Ghana Empire
Ghana Empire غانا Wagadou واغادو | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
c. 100–300–c. mid-1200s | |||||||||||
African traditional religion Later Islam | |||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
Ghana | |||||||||||
• 700 | Kaya Magan Cissé | ||||||||||
• 790s | Dyabe Cisse | ||||||||||
• 1040–1062 | Ghana Bassi | ||||||||||
• 1203–1235 | Soumaba Cisse | ||||||||||
Historical era | 1st–3rd century–13th century | ||||||||||
• Established | c. 100–300 | ||||||||||
• Conversion to Sosso/Submitted to the Mali Empire | c. mid-1200s | ||||||||||
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Today part of |
The Ghana Empire (
It is uncertain when Ghana's ruling dynasty began among historians. The first identifiable mention of the imperial dynasty in written records was made by
After centuries of prosperity, the empire began its decline in the second millennium, and would finally become a vassal state of the rising Mali Empire at some point in the 13th century. Despite its collapse, the empire's influence can be felt in the establishment of numerous urban centers throughout its former territory. In 1957, the British colony of the Gold Coast, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah named itself Ghana upon independence in honor and remembrance of the historic empire, although their geographic boundaries never overlapped.
Etymology
The word ghana means warrior or war chief, and was the title given to the rulers of the kingdom. Kaya Maghan (king of gold) was another title for these kings. The Soninke name for the polity was Ouagadou.[3]
Origin Historiography
Oral traditions
Soninke oral traditions, although they vary much amongst themselves, generally call their most ancient polity Wagadu, or the "place of the Wague", the term current in the 19th century for the local nobility. The legendary progenitory of the Soninke was a man named Dinga, who came "from the east" (possibly Aswan, Egypt[4]), after which he migrated to a variety of locations in western Sudan, in each place leaving children by different wives. In order to take power he had to kill a goblin, and then marry his daughters, who became the ancestors of the clans that were dominant in the region at the time. Upon Dinga's death, his two sons Khine and Dyabe contested the kingship, and Dyabe was victorious, founding Wagadu.[5]
The traditions of the
Medieval Arab Writers and a Berber Origin
The earliest discussions of Ghana's origins are found in the Sudanese chronicles of
French colonial officials, notably
This idea of a foreign origin for Wagadu is generally disregarded by modern scholars. Levtzion and Spaulding, for example, argue that al-Idrisi's testimony should be looked at skeptically due to serious miscalculations in geography and historical chronology.[14] The archaeologist and historian Raymond Mauny argues that al-Kati's and al-Saadi's theories were based on the presence (after Ghana's demise) of nomadic Berbers originally from Libya, and the assumption that they were the ruling caste in an earlier age. Earlier accounts such Ya'qubi (872 CE), al-Masudi (c. 944 CE), Ibn Hawqal (977 CE), al-Biruni (c. 1036 CE), and al-Bakri (1068 CE) all describe the population and rulers of Ghana as "negroes".[15] Delafosse's works, meanwhile, have been harshly criticised by scholars such as Charles Monteil, Robert Cornevin and others for being "unacceptable" and "too creative to be useful to historians", particularly in relation to his interpretation of West African genealogies,[16][17][18][19]
Modern Archaeology and a Local Origin
Beginning in the mid 20th century as more archeological data became available, scholars began to favor a purely local origin for Ghana. These works bring together archaeology, descriptive geographical sources written between 830 and 1400 AD, the Tarikhs from the 16th and 17th centuries, and the oral traditions.[20] In 1969 Patrick Munson excavated at Dhar Tichitt (a site associated with the ancestors of the Soninke), which clearly reflected a complex culture that was present by 1600 BC and had architectural and material cultural elements similar to those found at Koumbi Saleh in the 1920s.[21]
The earliest proto-polity ancestral to Ghana likely arose from a large collection of ancient proto-
Niger Bend Theory
Historian Dierk Lange has argued that the core of Wagadou was not Koumbi Saleh but in fact lay near Lake Faguibine, on the Niger Bend. This area was historically more fertile than the Tichitt zone, and Lange draws on oral traditions to support his argument, contending that dynastic struggles in the 11th century pushed the capital west.[29]
History
Rise of the Empire
A proposed founding date of c. 100 – 300 CE fits very well within what is known about the Wagadu state's control of the trans-saharan gold trade and the attendant time scale.[30] The introduction of the camel to the western Sahara in the 3rd century AD served as a major catalyst for the transformative social changes that resulted in the empire's formation. By the time of the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century, the camel had changed the ancient, irregular trade routes into a network running between North Africa and the Niger River. The Ghana Empire grew rich from this trans-Saharan trade in gold, textiles, foods, and salt, allowing for larger urban centers to develop. The traffic furthermore encouraged territorial expansion to gain control over the different trade routes.[citation needed]
