This four-volume edition of the Arabic text of the Journey of the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta (1304â68/9) with a French translation was published in 1853â8. In 1325 Ibn Battuta who came from a family of Islamic jurists in Tangier set out to make the pilgrimage to Mecca - the beginning of a journey that would last for twenty-four years and take him as far as China. In Volume 2 he leaves Najaf and heads for Persia exploring Isfahan and Shiraz before returning to Baghdad. Next he goes north as far as modern Turkey before performing a second pilgrimage to Mecca. From Jeddah he sails to Yemen and down the coast of Africa as far as modern-day Tanzania. After a third visit to Mecca he heads north as far as the Crimea and Astrakhan whence he travels to Constantinople in the retinue of a Byzantine princess before heading east again. Language: English