Question 1

True or false: Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan scholar who started his travels at age 21.

Accepted Answer

True. Born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1304, he left for Mecca in 1325 at age 21 and didn't return for nearly 30 years.

Question 2

True or false: Ibn Battuta never visited China, despite claiming to have reached Beijing.

Accepted Answer

False. Historians confirm he did travel to China, visiting ports like Quanzhou, though he may have exaggerated some details.

Question 3

True or false: Ibn Battuta traveled alone for most of his journey to avoid detection.

Accepted Answer

False. He often traveled with large retinues, including servants, wives, and slaves, and was frequently hosted by rulers.

Question 4

True or false: Ibn Battuta's travelogue, the Rihla, was dictated to a scribe after Ibn Battuta returned home.

Accepted Answer

True. Upon returning to Morocco in 1354, he dictated his adventures to Ibn Juzayy, who wrote the Rihla in Arabic.

Question 5

True or false: Ibn Battuta traveled farther than Marco Polo.

Accepted Answer

True. His journeys spanned about 75,000 miles, while Marco Polo's were around 15,000 miles.

Question 6

True or false: Ibn Battuta visited the court of the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

Accepted Answer

True. Ibn Battuta did travel to Constantinople in 1334 and had an audience with Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos, as detailed in his Rihla.

Question 7

True or false: Ibn Battuta once survived a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean by clinging to driftwood.

Accepted Answer

True. Ibn Battuta's travelogue recounts a shipwreck where he clung to a plank and drifted before reaching shore, a well-known episode from his journeys.

Question 8

True or false: Ibn Battuta was appointed as a judge in the Maldives by the local sultan.

Accepted Answer

True. In the Maldives, he served as a qadi (judge) and even married into the royal family, but left after political conflicts.

Ibn Battuta Trivia Questions