‘Now am i come to that part of our book in which I shall
tell you of the great and wonderfull magnificence of the Great Kaan now reigning, by name Kublai Khan (…) which signifieth ’The Great Lord of Lordsm’ or emperor. And of a surety he hath good right to such a title, for all men know for a certrain truth that he is the most potent man (...).' - Marco Polo in Il Milione |
‘For all its magnifince, it did not please me. I was deeply
depressed by the prevalence of infidelity and when I left my lodging I saw many offensive things which distressed me so much that I stayed at home and went out only when it was necessary.’ - Ibn Battuta in Rihla |
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta in China
The thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries were times when merchants and missionaries travelled to Asia, but it were also times when the Muslims were in control of the middle eastern trade routes, when wars were fought between crusaders and Muslims, and the Mongols dominated the world. Two explorers were able to take their journey beyond the borders of the known world to the Far East. They were not the first people from Europe and Middle-East who travelled there, but they certainly became the two most famous explorers of the middle ages. My article will focus on Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta and their time in China.
Ibn Battuta in China
The stay of Ibn Battuta in China is a different story. In 1346 he was sent to China by the sultan of Delhi and after some interruptions, like a shipwreck and problems with pirates, he arrived there in 1346. But he wasn’t able to make contact with the Chinese rulers and he couldn’t return to the Sultan of Delhi because he was afraid to get executed. Moreover he didn’t really liked China. He didn’t like their clothes and their food and he thought the Chinese were ‘infidels who worship idols’. His attitude against the Chinese is notable, because Ibn Battuta normally was a very open-minded person. He was a guy who accepted differences, he was very curious and wanted to know more about the habits and the beliefs of different cultures. Even the beliefs of the non-Muslims. Ibn Battuta was however not merely negative about China, because he was impressed by the excessive amount of fruit, grain, silver and gold in the country, the hygiene of the China, the skills of the craftsmen, the safety of the Chinese cities and the quality of the porcelain and ceramics.
The stay of Ibn Battuta in China is a different story. In 1346 he was sent to China by the sultan of Delhi and after some interruptions, like a shipwreck and problems with pirates, he arrived there in 1346. But he wasn’t able to make contact with the Chinese rulers and he couldn’t return to the Sultan of Delhi because he was afraid to get executed. Moreover he didn’t really liked China. He didn’t like their clothes and their food and he thought the Chinese were ‘infidels who worship idols’. His attitude against the Chinese is notable, because Ibn Battuta normally was a very open-minded person. He was a guy who accepted differences, he was very curious and wanted to know more about the habits and the beliefs of different cultures. Even the beliefs of the non-Muslims. Ibn Battuta was however not merely negative about China, because he was impressed by the excessive amount of fruit, grain, silver and gold in the country, the hygiene of the China, the skills of the craftsmen, the safety of the Chinese cities and the quality of the porcelain and ceramics.
The Criticism
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta are both criticized, because they didn’t wrote about chopsticks or tea, whereby some critics think that both explorers never visited China and took over the stories of other travellers. However Ibn Battuta received the most criticism. He writes how he visited the Maldives, Bengal, Sumatra and the north of China, what is like 11000 to 12000 miles. It’s not impossible to make this journey, but the problem is that six percent of his book is about his journey in China. There could be nevertheless a reason that he has written so little about China. He lost his notes, whereby it was difficult to remember all his adventures when he came back. He probably would have remembered more of his earlier travels through Persia, Africa and Anatolia than his journey through a country that he didn't liked and that took more than one and a half year. Therefore he gets the benefit of the doubt. |
Network analysis
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both used different networks to travel to China. Marco Polo had the network of his father and brother when he travelled to the court of Kublai Khan and used the network of the Great Khan when he began to work for Kublai Khan. Ibn Battua used another network that was present in every Muslim country: the network of the Islam. He travelled with caravans of scholars, mystics and merchants to Asia, Africa and the Middle-East where there was an exchange of commerce, learning and knowledge. Another characteristic for his journey is that he visited famous places who were associated with the Islam or Sufism, and followed a path that improved his career. Furthermore there is another notable point: he met acquaintances everywhere. He was recognized in the Maldives by people who he met in India, he met a man in China who closely lived to his hometown Tangier and he was saved from a snowstorm by an old acquaintance in Anatolia. It shows that Ibn Battuta was part of a worldwide network that was small enough for acquaintances to meet. . |
Suggestions for further reading:
Primary Sources
Literature
Sources of images
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YuanEmperorAlbumKhubilaiPortrait.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo#/media/File:Travels_of_Marco_Polo.png
https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta#/media/File:Ibn_Battuta_1325-1332.png
https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta#/media/File:Ibn_Battuta_1332-1346.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Ibn_Battuta_1349-1354.png
Primary Sources
- Battoeta, Ibn. De reis. (Amsterdam/Leuven: Uitgeverij Bulaaq en Uitgeverij van Halewyck, 1997).
- Yule, Colonel Henry. ‘The Book of ser Marco Polo, the Venetian: concerning the kingdoms and marvels of the East.’ https://archive.org/details/bookofsermarcopo01polo (accessed at 26 mei 2016)
Literature
- Baker, Raymond William. One Islam, Many Muslim Worlds Spirituality, Identity, and Resistance across Islamic lands. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
- Cornell, Vincent J. ‘Ibn Battoeta’s Opportunism: The Networks and Loyalties of a Medieval Muslim Scholar’ in Muslim Networks: from Hajj to Hip Hop, eds. Miriam Cooke en Bruce B. Lawrence, 31-50. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2005.
- Dunn, Rose E. The Adventures of Ibn Battoeta, A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
- Humble, Richard. Marco Polo. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1975.
- Khair, Tabish. e.a. Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Writing. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
- Morgan, D.O. ‘Ibn Battuta and the Mongols’ in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 11, no. 1 (april 2001): 1-11.
- Philips, J.R.S. The Medieval Expansion of Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
- Phillips, Kim M. Asian Peoples and Cultures in European Travel Writing, 1245-1510. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
- Vollmer, John E., E.J. Keall en E. Nagai-Berthrong. Silk Road, China Ships: An Exhibition of East-West Trade Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1983.
- Waines, David. The Odyssey of Ibn Battoeta: Uncommon Tales of a Medieval Adventurer. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2010.
Sources of images
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YuanEmperorAlbumKhubilaiPortrait.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo#/media/File:Travels_of_Marco_Polo.png
https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta#/media/File:Ibn_Battuta_1325-1332.png
https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta#/media/File:Ibn_Battuta_1332-1346.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Ibn_Battuta_1349-1354.png
Written by: M.S.