Ibn Battuta was an Islamic scholar who chose to travel across much of the "Old" world of Africa, the Middle East, and the lands of Dar al-Islam, eventually covering over 75,000 miles over 29 years beginning in 1320 and visiting Islamic-controlled lands which would eventually become 44 separate nations( Brittannica.com). As an Islamic Law scholar, he frequently served as a jurist/judge in the places he visited on his journeys. His adventures included encounters with bandits, several marriages, having a family, and interacting with members of many faiths and traditions aside from his own Islamic/Muslim practices.
Battuta is an important voice on the development of trade and societies, as his writings about his travels opened the eyes of many to the myriad peoples, social practices, and skilled artisans, as well as the products and raw materials available for trade with the tribes and merchants in distant places.His reflections on the people he met and their ways of life encouraged others to travel and trade with places they had never before heard of. He was encouraged on his return to his homeland to dictate the stories of his travels for posterity by the Sultan of Morocco, resulting in his book, simply known as "Rihla" which means "Journey".
The fact that he was traveling during the middle and late 14th century, means he may also have brought back the first factual knowledge of non-Islamic and non-European societies beyond the Mediterranean and European "known worlds", including India and China(Orias.Berkeley.edu) .He may also have been one of the few travelers to document his journey to the Khanate of the Golden Horde and the Mongols before the decline of the Pax Mongolica in the 1340s which effectively closed trade along the silk road and was allowing the former subject countries to resume self-rule and trade.
While Marco Polo's business may have taken him to China and back, his life and travels did not introduce him to nearly as many societies as Ibn Battuta met and interacted with upon his journeys.
