Al-Bakri Records Ghana in Writing
An Arab geographer who never visited West Africa produces the fullest surviving account of the Ghana Empire
Quick facts
- Author
- Al-Bakri, 11th-century Cordoban geographer
- Work
- Roads and Kingdoms (Kitab al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik)
- Salt tax
- 1 gold dinar entering, 2 dinars leaving, per donkey-load
- Reported army size
- 200,000, including 40,000+ archers
What happened
Al-Bakri, a Muslim geographer from a prominent Spanish Arab family who spent his life in Cordoba and Almeria without ever traveling to West Africa, compiled his account of Ghana from the testimony of merchants and travelers who had been there. His work, known in English translation as Roads and Kingdoms, describes a capital consisting of two towns, one inhabited by Muslims with twelve mosques, salaried imams, jurists, and scholars, and a separate royal town six miles away. He records that the king of Ghana could field an army of 200,000 men, more than 40,000 of them archers, and details the salt trade's double taxation: a golden dinar levied on every donkey-load of salt entering the kingdom, and two dinars when it left. The Boston University African Studies Center hosts a full translated excerpt of the primary text.
Why it matters
Al-Bakri's account is the single richest surviving contemporary description of Ghana's court, religion, and economy, and it exists precisely because Ghana was wealthy and important enough for North African merchants to discuss it in detail with a geographer who never left Iberia. Without it, most of what is known about daily administration in Ghana would be missing entirely.
How we know
This is a primary source: al-Bakri's original 11th-century Arabic text, translated and hosted by Boston University's African Studies Center, quoting his description of religion, taxation, and military strength directly.
Sources
- African Studies Center, Boston University. Writings of Al-Bakri (1057), Kingdom of Ghana · Primary source (author-declared)bu.edu · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. The Salt Trade of Ancient West Africa · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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