Information about the empire at its height is sparse. According to Kati's
Written sources vague as to the empire's maximum extent, though according to
Imperial Decline and Resurgence
Given the scattered nature of the Arabic sources and the ambiguity of the existing archaeological record, it is difficult to determine when and how Ghana declined and fell. With the gradual drying of the Sahel, the all-important epicenters of trade began to most south to the
A tradition in historiography maintains that Ghana fell when it was sacked by the Almoravid invasion in 1076–77, although Ghanaians resisted attacks for a decade,[37] but this interpretation has been sharply questioned by modern scholars. Conrad and Fisher (1982) argued that the notion of any Almoravid military conquest at its core is merely perpetuated folklore, derived from a misinterpretation or naive reliance on Arabic sources.[38] Dierke Lange agrees but argues that this does not preclude Almoravid political agitation, claiming that Ghana's demise owed much to the latter.[39] Furthermore, the archaeology of ancient Ghana does not show the signs of rapid change and destruction that would be associated with any Almoravid-era military conquests.[40]
Sheryl L. Burkhalter (1992) suggested that there were reasons to believe that there was conflict between the Almoravids and the empire of Ghana.
Whether the Almoravids conquered Ghana or not, the country certainly did convert to Islam. Al-Idrisi, whose account was written in 1154, has the country fully Muslim by that date. His report does not give any reason to believe that the Empire was smaller or weaker than it had been in the days of al-Bakri, 75 years earlier, however. In fact, he describes its capital as "the greatest of all towns of the Sudan with respect to area, the most populous, and with the most extensive trade."
Sosso occupation and successor states
This resurgence did not last, however. By 1203, the Sosso rose against their masters and conquered Ghana.
In his brief overview of Sudanese history, Ibn Khaldun related that "the people of Mali outnumbered the peoples of the Sudan in their neighborhood and dominated the whole region." He went on to relate that they "vanquished the Susu and acquired all their possessions, both their ancient kingdom and that of Ghana."[47] According to a modern tradition, this resurgence of Mali was led by Sundiata Keita, the founder of Mali and ruler of its core area of Kangaba. Delafosse assigned an arbitrary but widely accepted date of 1230 to the event.[48]
This tradition states that Ghana Soumaba Cisse, at the time a vassal of the
Economy
Most of the information about the economy of Ghana comes from al-Bakri. He noted that merchants had to pay a tax of one gold dinar on imports of salt, and two on exports of salt. Other products had fixed dues; al-Bakri mentioned both copper and "other goods." Imports probably included products such as textiles, ornaments and other materials. Many of the hand-crafted leather goods found in present-day Morocco also had their origins in the empire.[50] al-Bakri also mentioned that Muslims played a central role in commerce and held court appointments.[51]
Government
Testimony about ancient Ghana depended on how well disposed the king was to foreign travelers, from whom the majority of information on the empire comes. Islamic writers often commented on the social-political stability of the empire based on the seemingly just actions and grandeur of the king. Al-Bakri, a Moorish nobleman living in Spain questioned merchants who visited the empire in the 11th century and wrote of the king:
He sits in audience or to hear grievances against officials in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials. Behind the king stand ten pages holding shields and swords decorated with gold, and on his right are the sons of the kings of his country wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold. The governor of the city sits on the ground before the king and around him are ministers seated likewise. At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree that hardly ever leave the place where the king is, guarding him. Around their necks they wear collars of gold and silver studded with a number of balls of the same metals.[55]
Ghana appears to have had a central core region and was surrounded by vassal states. One of the earliest sources to describe Ghana, al-Ya'qubi, writing in 889/90 (276 AH) says that "under his authority are a number of kings" which included Sama and 'Am (?) and so extended at least to the Niger River valley.[56] These "kings" were presumably the rulers of the territorial units often called kafu in Mandinka.
