ALEXANDRIA IN THE WRITINGS OF THE TRAVELER IBN BATTUTA, AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

Abstract

Travel books or travel literature are considered one of the most important scientific sources in the historical writing process for historians and researchers in this field, due to the valuable and rare information they contain between their pages that we rarely find in other history books. It depicts for us places and times that we would not have had without the adventures of these travelers across the universe.

However, its users must take caution in the process of transferring it, and it must also be subjected to historical criticism, given that the writings of its authors are completely inaccurate, interspersed with some imagination, and dominated by the nature of subjectivity, in addition to the lack of mastery of most of its authors in the Arabic language and other shortcomings that taint it. Accordingly, the travel books it has its advantages and disadvantages in the process of historical documentation and historical writings.

This research deals with the writings of one of the travelers who visited the city of Alexandria, Ibn Battuta, in the year 725 AH (1325 AD) and 750 AH (1349 AD). Many of the city’s landmarks were mentioned in his writings, where he described the gates, walls, lighthouses, and Pompey’s Pillar. The study includes a mention of what he wrote it describing the landmarks of Alexandria, in addition to the analytical study.