Primary Source Account of Ghana by Abu Ubayd al-Bakri

Account of Ghana by Abu Ubayd al-Bakri

Trade played a key role in the development of Ghana. The empire of Mali arose after the decline of Ghana. Both empires exercised political and economic power over a large part of Africa. Control of high-demand trade products like gold and salt allowed Ghana and Mali to become powerful and wealthy.

Gold and salt were the largest part of West African economies. Slavery was another part of those economies. Many societies in Africa who were ruled by kings kept slaves. Slaves were seen as a symbol of power and wealth. Mostly, slaves were used for household purposes. In Mali, they were also used to clear new farmlands. Kings would sometimes keep loyal foreign-born slaves as bodyguards. Slaves were also traded to places outside of West Africa, but not on the large scale that would happen later.

Ghana and Mali had great political and economic power. Both empires also demonstrated cultural influence over a large part of Africa. In the lesson The Influence of Islam on West Africa, you will read about the great city of Timbuktu in Mali. People from all over the Islamic world came to admire its striking mosques and to study in its famous universities and libraries. Archeological excavations of Ghana's capital of Kumbi show it to be an impressive city as well. Historians believe that it could have been the largest city in the world at the time. A mix of traditional and Muslim religions coexisted there. Since excavations began in 1913, a beautiful mosque was discovered. It is one of 12 mosques believed to have existed in Ghana's capital.

One of the sources of information about Ghana and its cities comes from Abu Ubayd al-Bakri. He was a historian and geographer from Muslim Spain. In 1068, he wrote the ​Book of Roads and Kingdoms​. He never traveled south of the Sahara himself. He based information in his book on those areas he had never been to on accounts given to him by merchants and other travelers.

Below is an excerpt from ​Book of Roads and Kingdoms​. In it, al-Bakri describes a city in Ghana. What do you learn from the excerpt about the geography of this city and its people?

Excerpt from Book of Roads and Kingdoms by Abu Ubayd al-Bakri

The city of Ghana consists of two towns in a plain. One of these towns is inhabited by Muslims.

It is large with a dozen mosques, in one of which they assemble for the Friday prayer. . . .

The royal town is six miles distance from this one. . . .

. . .

Around the king's town are domed huts and groves [woods] where live the sorcerers, the men in charge

of their religious cult. In these are the idols [religious statues] and the tombs of their kings. These groves

are guarded, no one can enter them nor discover their contents. The prisons of the king are there, and if

anyone is imprisoned in them, no more is ever heard of him. . . .

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• ​Ancient Ghana and Mali​by Nehemia Levtzion. London: Methuen, 1973, pp. 25, 189.

DMU Timestamp: May 11, 2020 21:16

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