Sickness in Ibn Battuta

The Travels of the Black PlagueOne of the themes I followed while reading Ibn Battuta was sickness and health.  It plays an interesting role in his travelogue, and is an unavoidable factor in so many travel experiences. 

I visited Morocco on an NYU sponsored trip, and was terrorized by the university nurse prior to departure.  She warned us of all the possible diseases we could contract while traveling in Africa, the anti-diuretics we would need in hands reach 24/7, the malaria pills we had to take weeks ahead of time, and the likelihood of our death upon arrival considering the possibility of a fatal outbreak.  

Considering the make or break factor that health and sickness plays in a traveler’s progress, Ibn Battuta offers little insight about how illness effects his own morale, or the progress of his journey.  The term does come up often however, used to warn readers of exotic foods that may cause stomach disruption, to explain the negative effect of heat stroke on fellow travelers, and to describe the sensation of sea sickness when traveling on the Red Sea towards Yemen. 

Sickness does not only impact Battuta while traveling.  His story occurs during the era of the black plague, one of the deadliest pandemics to have hit mankind.  When he returns home, Battuta finds that sickness has mutated the home that he left behind.  The lives of both his parents were allegedly taken by the rampant disease.  While his Hajj allowed him to narrowly escape the fate of his countrymen, Battuta was also absent from the final years of his parents’ lives.  This element of travel, the irreversible change that occurs at home that is often catalyzed by sickness, is a bittersweet element of too many travel stories. 

I did a little extra research on the black plague, and found an article that recounts its spread in the form of a travel narrative.  This type of rapidly spreading disease that uses life as a courier reached catastrophic proportions because of new, globalized dynamics that Ibn Battuta is known for pioneering.  It was published on the Australian Broadcasting Network in 2004, and explains that the opening of the Eastern trade routes is most likely the cause for the diseases spread into the Western world.  Starting in northern China in 1334, the Black Death quickly spread to Europe, and didn’t completely die out until 1670. From 1348 to 1352, twenty-five million people died - a third of the population of Europe.