Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and the Orient

Fifty years apart, the two most prominent travelers of the Middle Ages, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo and the Moroccan legal scholar Ibn Battuta, embarked upon two great expeditions (1271-1295 for the former, 1325-1353 for the latter). Both their explorations were exceptional for the number of lands they visited and for the uniqueness of their experiences: Marco Polo lived in the Mongol court for seventeen years, and Ibn Battuta spent twelve years at the Sultan’s court in Delhi. Upon their return to their home countries, they dictated accounts of their fabulous travels to Rustichello da Pisa and to Ibn Juzzay respectively. The two books, Il Milione and Rihla, were very widely read owing to a number of manuscripts that instantly disseminated them throughout the world. How did the two great explorers perceive of such “different” cultures as those of China and of South Asia, under Mongol rule at that time? A comparison between the travel accounts of these two great explorers, men of vastly different backgrounds and interests, who traveled with different goals in mind.