Ibn Battuta: The Man who Walked Across the World (UK)
A three-part BBC Four travelogue with Tim Mackintosh-Smith, British Arabist, writer, traveller and lecturer. In an effort to break the west's monolithic view of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta, regarded by many to be one of the greatest travellers and explorers the world has ever seen, who covered 75,000 miles, 40 countries and three continents in a 30-year odyssey.
Episode 1: Wanderlust
(60 min; 2008; English)
Beginning in North Africa, Tim Mackintosh-Smith visits Battuta's birthplace of Tangier in Morocco, and stumbles on a performance of medieval trance music. In Egypt, he goes to a remote village where Battuta had an astonishing prophetic dream and visits the world's oldest university in Cairo.
