Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1324-52
Tangier-born adventurer Ibn Battuta picks up where Marco Polo left of, travelling from
Mali to Sumatra and Mongolia and publishing
Rihla
- an inspired though not entirely reli-
able travel guide.
1348
Bubonic plague strikes Mediterranean North Africa; Merenid alliances and kingdoms
crumble. Rule of law is left to survivors and opportunists to enforce, with disastrous conse-
quences.
1377
At Kairaouine University in Fez, Ibn Khaldun examines Middle Eastern history in his
groundbreaking
Muqaddimah,
explaining how religious propaganda, taxation and revisionist
history make and break states.
1415
In search of gold and the fabled kingdom of Prester John - location of the Fountain of
Youth - Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator begins his conquests of Moroccan sea-
ports.
1480-92
Ferdinand and Isabella conquer Spain, and persecution of Muslims and Jews escalates.
1497-1505
Moroccan ports are occupied by English, Portuguese and Spanish forces and sundry pir-
ates, from Mediterranean Melilla to Agadir on the Atlantic Coast.
1498
Church Inquisitors present European Muslims and Jews with a choice: a) conversion and
persecution; or b) torture and death. Many choose c) none of the above, and escape to Mo-
rocco.
1525
Like a blast of scorching desert wind, the Beni Saad Berbers blow back European and Ot-
toman encroachment in Morocco, and establish a new Saadian dynasty in Marrakesh.
1578
