TheGhana Empire (Arabic:غانا), also known as simplyGhana,[2]Ghanata, orWagadu, was an ancient western-Sahelianempire based in the modern-day southeast ofMauritania and westernMali.
It is uncertain among historians when Ghana's ruling dynasty began. The first identifiable mention of the imperial dynasty in written records was made byMuḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 830.[3] Further information about the empire was provided by the accounts ofCordoban scholaral-Bakri when he wrote about the region in the 11th century.
After centuries of prosperity, the empire began its decline in thesecond millennium, and would finally become avassal state of the risingMali 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, theBritish colony of theGold Coast, under the leadership ofKwame Nkrumah named itselfGhana upon independence.
The wordGhana meanswarrior orwar 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 wasOuagadou.[4] This meant the "place of the Wague", the term current in the 19th century for the localnobility[5] or may have meant 'the land of great herds'.[6]
According tooral traditions, although they vary much amongst themselves, the legendary progenitory of the Soninke was a man named Dinga, who came "from the east" (possiblyAswan,Egypt[7]), 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 serpent deity (named Bida), and then marry his daughters, who became the ancestors of the clans that were dominant in the region at the time. Some traditions hold he made a deal with Bida to sacrifice one maiden a year in exchange for rainfall, and other versions add a constant supply of gold.[8]: 55 Upon Dinga's death, his two sons Khine and Dyabe contested thekingship, and Dyabe was victorious, founding Wagadu.[5]
In some versions, the fall of Wagadu happens when a nobleman tries to save a maiden, despite her objection, and kills the snake, unleashing its curse and annulling the prior deal. This tale appears to have been a fragment of what once was a much longer narrative, now lost, however the legend of Wagadu continues to have a deep-rooted significance in Soninke culture and history.[8]: 54–55 The tradition ofGassire's lute mentions Wagadu's fall.
The traditions of theMoors,Hassaniya Arabs andBerbers inMauritania maintain that the earliest occupants of areas such as theAdrar andTagant were Black. These regions, part of the core of Wagadu, remained largelySoninke until at least the 16th century.[9]
The earliest discussions of Ghana's origins are found in the Sudanese chronicles ofMahmud Kati (theTarikh al-Fattash) and Abd al-Rahman as-Sadi (theTarikh al-Sudan).[10] Addressing the rulers' origin, theTarikh al-Fattash offers three different theories: that they wereSoninke; orWangara (a Soninke/Mande group), which the author considered improbable; or that they wereSanhaja Berbers, which the author considered most likely. The author concludes that "the nearest to the truth is that they were not black."[11][12] This interpretation derived from his opinion that the rulers' genealogies linked them to the Berbers.[13] TheTarikh al-Sudan further states that "In origin they were white, though we do not know to whom they trace their origin. Their subjects, however, were Wa'kore [Soninke]."[14] Chronicles byal-Idrisi in the 11th century andIbn Said in the 13th noted that rulers of Ghana traced their descent from the clan ofMuhammad, either through his protectorAbi Talib or through his son-in-lawAli.[15]
French colonial officials, notablyMaurice Delafosse, erroneously concluded that Ghana had been founded by theBerbers and linked them to North African and Middle Eastern origins. Delafosse produced a convoluted theory of an invasion by "Judeo-Syrians", which he linked to theFulbe (who actually co-foundedTakrur).[16][17]
Trade routes of the Western Sahara c. 1000–1500. Goldfields are indicated by light brown shading:Bambuk,Bure,Lobi, andAkan.
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 historicalchronology.[18] 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 suchYa'qubi (872 CE),al-Masudi (c. 944 CE),Ibn Hawqal (977 CE),al-Biruni (c. 1036 CE), andal-Bakri (1068 CE) all describe the population and rulers of Ghana as "negroes".[19] Delafosse's works, meanwhile, have been harshly criticised by scholars such asCharles 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,[20][21][22][23]
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.[24] In 1969 Patrick Munson excavated atDhar 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 atKoumbi Saleh in the 1920s.[25]
The earliest proto-polity ancestral to Ghana likely arose from a large collection of ancient proto-Mande agro-pastoralist chiefdoms that were spread over the western-most portion of the Niger River basin for over a millennium roughly spanning 1300 BCE– 300 BCE.[26][27][28] Munsun theorized that, around 700 BCE Libyco-Berbers raiders destroyed this burgeoning state.[29] Their opening of a trade route north, however, eventually changed the economic calculus from raiding to trade, and the native Soninke reasserted themselves around 300 BCE. This trade and the development of ironworking technology were crucial in the formation of the state.[30][18][31] Work in Dhar Tichitt,Dhar Nema andDhar Walata has shown that, as the desert advanced, the local groups moved southward into the still well-watered areas of what is now northern Mali.[32]
Historian Dierk Lange has argued that the core of Wagadou was not Koumbi Saleh but in fact lay nearLake 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.[33]
