He travelled more than any other traveller did in old times. 

Ibn Battuta is a name synonym for travelling and exploration. Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan scholar who is known to travel more than 44 countries in the old world. His travelogue is filled with detailed accounts of the different places he visited, people he met and the customs and traditions of the different countries at that time. He was guided with his unquenchable thirst to know and travel. He was born in the Moroccan city of Tangiers. Not much is known about his early education, but most experts believe that he went to Sunni Maliki for studies. Here are a few engrossing facts of the life and times of Ibn Battuta.

1. He belonged to the family of judges and was expected to be one when he grew up.
2. He left his home and country for his travels at the tender age of 21. He then travelled for more than 24 years, never returning home.
3. Many scholars believe that his name was not Ibn Battuta. The reason behind this was the Arabic translation of Ibn Battuta. Ibn Battuta means son of Battuta. Some experts believe that it could be a nickname as “Battuta” in Arabic means duckling.
4. In the year 1325, he left his home for his world-famous journeys at the age of 21. The first journey he undertook was to the holy city of Mecca, which took him almost sixteen months.
5. He joined a caravan for his trip to Mecca. Travellers those days did that to avoid robbers and attackers.
6. In the year 1330, he travelled to the coast of Africa and spent some time in Tanzania and Somalia. He saw the coast of Africa; he again went towards Mecca.
7. In the year 1332, he started towards India. Interestingly, after his arrival in Delhi, he was soon appointed a judge by the sultan of Delhi.
8. He then went and visited China. He decided to go back to his country Morocco, after spending a year in China.
9. He is known to have married several times during his travels. He was famed to have a wife in every country. It is said when it was time for him to leave, he used to divorce his wife.

His travel exploits are well documented in a book called “The Rihla”, which presents an unbiased history of the 14^th century.