Born c. 920,
Hisibis, Upper Mesopotamia
Died c. 990

Abu al-Kasim Ibn Ali al-Nasibi Ibn Hawkal was born in Nisibis in Upper Mesopotamia, which is present-day Iraq. According to his own account, he left Baghdad on Thursday, 7 Ramadan 331 (May 15, 943) with the intention of learning about other lands and peoples and of engaging in trade. He then spent the next 30 years traveling; he later wrote about his experiences in a book called On the Shape of the World.

Goes to Spain

In 947 Ibn Hawkal reached Mahdia on the east coast of Tunisia, then traveled across North Africa to Morocco. The following year he sailed across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain, which was ruled by the Muslim Umayyad dynasty and had been united by the Caliph Abd al-Rahman III from his capital at Cordoba. In his book Ibn Hawkal...