Ibn Battuta witnessed the Black Death: in 1348 he was in Damascus, where, he wrote, thousands were dying each day.
The events
- Travels of Ibn Battuta1325–1354 · Tangier. The Moroccan Ibn Battuta left his native Tangier on pilgrimage and spent nearly 30 years travelling. He journeyed from Mali and East Africa to India and China, covering an estimated 120,000 kilometres.
- Black Death1347–1351 · Messina. Genoese galleys from Caffa brought plague to Messina in Sicily, from where it swept across Europe. Within a few years the Black Death killed an estimated third to half of the continent's population, reshaping its economy and society.
More amazing facts
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- 1377 · 1450 Korean monks printed the Jikji with movable metal type in 1377, some 70 years before Gutenberg's press.
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- 1411 · 1429 Rublev's Trinity (1411 or 1425–1427) and Joan of Arc's relief of Orléans (1429) belong to the same generation.