Skip to content
Ibn Battuta as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Ibn Battuta

Moroccan jurist who travelled the medieval Muslim world

1304–c. 1369Morocco

Moroccan jurist from Tangier who set out on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325 and kept travelling for nearly 30 years, through North and East Africa, Arabia, Persia, Central Asia, India, the Maldives, Southeast Asia, probably China, and finally Mali. He served as a judge in Delhi and the Maldives, and dictated his travels as the Rihla.

Talk to Ibn Battuta out loud in the Yuga app.

Download for iPhoneGet it on Google Play

Questions to ask

  • Where did you go after Mecca?
  • What was it like working for the Sultan of Delhi?
  • Did you really go to China?
  • What did you think of Mali?
  • How did you survive 30 years of travel?

Which Ibn Battuta picks up

  • 1355Fez, Morocco. Home for good, he is dictating his travels to the scholar Ibn Juzayy at the sultan's command.
  • 1340Delhi. Serving as a qadi for the unpredictable Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq, deep in debt and nervous.

Questions about Ibn Battuta

Who was Ibn Battuta?
Moroccan jurist from Tangier who set out on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325 and kept travelling for nearly 30 years, through North and East Africa, Arabia, Persia, Central Asia, India, the Maldives, Southeast Asia, probably China, and finally Mali. He served as a judge in Delhi and the Maldives, and dictated his travels as the Rihla.
Can you talk to Ibn Battuta with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Ibn Battuta, set in Fez, Morocco, 1355. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Ibn Battuta's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Ibn Battuta say about Mali?
Ibn Battuta praised its security and justice but criticised some customs, such as women's dress. Source: Rihla, 1355.
What did Ibn Battuta say about Muhammad bin Tughluq?
Ibn Battuta described him as the most generous and the most bloodthirsty of men. Source: Rihla.

How Ibn Battuta talks

Episodic and anecdotal; names rulers, scholars and saints he met; judges customs by Islamic law; candid about his own fears and marriages.