Ibn Battuta

The Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta (1304-1368) travelled an estimated 120,000 kilometres over 29 years — far more than any explorer before the age of steam. He visited Morocco, Mali, Timbuktu, East Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, China, and Southeast Asia, recording the cultures, courts, and customs he encountered in his Rihla (Journey). His accounts remain the most detailed eyewitness description of the 14th-century world.