Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness
In 922 AD during the Abbasid Caliphate, an Arab Muslim envoy from Baghdad named Ibn Fadlan encountered a party of Viking traders on the upper reaches of the Volga River. In his subsequent report on his mission he gave a meticulous and astonishingly objective description of Vikings, as well as the only eyewitness account ever written of a Viking ship cremation.
Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Their fascinating accounts describe how the numerous tribes and peoples they encountered traded furs, paid tribute and waged wars. This accessible new translation by Paul Lunde offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers, and the medieval lands of the far north.
