Given the difficulties and dangers of traveling in the 13th and 14th centuries, most people on the Eurasian landmass lived and died very close to where they were born without ever venturing very far from home.[1] Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, however, were very different from most people. These two not only traveled the length and breadth of the Eurasian landmass, but they left written accounts of what they had seen. These writings give us valuable insights into the Christian and Muslim perspectives on the disparate cultures of Eurasia at that time.
Marco Polo left his home in Venice in 1254 when he was seventeen years old to accompany his father and uncle on a journey to the Far East.[2] In the over twenty years that elapsed from the time of his departure to the time he returned home, Marco Polo traveled extensively throughout the Middle Kingdom, South East Asia, and the House of Islam. His travels did not take him to Africa, however, or very far into India.[3] Nevertheless, he probably traveled more during his life than any other European of his day.
Ibn Battuta, however, was a little different from Marco Polo. Ibn Battuta was born a Muslim in Morocco in 1304. When he was twenty-one, he set out by himself on a journey of the entire Islamic World. [4]Although his travels eventually took him to China, he never traveled much in Europe.[5] In all, he traveled over 75,000 miles during his journey and reported meeting over 2,000 people including sixty rulers.[6] Thus, Ibn Battuta was probably the most widely traveled person of his day and certainly traveled much further than did Marco Polo.
Of course, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta were not the only two travelers during the 13th and 14th century. The creation of the Mongolian Empire during the 12th and 13th centuries had greatly facilitated long distance trade.[7] Also, since Muslims were obliged to try to visit Mecca at least once during their lifetime, travel within the House of Islam was fairly common.[8] Still, few traveled as widely as did Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, and even fewer left lasting records that we can read today.
Of course, Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo were different from most of their contemporaries because they were so widely traveled. But since we cannot know what the “average” European thought about Chinese civilization – because the “average” European would not have traveled to China – we have to accept Ibn Battuta as being representative of Muslims and Marco Polo as being representative of Christians in how they interacted with different cultures in the 13th and 14th centuries. Their accounts are among our only sources for analyzing cultural interaction during that time.
16th Century Painting of Marco PoloDespite the similarities of their travels, Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo went on their journeys for very different reasons. Whereas Ibn Battuta traveled as part of a religious quest, profit was more important to Marco Polo. Polo certainly did not have to stay away from home for over two decades to make a profit in Chinese trade, however, so there were also other factors driving him to experience almost everything he could about Chinese culture. Also, it should be noted, that many Muslims did travel for trading purposes at that time. In fact, Muslims dominated trade in Eurasia during Battuta’s life. Muslims did travel to places other than Mecca.
Ibn Battuta did not discuss Europeans in his book, because his travels never took him into Western or Central Europe. Therefore, we do not know what he thought about Christianity. We do, however, know what Marco Polo thought about Islam. In general, he seemed to have an unfavorable opinion of it. He said that Persian Muslims are “wicked and treacherous” and hinted that their religion makes salvation too easy.[9] While Polo may have been misinformed about Islam, it makes sense that he would have an unfavorable view of Muslims if he thought that their religion taught that salvation was easy to obtain. His own Catholic religion was one that put a premium on works, so he assumed that other religions should be works oriented as well.
Even Ibn Battuta had a negative view of some Muslims. For example, while he admired the justice and peace of the kingdom of Mali, he could not believe that they allowed their women in public without clothing.[10] As a devout Muslim, he could not understand how other Muslims could so deviate from his understanding of what was proper for good Muslims
That does not mean, however, that Ibn Battuta was intolerant of all variation within the House of Islam. He worked for many years as a judge in the Delhi Sultanate which had a culture vastly different from what he familiar with in Morocco. He could not even speak the language very well, yet he accepted the position and “did homage” to the Sultan.[11] Aside from when he encountered something he thought was morally incorrect, like the rampant nakedness in Mali, Ibn Battuta seems to have been fairly open minded about different cultures.
Although some historians speculate that Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta did not actually travel as extensively in China as they claimed and that in some passages they only recited what they had heard others say about the Middle Kingdom, it is clear that they were both familiar with Chinese culture and they both agreed about its greatness. Marco Polo said that Hangzhou was “the most splendid city in the world” and Ibn Battuta said that al-Khansa was “the biggest city I have seen on the face of the earth.” [12] The two were very impressed with what they saw of China and their accounts of it were among the most important in their writings because they helped revive interest in trading with the Far East.
Because he did not travel extensively in India, the Worlds Together Worlds Apart book does not say what Marco Polo thought about India. We can presume, however, that he would have been impressed by its wealth and justice system, but would have faulted Indians for their religion the same way he did the Persians. His comment that the inhabitants of Java used to be “idolaters” until they “converted to the law of Mohomet,” indicates that he may have had a more favorable opinion of India’s Muslims than he did its Hindus. He likely considered Muslims to be closer to the truth than Hindus.[13]
Although he certainly appreciated certain aspects of Indian culture, Ibn Battuta found it difficult to cope with the myriad of cultures on the Indian subcontinent. In India, many people professed Islam, but few would have practiced a form of Islam with which Battuta would have been totally familiar. Because there were so many cultures in India at that time, no one religious group could impose itself on the rest of the Indian population.[14] Even though the Worlds Together Worlds Apart book does not quote Ibn Battuta about this directly, we can speculate that he did not approve of this religious heterodoxy.
We can also speculate about what Ibn Battuta might have thought about Christendom if he had ever made it into Europe. Obviously, he would have disagreed with Christians about their religion, but he probably would have also disagreed with their lack of swift, just courts. Further, he would have probably thought Europe’s fragmentation a weakness.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta had different opinions about what they saw, but the important thing is that they saw much of the known world of their day and that their writings helped renew interest in the Far East. Before long, there would be many more merchants and travelers on the roads between Eurasian civilizations and they would help pull Eurasia even close together. By the 21st century, the world would become a much “smaller” place thanks, in part, to the writings of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta[15]
[1] Robert Tignor et al., eds., Worlds Together Worlds Apart (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002), 4.
[2] Ibid., 3.
[3] Ibid., 5.
[4] Ibid., 3.
[5] Ibid., 5
[6] Ibid., 3-4.
[7] Ibid., 7.
[8] Ibid., 15.
[9] Marco Polo, Marco Polo. (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1958), pp. 57-58 quoted in Robert Tignor and others, Worlds Together Worlds Apart (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2992), 17.
[10] Ibn Battuta, Ibn Battuta in Black Africa. (Princeton: Marcus Weiner Publishers, 1994), pp. 58-59 quoted in Robert Tignor and others, Worlds Together Worlds Apart (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2992), 17.
[11] Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta. (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1958-1994), vol 3, pp. 618, 747-48 quoted in Robert Tignor and others, Worlds Together Worlds Apart (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2992), 19.
[12] Robert Tignor et al., eds., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 29.
[13] Robert Tignor et al., eds., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 34.
[14] Robert Tignor et al., eds., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 19.
