Ibn Khaldun

Diplomat, judge, and tireless traveler across the Maghreb, Ibn Khaldun observed how dynasties rise and fall and tried to explain it. From a quiet retreat in what is today western Algeria, he wrote the Muqaddimah, an introduction to history that reads like the birth of social science itself.

He is recognized worldwide as a founder of historical sociology and a major figure of Maghreb and Islamic intellectual heritage.

Much of the Muqaddimah was written at the castle of Qal'at Ibn Salama, in present-day Tiaret region.