la ilaha illa rihla

July 13, 2006 8:35 AM

I just finished reading a book on Ibn Battuta's travels throughout the medieval Muslim world and I really enjoyed it. I am looking for non-European travel narratives from over 300 years ago or so (pre-1700s). Any suggestions as to the best books of this type, either the originals or more mediated presentations?
posted by Falconetti to Writing & Language (16 answers total)

Best answer: I haven't read a book on it yet, but the most famous medieval voyages made by China were made by Zheng He in the early 15th century. A translator named Ma Huan accompanied him on three of the seven journeys, and wrote a book about his travels called 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores.' An English translation is available.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 8:52 AM on July 13, 2006

Best answer: You have to check out Amitav Ghosh's "In an Antique Land." He mixes the story of a 12th century Tunisian shipping merchant with his own accounts of life in a small village in northern Egypt. It's one of my favorite books.

Another excellent read is "An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades." It sounds academic, but it's an entirely readable travel journal of a Muslim in the 1100s.
posted by mattbucher at 8:52 AM on July 13, 2006

Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North is really wonderful story of a foot journey around 17th century Japan by one of its greatest poets. You finish the book just loving the man. I read the Penguin translation and was reasonably happy with it, but this page will give you all you need to know on choosing a version.
posted by nflorin at 9:12 AM on July 13, 2006

Best answer: Evliya Çelebi? Hard to find unless you have access to good inter-library loan.
posted by pamccf at 9:12 AM on July 13, 2006

I would reccomend anything you can find about Zheng He as well, except for the 1491 book by Gavin Menses or whatever his name is, its pseudo history and conjecture portrayed as proven fact. I ready a book a little over a year ago about a Japanese monk traveling in T'ang dynasty China. I really enjoyed it, and it gave an interesting perspected on one of the most facinating periods of Chinese cultural development. I am not sure on the name, I think its Travels in Tang Dynasty China, but I am not positive and Amazon is giving me nothing.
posted by BobbyDigital at 9:41 AM on July 13, 2006

Bruce Chatwin^ has great travel writings. There's one on Australia called Songlines that is about a semi-nomadic group.
posted by ejaned8 at 10:04 AM on July 13, 2006

wrong thread -- meant to post in nomads.
posted by ejaned8 at 10:04 AM on July 13, 2006

Though not non-fiction, Michael Chriton's Eaters of the Dead is written in the style of a scientific commentary on an old manuscript written by a 10th century ambassador from the Caliph of Baghdad. I've never seen the movie based on this beek, but the book itself was quite enjoyable and may be right up your alley.
posted by ewagoner at 10:24 AM on July 13, 2006

Best answer: Amin Maalouf's _Crusades through Arab Eyes_ is nice--
there's a lot from ibn Munqidh there. If you read French,
it's not too demanding in the original.
posted by lw at 10:56 AM on July 13, 2006

Love the headline on this question.
posted by evariste at 10:57 AM on July 13, 2006

Best answer: If you liked Ibn Battuta, then try Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Fadlan. I read all three of them when I did arabic culture at university. Ibn Fadlan's famous report of the Vikings in Russia is great - he's got the best ever description of a Viking funeral.
posted by Flitcraft at 11:56 AM on July 13, 2006 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Wow, these suggestions are great, thank you. I hope there are even more coming (paging languagehat...).
posted by Falconetti at 12:17 PM on July 13, 2006

To be complete, Crichton's Eaters of the Dead starts with a few mistranslated pages of the Viking funeral from Ibn Fadlan that Flitcraft mentioned. He then goes on to mix it up with Beowulf and a bunch of other stuff.

Read the original. It is a lot better. Crichton didn't get it.
posted by QIbHom at 12:20 PM on July 13, 2006

You could try looking up William Dalrymple: In Xanadu. Part travelogue, part history. The author, who I think was a history scholar at Oxford, attempts to retrace Marco Polo's route to Xanadu. Other books of his that I have read have been a lot of fun, too.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:38 PM on July 13, 2006

Oh, non-European. Silly me.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:42 PM on July 13, 2006

Best answer: you should read the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims' travels to India. I-tsing, Xuanzang, and Faxian all went to India at various times from 400 AD to @ 900 AD. Sorry I don't have references handy and my internet time is limited here in Nepal, but Xuanzang's in particular is very famous and considered a great read.
posted by AArtaud at 9:52 PM on August 6, 2006