Al-Bakri's Account of Ghana (1068): Africa in Arabic Geography

Al-Bakri’s account of Ghana, completed in 1068 in his Book of Routes and Realms, is the most detailed medieval description of the Ghana Empire of West Africa. Written in Muslim Spain by the geographer Abu Ubayd al-Bakri, it describes Ghana’s king, his two-part capital, the gold trade and the empire’s taxes at a moment when the state was at the height of its power. Historians still depend on it as the foundation for understanding West Africa’s first great empire.

Who was al-Bakri?

Abu Ubayd Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Bakri was born in al-Andalus, Muslim Spain, in the first half of the 11th century; estimates of his birth range from about 1014 to about 1040. His father ruled the small taifa kingdom of Huelva and Saltés in the south-west, one of the many successor states that emerged after the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba.

In 1051 or 1052 the family surrendered their territory to al-Mutadid, ruler of Seville, and moved to Córdoba. Al-Bakri studied there, served at the court of al-Mutasim, ruler of the taifa of Almería, and became known as a poet, philologist, botanist and geographer. He died in Córdoba in 1094.

The Book of Routes and Realms

Al-Bakri wrote several works, including a dictionary of place names. His geography, Kitab al-Masalik wa-l-Mamalik, was completed in AH 460, corresponding to 1068. It covered routes, towns and peoples across the known world, but its sections on North Africa and the lands south of the Sahara are the most detailed and best preserved.

Al-Bakri never visited West Africa. He drew on earlier writers, especially Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Warraq, a 10th-century scholar of Kairouan whose geography of North Africa is now lost, and on fresh reports from merchants who had crossed the desert. This mix of sources explains why his account is so specific.

The king and his capital

Al-Bakri names the king of Ghana in 1068 as Tunka Manin, who had come to the throne in 1063. He explains that kingship passed to the son of the king’s sister rather than to his own son, a matrilineal rule he says was followed because a sister’s son was certainly of royal blood.

He describes the capital as two towns about six miles apart. One was a Muslim town with twelve mosques, imams, muezzins, jurists and scholars, home to the North African merchants. The other, called al-Ghaba (the forest), was the king’s town, with his palace, domed buildings, sacred groves guarded by priests, and a prison. The ruins of Koumbi Saleh are often identified with the Muslim town.

Gold, salt and taxes

Al-Bakri’s account of the royal court is famous. The king held audience in a domed pavilion surrounded by horses covered in gold-embroidered cloth, pages holding shields and gold-mounted swords, and the sons of vassal kings with gold woven into their hair. Even the guard dogs wore collars of gold and silver.

He also records the economic basis of this splendour. The king taxed one gold dinar on every donkey-load of salt entering the country and two dinars on every load leaving it, with further dues on copper and other goods. All gold nuggets found in the mines belonged to the king, while the people kept gold dust, a policy meant to stop the price of gold from collapsing. This system is set in context in Trans-Saharan Trade.

According to al-Bakri, the king could field an army of 200,000 men, more than 40,000 of them archers. Historians generally regard this figure as exaggerated.

Religion and customs

Al-Bakri presents Ghana’s king as a non-Muslim who respected Islam. His interpreters, treasurer and most of his ministers were Muslims, valued for their literacy. Subjects greeted the king by kneeling and sprinkling dust on their heads, while Muslims clapped their hands instead.

He also describes royal funerals, in which a dead king was placed in a large wooden chamber with his possessions and some attendants, before earth was heaped over it to form a mound.

How historians use it

Al-Bakri’s account is the starting point for almost every history of the Ghana Empire. It provides names, institutions and a rough date for Ghana’s height, and it describes the Almoravid attack on Awdaghust in 1054.

Historians use it carefully. It reflects the viewpoint of Muslim traders, it is second-hand, some figures are inflated, and it describes one moment rather than the whole history of the empire. Archaeology at Koumbi Saleh and Tegdaoust has confirmed the existence of prosperous Muslim trading towns, but not every detail of the text.

Timeline

• Early 11th century: Al-Bakri born in al-Andalus.
• 1051-1052: His family surrenders the taifa of Huelva and Saltés to Seville.
• 1054 (AH 446): Almoravids sack Awdaghust, an event al-Bakri records.
• 1063: Tunka Manin becomes king of Ghana.
• 1068 (AH 460): Al-Bakri completes the Book of Routes and Realms.
• 1094: Al-Bakri dies in Córdoba.
• 1857-1859: William MacGuckin de Slane publishes the Arabic text of the African sections and a French translation.

Why it matters

Without al-Bakri, the Ghana Empire would be little more than a name. His careful compilation preserved the only detailed picture of a powerful West African kingdom in the 11th century and shows how closely medieval Europe’s Muslim scholars followed events across the Sahara.