Ibn Khaldun

About Ibn Khaldun

Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) stands as a towering figure in intellectual history, ranked #276 by the Pantheon project for his profound influence. A pioneering Arab historian and sociologist, his magnum opus, the *Muqaddimah*, laid foundational principles for historiography, sociology, economics, and political science. He developed sophisticated theories on the cyclical nature of power, the rise and fall of civilizations, and the role of social cohesion (*asabiyyah*), making him arguably the most significant non-Western intellectual of the late Middle Ages.

In the modern attention economy, however, Ibn Khaldun appears comparatively neglected. His Wikipedia page accrued approximately 351K annualized views in 2025. To provide contrast, this level of attention is significantly less than that received by figures like Hernán Cortés (#369 importance, 1.2M views) or even Mark Twain (#543 importance, 2.4M views), demonstrating a notable attention gap relative to his high historical importance ranking.

Furthermore, his modern relevance shows signs of stagnation or decline, with a year-over-year change of -10.5% and a Q1 versus Q3 momentum change of -1%. This suggests that while his historical significance is undisputed, his contemporary digital footprint is shrinking or struggling to maintain pace with other influential historical contemporaries.