what life was like in Muslim world in the 1320s?
STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
sheg.stanford.edu