Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

The main sources for the medieval history of West Africa are to be found in Arabic writings. Here, in English translations, is the sum of what Islamic scholars wrote about West Africa between the 9th and 15th centuries, together with the notes necessary to its evaluation. From the eighth century onwards, the Muslim townsfolk of North Africa were well aware that fifty stages away across the desert to the south lay a land inhabited by black people which was the source of gold, ivory and slaves. It was no mere rumour stemming from occasional journeys of special daring, as it had been in the time of Herodotus. For the Muslims, the black slaves were in their midst as labourers and soldiers, servants and concubines. And soon the passing caravans began to be swelled by black students and pilgrims, showing that the religion and civilization of Islam were spreading across the Sahara into the western and central Sudan...