Arab traveller born in Tangier. In 1325, he went on an extraordinary 120,675-km/75,000-mi journey via Mecca to Egypt, East Africa, India, and China, returning some 30 years later. During this journey he also visited Spain and crossed the Sahara to Timbuktu. The narrative of his travels, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta, was written with an assistant, Ibn Juzayy.