The Mediterranean in the 14th century

After spending May-September 2006 at the Real Alcázar Palace in Seville, and receiving more than 500,000 visitors, one part of this exhibition now travels to Algeria.

The exhibition is held as part of the celebrations for the 6th centenary of the death of Ibn Khaldun – the best-known Arab-Muslim thinker of the 14th century – held last year. Born in Tunisia of al-Andalus ancestry, Ibn Khaldun knew and visited Andalusia, living for a time in the Nasrid court of Mohammed V.

Social historian and author of the famous work Muqaddima, Ibn Khaldun did not limit himself to a history of events and facts as his predecessors had done. He was a historian concerned by the logic of empires, by their rise and fall and he made a considerable contribution to reflections on the formation of states. The life and work of this “father of historical sociology” – as he is known by some major thinkers – is valid at any time and place. Ibn Khaldun also spent part of his life living in Algeria, where he began work on his famous book Muqaddima in Qal`at Bani Salama. Al-Ubbad, Tlemcén, Biskra and Bejaia also figured in his travels.

The 14th century is also the historical context for palace intrigues, constant struggles and successive changes of government in the Muslim and North African worlds, and in al-Andalus too.