The Arabic sources are vague as to how the country was governed. Al-Bakri, far and away the most detailed one, mentions that the king had officials (mazalim) who surrounded his throne when he gave justice, and these included the sons of the "kings of his country" which we must assume are the same kings that al-Ya'qubi mentioned in his account of nearly 200 years earlier. Al-Bakri's detailed geography of the region shows that in his day, or 1067/1068, Ghana was surrounded by independent kingdoms, and Sila, one of them located on the Senegal River, was "almost a match for the king of Ghana." Sama is the only such entity mentioned as a province, as it was in al-Ya'qubi's day.[57]
In al-Bakri's time, the rulers of Ghana had begun to incorporate more Muslims into government, including the treasurer, his interpreter, and "the majority of his officials."[55]
Koumbi Saleh
-
Central mausoleum in 1951 (left) and 2007 (right)
-
Column Tomb with remains of the corner columns still intact
-
Individual burial from the Column Tomb with isolated stele placed at the head
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Western necropolis of Koumbi Saleh showing the density of funerary structures
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Funerary complex of the Column Tomb[58]
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Central mausoleum (the qubba) of the Column Tomb
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Burial excavation showing the over-pit system and surface arrangements
A 17th-century chronicle written in Timbuktu, the Tarikh al-fattash, gave the name of the empire's capital as "Koumbi".[7] According to the description of the town left by Al-Bakri in 1067/1068, the capital actually consisted of two cities 10 kilometres (6 mi) apart but "between these two towns are continuous habitations", so that they might be said to have merged into one.[55] The most common identification for this capital is the site of Koumbi Saleh on the rim of the Sahara desert.[59]
El-Ghaba
According to al-Bakri, the major part of the city was called El-Ghaba and was the residence of the king. It was protected by a stone wall and functioned as the royal and spiritual capital of the Empire. It contained a sacred grove of trees in which priests lived. It also contained the king's palace, the grandest structure in the city, surrounded by other "domed buildings". There was also one mosque for visiting Muslim officials.[55] (El-Ghaba, coincidentally or not, means "The Forest" in Arabic.)
Muslim district
The name of the other section of the city is not recorded. In the vicinity were wells with fresh water, used to grow vegetables. It was inhabited almost entirely by Muslims, who had with twelve
Archaeology
Beginning in the 1920s, French archaeologists excavated the site of Koumbi Saleh, although there have always been controversies about the location of Ghana's capital and whether Koumbi Saleh is the same town as the one described by al-Bakri. The site was excavated in 1949–50 by Paul Thomassey and Raymond Mauny[61] and by another French team in 1975–81.[62] The remains of Koumbi Saleh are impressive, even if the remains of the royal town, with its large palace and burial mounds, have not been located.
