Questions of Context: Ibn Battuta and E. W. Bovill on Africa

Abstract

arcus Wiener Publishers has distinguished itself by reprinting primary and secondary texts that have not lost their appeal over decades. Usually the original work is given a new introduction and an updated bibliography that address the historicity of the text and add new scholarly perspectives and additional background information. Under review are two such publications, one of which is a historical source, namely, Ibn Battuta's fourteenth-century account of his journeys to East and West Africa, and the other a scholarly study from 1958 focusing on the economic and political relations between North Africa and sub-Saharan regions. While the former is a welcome edition highly useful in a variety of classroom settings and appealing to a wide range of scholars interested in travel, Islam, and Africa, the rationale for the publication of the second title is not immediately evident, and even questionable, for reasons that I explain below. Ibn Battuta (1304-68/69) hailed from Morocco and traveled most of the known world in the course of twenty-nine years, holding a range of government posts in different territories. Later in life, his memories were written down by the scribe Ibn Juzayy. The resulting text offers detailed information about societies located in North Africa, Arabia, Asia Minor, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, China, East and West Africa, and Muslim Spain. One of the foremost features of this account is that it allows the contemporary reader to gain an understanding of the cultural diversity of peoples living within the expanse of dar al-Islam, the lands of Islam. Let me review some of the principles that inform Ibn Battuta's view of the world and that make his portrayal of Africa especially worthwhile. One premise underlying Ibn Battuta's account and that generally defi ned medieval geographical handbooks and travel writings is the focus on the world of Islam, under avoidance of dar al-kufr, the non-Muslim lands. This focus refl ected the centrality of religion as the dominant organizing principle, but the Islamic perspective was also intermingled with notions about climate as a condition determining the level of civilization. The Islamic heartland was seen to be located in the moderate climate zone,