This book makes available for the first time in English a comprehensive range of Arabic writings concerning West African history during those early centuries when the Arabs were still gathering and recording up-to-date information. It includes all the contemporary or near-contemporary sources on topics such as the first Arab forays across the Sahara, the introduction of Islam to West Africa, and the rise and development of the early African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Takrur, Kanem and Bornu, as well as on important related fields such as the Almoravid movement and trans-Saharan trade.

• inside cover