000			nam a22 7a 4500
999			_c2185 _d2185
020			_a9780195694444
082			_a910.91767 H2626 I _b102071
100			_aHarvey L P
245			_aIbn Battuta: _bMakers of Islamic Civilization
250			_a1st ed.
260			_aNew Delhi _bOxford University Press _c2007
300			_a127
500			_aIbn Bhattuta (d. ca. 700/1368 or 9) was famed in his own lifetime as the greatest traveller of his age. He covered the whole Islamic world (from his native Tangier to China), and crossed over its boundaries in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. His wide-ranging observations on the exercise of political power and legal, commercial and cultural practices in the numerous places he visited give his Travels a permanent relevance as an insider's view of the diversity of the Islamic world. His lively stroytelling, typically graced with humour, irony and pathos, often reveals the gap between theory and practice, ideal and reality. After an overview of Ibn Battuta's journeys and how the Travels became a book, L.P. Harvey picks out major themes for closer analysis - how Ibn Battuta's adventures were financed, how geography and natural history are presented, issues of race and gender as addressed in the book, and the religious framework through which Ibn Battuta moved. From Harvey's account of the traveller and what he saw, a vivid portrait emerges of a man with some share of human failings but who was nonetheless remarkable for verve and courage, unbounded curiosity, and for candour and skill in remembering and reporting the world as he found it.
650			_aTravel
650			_aTravel, Medieval
650			_aTravelers
650			_aIslamic Empire
650			_aIbn Batuta, 1304-1377
942			_cBK