Ibn Fadlan's journey to Russia

by Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān

"This is the first English translation of the famous risala, letters by the tenth-century traveler Ibn Fadlan, one of the great Medieval travelers in world history, akin to Ibn Battuta. Ibn Fadlan was an Arab missionary sent by the Caliph in Baghdad [in 921 C.E.] to the king of the Bulghars. He journeyed from Baghdad to Bukhara in Central Asia and then continued across the desert to the town of Bulghar, near present Kazan. He describes the tribes he meets on his way and gives an account of their customs. His is the earliest account of a meeting with the Vikings, called Rus, who had reached the Volga River from Sweden. His description of the Rus, or Rusiya as he calls them, has produced much discussion about their origins, shockingly free sexual moral standards, customs, treatment of slaves and women, burial traditions, and trading habits, all explained in detail by Ibn Fadlan"--