Contested Identification
A problem in the identification of Koumbi Saleh as the Wagadou capital is that al-Idrisi, a twelfth-century writer, described Ghana's royal city as lying on a riverbank, a river he called the "Nile." This followed the geographic custom of his day, which confused the Niger and Senegal Rivers and believed that they formed a single river often called the "Nile of the Blacks". Whether al-Idrisi was referring to a new and later capital located elsewhere, or whether there was confusion or corruption in his text is unclear. However, he does state that the royal palace he knew was built in 510 AH (1116–1117 AD), suggesting that it was a newer town, rebuilt closer to the Niger than Koumbi Saleh.[44]
Demographics
The empire was populated by ancient Mande tribes and would come under unity through the Soninke tribe of the greater Mande ethnic group, with its citizens living in deeply established patrilineal/paternal clans and family structures.[1]
List of rulers
Soninke rulers ("Ghanas") of the Cisse dynasty
- Kaya Magan Cissé (also known as Dinga Cisse)
- Dyabe Cisse: circa 790s
- Bassi: 1040–1062
- Tunka Manin: 1062–1076
Almoravid occupation
- Abu Bakr ibn Umar: 1076–1086
Sosso rulers
- Kambine Diaresso (sometimes also written as Jarisso): 1087–1090
- Suleiman: 1090–1100
- Bannu Bubu: 1100–1120
- Magan Wagadou: 1120–1130
- Gane: 1130–1140
- Musa: 1140–1160
- Birama: 1160–1180
Rulers during Kaniaga occupation
- Diara Kante: 1180–1202
- Soumaba Cisse as vassal of Soumaoro Kanté: 1203–1235
Ghanas of Wagadou tributary
- Soumaba Cisse as ally of Sundiata Keita: 1235–1240
See also
References
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
- ^ al-Kuwarizmi in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, p. 7.
- ^ Willie F. Page; R. Hunt Davis, Jr., eds. (2005), "Ghana Empire", Encyclopedia of African History and Culture, vol. 2 (revised ed.), Facts on File, pp. 85–87
- ISBN 9781851097746. Retrieved 13 September 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Levtzion 1973, pp. 16–17.
- ^ a b c Kane, Oumar (2004). La première hégémonie peule. Le Fuuta Tooro de Koli Teηella à Almaami Abdul. Paris: Karthala. p. 57-60. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ a b c Houdas & Delafosse 1913, p. 76.
- ^ Levtzion 1973, p. 19: "It is disputed as to the tribe to which these kings belonged; some say they were Wa'kore [Soninke], others say they were Wangara [Malinke] which appears improbable. Others say they were Sanhaja which seems to me most likely … The nearest to the truth is that they were not black."
- ^ Houdas & Delafosse 1913, p. 78
- ^ Houdas & Delafosse 1913, p. 78, translation from Levtzion 1973, p. 19
- ^ Levtzion 1973, p. 19: "Mali is the name of an extensive territory lying in the far west [of the Sudan] to the direction of the Ocean. It was Kaya-Magha who founded the first kingdom in that region. His capital was Ghana, an important town in the country of Baghana. It is said that their kingdom was in existence before the hijra, and that twenty-two kings reigned before it and twenty-two afterwards, making forty four in all. In origin they were white, though we do not know to whom they trace their origin. Their subjects, however, were Wa'kore [Soninke]."
- ^ al-Idrisi in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, p. 109, and ibn Sa'id, p. 186.
- ^ Delafosse 1912, pp. 215–226 Vol. 1.
- ^ a b Levtzion & Spaulding 2003, p. 27.
- ^ Mauny 1954, p. 204.
- ^ Monteil, Charles (1966). "Fin de siècle à Médine (1898-1899)". Bulletin de l'IFAN. série B. 28 (1–2): 166.
- ^ Vidal, Jules (1924). "La légende officielle de Soundiata, fondateur de l'Empire manding". Bulletin du Comité d'Études Historiques et Scientifiques de l'AOF. 8 (2): 317–328.
- ^ African Studies Association, History in Africa, Vol. 11, African Studies Association, 1984, University of Michigan, pp. 42-51.
- ^ Cornevin, Robert, Histoire de l'Africa, Tome I: des origines au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1962), 347-48 (reference to Delafosse in Haut-Sénégal-Niger vol. 1, pp. 256-257)
- ^ Mauny 1961, pp. 72–74, 508–511.
- ^ Munson 1980, p. 458.
- ^ Arazi, Noemie. "Tracing History in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali -Archaeology, Oral Traditions and Written Sources" (PDF). University College London. Institute of Archaeology.
- ^ MacDonald, K.C. Before the Empire of Ghana: Pastoralism and the Origins of Cultural Complexity in the Sahel. pp. 71–103.
- ^ Mcintosh, Susan Keech; Mcintosh, Roderick J. (February 1980). "Jenne-Jeno: An Ancient African City". Archaeology. 33 (1): 8–14.