Towards the end of the 3rd century AD, awet period in the Sahel created areas for human habitation and exploitation which had not been habitable for the best part of a millennium, resulting in Wagadu rising out of theTichitt culture. The introduction of thecamel to the western Sahara in the 3rd century AD and pressure from the nomadic SaharanSanhaja served as major catalysts for the transformative social changes that resulted in the empire's formation. By the time of theMuslim 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 theNiger River.Soninketradition portrays early Ghana as very warlike, with horse-mounted warriors key to increasing its territory and population, although details of their expansion are extremely scarce.[34] Wagadu made its profits from maintaining a monopoly ongold heading north andsalt heading south, despite not controlling the gold fields themselves.[35] It is possible that Wagadu's dominance on trade allowed for the gradual consolidation of many smaller polities into aconfederated state, whose composites stood in varying relations to the core, from fully administered to nominal tribute-paying parity.[36] Based onlarge tumuli scattered across West Africa dating to this period, it has been proposed that relative to Wagadu there were many more simultaneous and preceding kingdoms which have unfortunately been lost to time.[37][38]
Information about the empire at its height is sparse. According to Kati'sTarikh al-Fettash, in a section probably composed around 1580 but citing the chief judge Ida al-Massini who lived somewhat earlier, twenty kings ruled Ghana before the advent of Islam.[10] Al-Sadi purports that approximately 18 through 34 ancient Kaya (kings) ruled before theHijra and 24 more kaya (kings) ruled afterward.[39]
Written sources are vague as to the empire's maximum extent, though according toal-Bakri, Ghana had forcedAwdaghost in the desert to accept its rule sometime between 970 and 1054.[40] Oral traditions indicate that, at its height, the empire controlledTakrur, Jafunu,Jaara, Bakhunu, Neema, Soso,Guidimakha, Gijume,Gajaaga, as well as the Awker, Adrar, andHodh to the north. It also had some degree of influence overKaniaga,Kaarta, andKhasso.[9] Diabe, supposedly the son of Dinga, is sometimes given credit for driving theMandinka out of the Gajaaga.[41] Two other Soninke groups to the south, the Gaja and the Karo, were dominated by the Wagu.[42]
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. With the gradual drying of the Sahel, the all-important epicenters of trade began to move south to theNiger river and west to theSenegal. This gradually strengthened Ghana's vassals while weakening the core.[43] Awdaghost, at the time a seat of the king, fell to the Almoravids in 1054.[44]
Ghana Bassi died in 1063, and was succeeded by his nephewTunka Manin. This may have created a succession dispute with Bassi's son Qanamar, providing an opportunity for theAlmoravids to intervene in the empire, promoting pro-Islam candidates for the throne.[45]
A tradition in historiography maintains that Ghana was conquered by theAlmoravid dynasty in 1076–77,[46] 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 naïve reliance on Arabic sources.[47] Dierke Lange agrees but argues that this does not preclude Almoravid political agitation, claiming that Ghana's demise owed much to the latter.[48] 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.[49]
Sheryl L. Burkhalter (1992) suggested that there were reasons to believe that there was conflict between the Almoravids and the empire of Ghana.[50][51] Ibn Khaldun, a 14th-century North African historian who read and cited both al-Bakri and al-Idrisi, reported an ambiguous account of the country's history as related to him by 'Uthman, afaqih of Ghana who took apilgrimage to Mecca in 1394, according to which the power of Ghana waned as that of the "veiled people" grew through the Almoravid movement.[52]
Whether the Almoravids conquered Ghana or not, the country certainly did convert to Islam around 1076.[44] This conversion and its accompanying rejection of the earlier, more accommodating Islam may have pushed theWangara diaspora throughout the region.[53] In 1083, supported by the Almoravids, Ghana attackedTadmekka and may have reachedGao, helping to spread Sunni orthodoxy there as well.[54]
Al-Idrisi, whose account was written in 1154, has the country fully Muslim by that date. He describes an empire as powerful as it had been in the days of al-Bakri, 75 years earlier. 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."[55] This capital may not be the same city as the one described by al-Bakri, however.[56] In this period the ruling dynasty, now thoroughly Islamized, re-established control over many of the former vassals who had become independent, includingKaniaga,Diarra,Diafunu and others.[57] Ghana was the master of an extensive trade system in theSenegal river valley, first established byTakrur in the 10th century, that exported salt fromAwlil throughout the region. It also controlled the gold mines ofBambuk.[56] During this period Ghana was fully Islamized, and the judicial system had shifted to something more closely resemblingSharia.[58]
This resurgence did not last, however. By 1203, the Sosso rose against their masters and conquered Ghana.[59][52] Oral historians link the coming of Islam to the final end of Ghana. When the Muslims Cisse dynasty came to power they killed Bida, the sacred snake and protector of the kingdom. A seven-year drought ensued, destroying the kingdom and forcing much of the population to flee in search of more hospitable territory.[9] According to much later traditions, from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Diara Kante took control of Koumbi Saleh and established the Diarisso dynasty. His son,Soumaoro Kante, succeeded him and forced the people to pay him tribute. The Sosso also managed to annex the neighboringMandinka state ofKangaba to the south, where the important goldfields ofBure were located.[citation needed]
In his brief overview of Sudanese history,Ibn Khaldun related that "the people ofMali outnumbered the peoples of the Sudan in their neighborhood and dominated the whole region." He went on to relate that they "vanquished theSusu and acquired all their possessions, both their ancient kingdom and that of Ghana."[60] According to a modern tradition, this resurgence of Mali was led bySundiata Keita, the founder of Mali and ruler of its core area ofKangaba.Delafosse assigned an arbitrary but widely accepted date of 1230 to the event.[61]
