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Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants

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This is a "greatest hits" distillation of culturally informative passages from the writings of some 22 Muslim scholars from the ninth to the 15th century, drawn largely from Lev-tzion's comprehensive Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History (2000, Mar-kus Wiener). These were centuries when West African kingdoms grew wealthy on growing trade with the Muslim world, which then reached from Morocco to China, and the climate in much of West Africa was more temperate than today. This compact, 125-page volume is a useful introduction to the best writing that has survived, from the well-known passages of Ibn Battuta and Ibn Khaldun to many that will be new to all but the most dedicated scholars. DD

Length:: 2:24 Mins

Very helpful book it dispels stereotypes of so called "blacks" always being dominated throughout history. The attached video are quotes from the book these are Medieval writers acknowledging the power of Kanim, Mali and Zafun

Views from Arab scholars and Merchants Jay Spaulding and Nehemia Levtzion

P. 40 quote from Yaqut

"The king of Zafun is stronger than the veiled people of the Maghreb and more versed in the art o kingship. The veiled people acknowledge his superiority over them, obey him and resort to him in all important matters of governmentOne year the king, on his way to the pilgrimage, came to the Maghreb to pay a visit to the commander of the Muslims, the veiled king of the Maghreb, of the tribe of Lamtuna. The Commander of the Muslims met him on foot, wheras the king of Zafun did not dismount for him."

page 44

From Ibn Sa'id

"This sultan has authority there over kingdoms such as those of the Tajuwa, Kawar, and FazzanGod has assisted him and he has many descendants and armies. His clothes are brought to him from the capital of Tunish. He has scholars around him

The region where Zaghawa wander is to the east of Manan. They are for the most part Muslims owing obedience to the sultan of KanimTo the north of Manan are the terrirory of the Kanim the Akawwar wander. Their well-known towns are in the Second Clime and they are Muslims owing obedience to the sultan of Kanim"

page 45

"There is no town worthy of mention in this section (second climate) except for Awdaghust. A mixture of Muslim Berbers inhabits it, but authority rests with the Sanhaja. There is an account of this town and its ruler in al-Bakri. It is on the line of the Second Clime in longitude 22 degrees. In the same latitude is Zafun, which belongs to pagan Sudan and whose ruler enjoys a good reputation among (other) kings of the Sudan"

Page 99 from Ibn Khaldun

"Sultan Abul-Hasan was well known for his ostentatious ways and his presumption to vie with the mightiest monarchs and adopt their customs in exchanging gifts with their peers and counterparts and dispatching emissaries to distant kings and far frontiers. In his time the king of Mali was the greatest of the kings of the Sudan and the nearest to his kingdom in the Maghrib. Mali was 100 stages distant from the southern frontiers of his realms"