Source set · 6 sources ✓ Lesson ready

What did medieval travelers notice about other worlds?

Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, a Franciscan in China, and a Chinese-born monk who reached Europe let students compare what travelers admired, misunderstood, and recorded across Afro-Eurasia.

Timeline of key events →Unit: The Medieval World →

Teach it

✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Gallery Walk: Through Travelers’ Eyes. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

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1. Hook: a striking quote 3-5 min

he never visited China, Ceylon, the West or Spain or the Negrolands, so that in visiting these countries I have surpassed him.
Ibn Battuta, Travels, on meeting another traveler (14th century)

Ask: Ibn Battuta liked to compare his journeys with other travelers’. Why might travelers want to prove how far they went? How could that affect what they wrote?

2. Main activity: Gallery Walk: Through Travelers’ Eyes

Grouping: Pairs walk the room; 6 placards posted on the walls on a world map outline

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)

Six gallery placards (print the evidence cards in the Lesson Plan Doc on full pages)
Sticky notes in three colors
Gallery walk recording sheet

Set up 3 min
Post the six placards around a world map outline, each near the place it describes. Note that four travelers were from the Islamic world, Europe, and China, and they were describing places far from home.
Walk 20 min
Pairs spend about 3 minutes per placard. Sticky notes: one color for something admired, one for something possibly misunderstood, and one for a question.
Sort the notes 8 min
Bring the notes to the board in three groups. Share one example: Ibn Battuta says Kilwa’s buildings were wood, but archaeologists have found coral-stone mosques and palaces there. What might explain the difference?
Take a stand 7 min
Use the four-corners slide.
Exit ticket 5 min
Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: What did medieval travelers notice most about other worlds?

A. Wealth and great cities (Marco Polo on Kinsay, Ibn Battuta on Kilwa)
B. Religion and religious life (Monte Corvino, Ibn Battuta on Constantinople)
C. Hospitality and customs (Ibn Battuta on Anatolia)
D. Learning and knowledge (Rabban Sauma on Paris)

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

3 min Hook: Ibn Battuta
8 min Mini gallery: compare Marco Polo on Kinsay with Rabban Sauma on Paris. What did each traveler admire about a foreign city?
4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

4 min Hook: Ibn Battuta
3 min Set up
20 min Gallery walk
8 min Sort the notes
7 min Four corners
5 min Exit ticket
3 min Buffer

4. Exit ticket

Choose one traveler. What did he admire, and what might he have misunderstood? Use the placard.
Rabban Sauma traveled from China to Europe, and Marco Polo traveled from Europe to China. What did each find impressive?

5. Differentiation

Support

This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
Provide a world map with each traveler’s route marked.
Let pairs visit four placards: Kinsay, Kilwa, Constantinople, and Paris.
Sentence frame: “___ admired ___, but he may have misunderstood ___ because ___.”

Extension

Ibn Battuta dictated his travels years after the journeys. How might memory affect a travel account?
Write a short account of your own town as a medieval traveler might have described it. What would he admire or misunderstand?

Suggested sequence

Leveled readings: 3 key passages in this set are adapted to about grade 4, 7, and 10 reading levels, shown next to the original wording.

Leveled readings (make a copy)

Ibn Battuta (1304-1368/69): Travels, selections
Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
Translated primary source: Ibn Battuta (1304-1368/69): Travels, selections.
Ask: What does the traveler notice, and what does that tell us about both the traveler and the place?
Open with this source to frame the question.
Original ↗Copy Doc SOAPSTone HIPP / HAPP
Ibn Battuta: East Africa in the 14th Century
Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
Ibn Battuta's description of Mogadishu, Mombasa, and Kilwa on the Swahili coast.
Ask: What connected East Africa to the wider medieval world?
Leveled reading Original ↗Copy Doc SOAPSTone HIPP / HAPP
Ibn Battuta (1304-1368/69): The Byzantine Empire and Constantinople, from Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325-1354
Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
Translated primary source: Ibn Battuta (1304-1368/69): The Byzantine Empire and Constantinople, from Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325-1354.
Ask: What does the traveler notice, and what does that tell us about both the traveler and the place?
Leveled reading Original ↗Copy Doc SOAPSTone HIPP / HAPP
John of Monte Corvino: Report on China, 1305
Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
Translated primary source: John of Monte Corvino: Report on China, 1305.
Ask: What can this source tell us about life in its time and place?
Original ↗Copy Doc SOAPSTone HIPP / HAPP
Marco Polo: Description of Kinsay (Hangzhou)
Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
Marco Polo's description of the vast city of Hangzhou.
Ask: Why did Europeans find Polo's descriptions hard to believe?
Leveled reading Original ↗Copy Doc SOAPSTone HIPP / HAPP
Bar Sauma (c. 1278-1313): The Monk of Kublai Khan
Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 30+ min
Translated primary source: Bar Sauma (c. 1278-1313): The Monk of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China; or The History of the Life and Travels of…. Rabban Sawma, Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the Mongol Khans to the Kings of Europe and Markos who as Yahbh-Allaha III Became Patriarch of the Nestorian Church. Translated by E.A. Wallis Bud.
Ask: What does this source suggest about the relationship between rulers and the ruled?
Close with this source before writing.
Original ↗SOAPSTone HIPP / HAPP

Quick check

Five questions built only from this set’s sources: four multiple choice and one short answer. Print it or assign it in Google Classroom. The answer key gives the source line for every answer.

Quick check (make a copy)Answer key (make a copy)

Preview the questions

Which source in this set contains this passage? “To him I presented the letter of our lord the Pope, and invited him to adopt the Catholic Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he had grown too old in idolatry. However he bestows many kindnesses upon the Christians…”
How did Marco Polo describe Kinsay (Hangzhou)?
Which source in this set contains this passage? “There were in it thirty thousand scholars [i.e. pupils] who were engaged in the study of ecclesiastical books of instruction…”
What did Ibn Battuta say about the people of Anatolia?
Short answer: Choose two sources from this set. Using a specific detail from each, explain how they help answer the set’s question: “What did medieval travelers notice about other worlds?” Write 3 to 5 sentences.

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “What did medieval travelers notice about other worlds?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Build a DBQ DBQ packet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.