- ^ Munson 1980, p. 465.
- ^ Levtzion 1973, pp. 8–17.
- ^ Munson 1980, p. 466.
- ^ Kevin McDonald, Robert Vernet, Dorian Fuller and James Woodhouse, "New Light on the Tichitt Tradition" A Preliminary Report on Survey and Excavation at Dhar Nema," pp. 78–80.
- ^ Lange 1996b, p. 161.
- ^ Ehret 2016, p. 300.
- ^ Hunwick 2003, p. 13 and note 5.
- ^ al-Bakri in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and trans. Corpus, p. 73.
- ^ Fall 2021, p. 28.
- ^ Fall 2021, p. 32.
- ^ Fall 2021, p. 26.
- ^ Lange 1996b, p. 165-6.
- ^ For example, Levtzion, Ghana and Mali, pp. 44–48.
- ^ Masonen & Fisher 1996.
- ^ Lange 1996a, pp. 122–159.
- ^ Insoll 2003, p. 230.
- ^ "Listening for Silences in Almoravid History: Another Reading of "The Conquest that Never Was" Camilo Gómez-Rivas
- ^ "Law and the Islamization of Morocco under the Almoravids" Camilo Gómez-Rivas
- ^ a b ibn Khaldun in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and trans. Corpus, p. 333.
- ^ a b al-Idrisi in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Lewicki 1971, p. 503.
- ^ Lewicki 1971, p. 504.
- ^ ibn Khaldun in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, p. 333.
- ^ Delafosse 1912, p. 291 Vol. 1.
- ^ a b al-'Umari in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and trans. Corpus, p. 262.
- ^ Chu, Daniel and Skinner, Elliot. A Glorious Age in Africa, 1st ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965.
- ISBN 978-1-61039-459-8.
- ISBN 9789004187429.
- ^ al-Bakri in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and trans. Corpus, p. 81.
- ^ "The Story of Africa- BBC World Service". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d al-Bakri (1067) in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, p. 80.
- ^ al-Ya'qubi in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and trans. Corpus, p. 21.
- ^ al-Bakri in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and trans., Corpus, pp. 77–83.
- ^ Capel, Chloe (2021). "Le Tombeau à Colonnes de Koumbi Saleh (Mauritanie – xie-xiie siècle)". REMMM: 237–262.
- ^ Levtzion 1973, pp. 22–26.
- ^ al-Bakri, 1067 in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Thomassey & Mauny 1951.
- ^ Berthier 1997.
Bibliography
- Berthier, Sophie (1997), Recherches archéologiques sur la capitale de l'empire de Ghana: Etude d'un secteur, d'habitat à Koumbi Saleh, Mauritanie: Campagnes II-III-IV-V (1975–1976)-(1980–1981), British Archaeological Reports 680, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 41, Oxford: Archaeopress, ISBN 978-0-86054-868-3.
- Delafosse, Maurice (1912), Haut-Sénégal-Niger: Le Pays, les Peuples, les Langues; l'Histoire; les Civilizations. 3 Vols (in French), Paris: Émile Larose. Gallica: Volume 1, Le Pays, les Peuples, les Langues; Volume 2, L'Histoire; Volume 3, Les Civilisations.
- Ehret, Christopher (2016), The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press
- Fall, Mamadou (2021). "Les Terroirs Historiques et la Poussée Soninké". In Fall, Mamadou; Fall, Rokhaya; Mane, Mamadou (eds.). Bipolarisation du Senegal du XVIe - XVIIe siécle (in French). Dakar: HGS Editions. pp. 14–39.
- Houdas, Octave; Delafosse, Maurice, eds. (1913), Tarikh el-fettach par Mahmoūd Kāti et l'un de ses petit fils (2 Vols.), Paris: Ernest Leroux. Volume 1 is the Arabic text, Volume 2 is a translation into French. Reprinted by Maisonneuve in 1964 and 1981. The French text is also available from Aluka but requires a subscription.
- ISBN 978-90-04-12560-5. Reprint of the 1999 edition with corrections.
