Travel in the Fatimid World: Pilgrims, Merchants, and Officials

Travel in the Fatimid world often involved changing from one form of transport to another. A journey could begin on the Nile, continue by camel across the desert and end aboard a ship on the Red Sea. Travellers needed animals, water, food and money at the right places, as well as people who could arrange passage or offer help when a delay exhausted their resources.

The Fatimids ruled from 909 to 1171, first from North Africa and later from Egypt. Their conquest of Egypt in 969 and the transfer of the court to Cairo in 973 made the capital region a destination for officials, merchants and seekers of religious learning. Pilgrimage connected Egypt with Mecca, while commercial journeys carried people between Mediterranean ports and through the Red Sea. Political control varied along these routes; a journey could cross several jurisdictions before reaching its destination.

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A pilgrim’s journey through Egypt

Nasir Khusraw, a Persian writer and former official, travelled between 1046 and 1052. His Safarnama, meaning “book of travels,” describes the places he visited and the practical circumstances of moving between them. He arrived in Cairo in 1047 and remained connected with Egypt until 1050, making pilgrimages to Mecca during that period.

Nasir also pursued Ismaili religious learning in Cairo. He formed a relationship with the scholar al-Mu’ayyad al-Shirazi and later taught Ismaili doctrine after returning to the eastern Iranian lands. The attraction of the capital was therefore intellectual as well as political and commercial. Scholars and religious teachers could travel towards a centre where they hoped to find instruction and useful connections.

From the Nile to a desert caravan

In 1050, Nasir began his return journey by travelling up the Nile. His account describes stops at towns in Upper Egypt before he reached Aswan. At one stage he considered two routes, one through waterless country and the other along the river, and chose to continue by boat. The choice of route affected the supply problem he would face next.

At Aswan he had to obtain a camel for the crossing to Aydhab, a port on the Red Sea coast. He waited twenty-one days for pilgrims returning from the desert, whose animals could then be hired. An acquaintance, Muhammad ibn Fulayj, helped him arrange both a camel and travelling companions. Nasir records paying a dinar and a half for the animal. A dinar was a gold coin and a unit of monetary value; hiring the means of transport was a distinct expense within the journey.

The fifteen-day crossing required more than finding a mount. After one water stop, the party faced five days without another supply and filled waterskins before continuing. At another station, water had to be carried out of a rocky opening to give the camels a drink. The route’s stopping places were known in advance, making their sequence essential to provisioning.

Nasir describes resting during the fiercest heat of the day until the time of the afternoon prayer. At established campsites, travellers collected camel dung to burn for cooking. Water, fuel and the timing of movement all shaped the day’s work. The desert journey depended on knowing where these necessities could be obtained and carrying enough to bridge the intervals between stops.

Waiting at Aydhab and finding supplies

Reaching the coast did not guarantee an immediate sailing. Nasir remained at Aydhab for three months while ships waited for suitable winds. The delay lengthened his stay and increased the money he needed before he could cross to Jeddah, the port serving Mecca.

Fresh water had to be purchased. Nasir reports paying one or sometimes two dirhams for a small waterskin. A dirham was a silver coin, distinct from the gold dinar. Local Beja people supplied water when collected rainwater was insufficient. For someone waiting at the port, access to water was consequently an ongoing expense, rather than something solved once at the start of the journey.

The delay eventually used up Nasir’s funds. Muhammad ibn Fulayj had written ahead to an agent at Aydhab, asking him to provide what Nasir required and obtain a receipt for the accounts. Nasir presented the letter and received flour. The receipt could be sent back to Aswan to record what had been supplied. A relationship formed at an earlier stop thus became a means of obtaining provisions in another town.

This arrangement connected hospitality with written accounting. The helper did not need to travel to Aydhab himself: his agent held resources there, the letter authorized their use, and a receipt recorded the expense. The traveller’s ability to continue depended on that chain of people and documents as well as on the eventual departure of a ship.

The pilgrimage calendar and shortages

The annual pilgrimage to Mecca had to be reached in time for its prescribed observances. On an earlier trip from Egypt, Nasir accompanied a former judge carrying payments and the covering for the Kaaba, the sanctuary at the centre of Mecca’s sacred precinct. This journey joined a pilgrim’s purpose with official duties supported by the Fatimid court.

When their ship arrived near Medina close to the pilgrimage date, Nasir hurried to complete the remaining land journey. His account records a camel hire of five dinars on this occasion. A deadline could make the availability of transport especially pressing: arriving after the ceremonies would defeat the purpose for which the pilgrim had travelled.

Food shortages could also alter plans. Nasir describes a pilgrimage during which famine afflicted Mecca and residents were leaving the region. He later records a public announcement in Egypt advising pilgrims to refrain from travelling because the Hijaz, the western Arabian region containing Mecca and Medina, was suffering famine. The court still dispatched the sanctuary’s covering and payments. People and supplies continued to move, but the decision to undertake an individual journey depended partly on conditions at its destination.

Accommodation and hospitality

Nasir’s journey continued beyond Fatimid territory, where different encounters affected his ability to find shelter. At Basra in Iraq, he and his brother arrived in poverty and still owed money for a hired camel. A learned acquaintance brought their circumstances to the attention of a vizier, a senior minister. Nasir describes receiving money for clothing, lodging with the minister’s family, and help clearing the debt. The minister also arranged their onward journey by ship. Hospitality supplied a place to stay while resolving expenses that had prevented the party from moving on.

Urban accommodation could also be organized around commerce. When Nasir reached Isfahan in Iran in 1052, he described clean, well-kept caravanserais containing merchants and their goods. A caravanserai was a lodging and trading complex used by travellers and commercial parties. He found both space to stay and provisions available despite the arrival of his large caravan. The contrast with the difficulties at Aydhab and Basra gives his journey a changing practical setting: a busy town’s facilities, a desert port’s scarce supplies and personal assistance each offered different ways to sustain travellers.

Merchant travellers and letters home

The Cairo Geniza, the writings preserved at the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, supplies another kind of travel account. An Arabic letter dated provisionally to April 1152 was sent by Sa’id from Aydhab to his mother and brother in Fustat. His party had left Qus in Upper Egypt and celebrated Passover during the desert journey. They were preparing to sail onward with a shipmaster.

Sa’id had intended to send a letter with a camel-driver, but the man had already departed when the party arrived. He consequently had to find another way to keep his family informed. The letter gave news of fellow travellers, requested messages in return and asked his brother to care for their mother. Travel created obligations at home and made communication depend on people moving in the opposite direction.

Journeys could also be organized for people in distress. A letter from Ashkelon in the summer of 1100 describes a man taking redeemed captives towards safety after the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem. He borrowed money in his own name to pay camel-drivers, provisions and guards. Protecting and feeding the party required coordinated expenditure. The need for those arrangements becomes particularly clear when the travellers were refugees without the resources to provide for themselves.