![]() Though assisting the Volga Bulgars was the purpose of Fadlan's travels, it’s the Varangians (or Rus in Arabic), a group of Vikings that he came across along the Volga River, whose legendary tales were the most compelling. Vikings, human sacrifice and bad hygiene: Early Islamic descriptions of Russia and Ukraine Read More » With that duty in mind, Fadlan set off on an epic journey across Central Asia and into Eastern Europe, encountering various Turkic peoples, as well as the Rus people, who lived along the Volga river system and were widely identified as Vikings. ![]() King Almis of the Bulgars had converted to Islam the previous year, taking the name Jafar ibn Abdallah, and had requested that the caliph send someone to teach his people about Islam, as well as commissioning a mosque and fortress. It was this credential that proved particularly useful when, in 922 CE, the Abbasid Caliph Al Muqtadir chose Fadlan as an envoy to the Volga Bulgars, who lived in a region called Tatarstan, north-east of the Black Sea in modern-day Russia. Here, Middle East Eye profiles three of the most influential Middle Eastern travellers, who left behind significant descriptions of their journeys.Īhmed ibn Fadlan was born in 879 CE, and while little is known about this Arab traveller or his family, it's clear he was well versed in religious texts. In the 12th century, Andalusian Ibn Jubayr also kept a detailed travelogue of his travels in Syria and Italy, which were said to have inspired the later Moroccan traveller, Ibn Battuta. He detailed his 10th-century visits to Persia, India and Indochina. He set off from Baghdad in 1668, documenting his missionary travels, first to the Vatican and then onwards in his work Book of the Journey of the Priest Ilyas, Son of the Cleric Hanna al-Mawsili.Ībul Hasan Ali Ibn Al-Husain Al-Masudi, more popularly known as just Al-Masudi, was one of the earliest travel writers from the Middle East. Ilyas al-Mawsili, a Chaldean Catholic priest, is said to have been the first Arabic speaker to have visited South and Central America. ![]() Trade and cultural interaction with Europeans also took place, through shipping routes in the Mediterranean.įortunately, for those interested in the experiences of medieval Islamic travellers, there are a number of surviving travelogues detailing what it was like to journey across vast distances. Muslim trade developed across the Silk Road and its arteries, which connected the Middle East to lands further to the east, such as India and China. Trade was a primary motivation so too were religious pilgrimage and proselytisation, and in some cases pure wanderlust. Travel across vast swathes of land was a necessary part of life in the Middle East during the Middle Ages. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |