Moroccan explorer, Ibn Battuta is born

Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta was born into a Muslim family in Tangier, Morocco. At the age of 21 Battuta set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The trip would take him to several places throughout the Middle East and North and West Africa. It would be 24 years before his return to Morocco and 29 years before he completed his travels. Sadly, Battuta did not document his travels. He only started writing after he completed them, which meant he had to rely on his memory. Experts have disputed his accounts about some of the places he claimed to have visited and suspect that he embellished much of the details of his trips. He is also thought to have copied details about some of the places from other explorers’ accounts. He was later appointed a judge in Morocco and is said to have died either in 1368 or 1369.