- Insoll, Timothy (2003), Archaeology of Islam in Sub-saharan Africa, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-65702-0.
- Lange, Dierk (1996a), "The Almoravid expansion and the downfall of Ghana", Der Islam, 73 (2): 313–51, S2CID 162370098. Reprinted in Lange 2004, pp. 455–493.
- Lange, Dierk (1996b). "La Chute De La Dynastie Des Sisse: Considerations Sur La Dislocation De L'Empire Du Ghana A Partir De L'Histoire De Gao". History in Africa (in French). 23: 155-78. doi:10.2307/3171939. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
- Lange, Dierk (2004), Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa, Dettelbach, Germany: J. H. Röll, ISBN 978-3-89754-115-3.
- Levtzion, Nehemia (1973), Ancient Ghana and Mali (PDF), London: Methuen, ISBN 978-0-8419-0431-6. Reprinted with additions 1980.
- Levtzion, Nehemia; Hopkins, John F. P. eds. and trans. (2000), Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West Africa, New York, NY: Marcus Weiner, ISBN 0-521-22422-5.
- Levtzion, Nehemia; Spaulding, Jay (2003), Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants, Princeton NJ: Markus Wiener, ISBN 978-1-55876-305-0. Excerpts from Levtzion & Hopkins 1981. Includes an extended introduction.
- Lewicki, Tadeusz (1971). "Un État Soudanais Médiéval Inconnu: Le Royaume de Zāfūn(u)". Cahiers d’Études Africaines (in French). 11 (44): 501–25. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
- Masonen, Pekka; Fisher, Humphrey J. (1996), "Not quite Venus from the waves: The Almoravid conquest of Ghana in the modern historiography of Western Africa" (PDF), History in Africa, 23: 197–232, S2CID 162477947.
- Mauny, Raymond A. (1954), "The question of Ghana", Journal of the International African Institute, 24 (3): 200–213, S2CID 143619637.
- Mauny, Raymond (1961), Tableau géographique de l'ouest africain au moyen age, d'après les sources écrites, la tradition et l'archéologie, Dakar: Institut français d'Afrique Noire.
- Munson, Patrick J. (1980), "Archaeology and the prehistoric origins of the Ghana Empire", The Journal of African History, 21 (4): 457–466, S2CID 161981607.
- Thomassey, Paul; Mauny, Raymond (1951), "Campagne de fouilles à Koumbi Saleh", Bulletin de I'lnstitut Français de I'Afrique Noire (B) (in French), 13: 438–462, archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Includes a plan of the site.
Further reading
- Conrad, David C.; Fisher, Humphrey J. (1982), "The conquest that never was: Ghana and the Almoravids, 1076. I. The external Arabic sources", History in Africa, 9: 21–59, S2CID 163009319.
- Conrad, David C.; Fisher, Humphrey J. (1983), "The conquest that never was: Ghana and the Almoravids, 1076. II. The local oral sources", History in Africa, 10: 53–78, S2CID 162867483.
- Cornevin, Robert (1965), "Ghana", Encyclopaedia of Islam Volume 2 (2nd ed.), Leiden: Brill, pp. 1001–2, ISBN 978-90-04-07026-4.
- Cuoq, Joseph M., translator and editor (1975), Recueil des sources arabes concernant l'Afrique occidentale du VIIIe au XVIe siècle (Bilād al-Sūdān) (in French), Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
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ISBN 2-222-01718-1. Similar to Levtzion and Hopkins, 1981 & 2000. - Masonen, Pekka (2000), The Negroland revisited: Discovery and invention of the Sudanese middle ages, Helsinki: Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, pp. 519–23, ISBN 978-951-41-0886-0.
- Mauny, Raymond (1971), "The Western Sudan", in Shinnie, P.L. (ed.), The African Iron age, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 66–87, ISBN 978-0-19-813158-8.
- Monteil, Charles (1954), "La légende du Ouagadou et l'origine des Soninke", Mélanges Ethnologiques, Dakar: Mémoire de l'Institute Français d'Afrique Noire 23, pp. 359–408.