A few years ago, I came across references to Ibn-Batuta, who travelled from Morocco across much of Africa and Asia. In modern day terms, he visited Kenya and Somalia and Egypt and Mauritania and Mali and Niger at different points in his life. He traveled throughout the Middle East and Central Asia; he also took a long journey that took him to India, China, and Indonesia. Naturally, he wrote a book letting others (like us) know that he did all this. This was in the 1300s. His claimed travels are the most of any recorded before the modern era. Have you ever heard of him?
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| Ibn Batuta |
The guy that did Marco Polo in reverse at about the same time... Well, today I came across Rabban bar Sauma, an Eastern Christian who was a Uygur born in what is now Beijing who traveled across Asia, planning to go to Jerusalem, but eventually was sent as far as Paris, meeting with various European kings along the way. Naturally, he wrote a book telling about his travels. This was in the late 1200s.
Or, there's Zheng He. The brilliant Chinese admiral who was a Muslim. His sailing took him to Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Arabia, and eastern Africa. He had a translator along who wrote a book. This was the early 1400s.
Look them up; they are incredibly interesting, and there's tons of information about them in one form or another.
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