Alí Bey : El espía que conquistó el corazón del islam

Domingo Badía y Leblich was a Spanish Enlightenment figure, scholar, scientist, draftsman, adventurer, and spy born in Barcelona in 1767. His incredible life and extensive travels are still remembered, especially his time in Morocco, where he was sent on a secret mission by Minister Manuel Godoy, disguised as an Abbasid prince and using the name Ali Bey. After being expelled from Morocco, he traveled to Mecca, arriving on January 23, 1807. He was one of the first Europeans to reach the city and risked his life to create accurate descriptions of Islam's holy city. Badía returned to Europe after a six-year absence, and upon arriving in Paris, Napoleon ordered him to go to Madrid and place himself at the service of his brother, Joseph I, the new Spanish king. Badía was appointed Intendant General for the province of Segovia and later Prefect of Córdoba, but after the decisive Spanish victory, Badía and his family went into exile in France for their pro-French sympathies. There he was granted a pension and dedicated himself to writing about his journey. Later, the French government accepted his proposal to undertake another pilgrimage to Mecca and from there join a caravan bound for Timbuktu. But everything went wrong. This biography, one of the few written about him, recovers the memory of the charismatic and multifaceted Domingo Badía, also known as Ali Bey, and reconstructs his life and extraordinary travels. It's an immersive experience that transports the reader to the era of the traveler through his original illustrations and portraits of the people he encountered on his adventures.