In 922 AD an Arab 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 & astonishingly objective description of Viking customs dress table manners religion & sexual practices as well as the only eyewitness account ever written of a Viking ship cremation. Between the ninth & fourteenth centuries Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely & frequently into the far north crossing territories that now include Russia Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan. Their fascinating accounts describe how the numerous tribes & people they encountered traded furs paid tribute & waged wars. This accessible new translation offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers & the medieval lands of the far north.