This tradition states thatGhana Soumaba Cisse, at the time a vassal of theSosso, rebelled with Kangaba and became part of a loose federation of Mande-speaking states. After Soumaoro's defeat at theBattle of Kirina in 1235 (a date again assigned arbitrarily by Delafosse), the new rulers of Koumbi Saleh became permanent allies of theMali Empire. As Mali became more powerful, the Ghana's role as an ally declined to that of a submissive state, although he was still accorded prestige as the leader of an ancient and storied state.[62][63] According to a detailed account of al-'Umari, written around 1340 but based on testimony given to him by the "truthful and trustworthy" shaykh Abu Uthman Sa'id al-Dukkali, Ghana still retained its functions as a sort of kingdom within the empire, its ruler being the only one allowed to bear the titlemalik and "who is like a deputy unto him."[63]
Koumbi Saleh was abandoned sometime in the 15th century.[62]
Most of the information about the economy of Ghana comes fromal-Bakri. He noted that merchants had to pay a tax of one golddinar 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.[64] al-Bakri also mentioned that Muslims played a central role in commerce and held court appointments.[65]
Ibn Hawqal quotes the use of acheque worth 42,000 dinars.[66] The main centre of trade wasKoumbi Saleh. The king claimed as his own all nuggets of gold, and allowed other people to have only 'gold dust'.[67] In addition to the influence exerted by the king in local regions, tribute was received from various tributary states andchiefdoms on the empire's periphery.[68] The introduction of thecamel played a key role in Soninke success as well, allowing products and goods to be transported much more efficiently across the Sahara. These contributing factors all helped the empire remain powerful for some time, providing a rich and stable economy based on trading gold, iron, salt and slaves.
In its last centuries, Ghana increasingly lost control of the gold trade to theMali Empire and relied on slave raiding and trading as a principal economic activity.[69]
Kingship was based onmatrilineal descent, and traditionally passed to the son of the king's sister.[70]: 85 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, aMoorish 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.[71]
Ghana appears to have had a central core region and was surrounded byvassal 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.[72] These "kings" were presumably the rulers of the territorial units often calledkafu inMandinka.
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 theSenegal 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.[73]
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."[71] Rulers were buried intumuli after havinglay in state for several days, and accompanied by home comforts and all the eating and drinking utensils he had used, filled with offerings.[70]: 85
Burial excavation showing the over-pit system and surface arrangements
A 17th-century chronicle written inTimbuktu, theTarikh al-fattash, gave the name of the empire's capital as "Koumbi".[10] According to the description of the town left byAl-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.[71] The most common identification for this capital is the site ofKoumbi Saleh on the rim of the Sahara desert.[75]
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.[71] (El-Ghaba, coincidentally or not, means "The Forest" in Arabic.)
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 twelvemosques, one of which was designated for Friday prayers, and had a full group of scholars, scribes and Islamic jurists. Because the majority of these Muslims were merchants, this part of the city was probably its primary business district.[76] It is likely that these inhabitants were largely black Muslims known as theWangara and are today known asJakhanke orMandinka. The separate and autonomous towns outside of the main governmental center is a well-known practice used by the Jakhanke tribe of the Mandinka people throughout history.
Beginning in the 1920s, French archaeologists excavated the site ofKoumbi 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[77] and by another French team in 1975–81.[78] 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.
In recent years, the identification of Koumbi Saleh with the 'city of Ghana' described in the sources has been increasingly disputed by scholars.[79]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 river than Koumbi Saleh.[55]
The empire was populated by ancient Mande tribes and would come under unity through theSoninke tribe of the greaterMande ethnic group, with its citizens living in deeply establishedpatrilineal/paternalclans and family structures.[2][80]
^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
^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."
^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.
^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 inHaut-Sénégal-Niger vol. 1, pp. 256-257)
^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.
^Posnansky, Merrick (1981). "The societies of Africa south of the Sahara in the Early Iron Age".General History of Africa: Volume 2(PDF). UNESCO. p. 729.
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,ISBN978-0-86054-868-3.
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.
Gomez, Michael (2018).African dominion : a new history of empire in early and medieval West Africa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-17742-7.
Hunwick, John O. (2003),Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sadi's Tarikh al-Sudan down to 1613 and other contemporary documents, Leiden: Brill,ISBN978-90-04-12560-5. Reprint of the 1999 edition with corrections.
Insoll, Timothy (2003),Archaeology of Islam in Sub-saharan Africa, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-65702-0.
Lange, Dierk (1996a), "The Almoravid expansion and the downfall of Ghana",Der Islam,73 (2):313–351,doi:10.1515/islm.1996.73.2.313,S2CID162370098. Reprinted in Lange 2004, pp. 455–493.
Levtzion, Nehemia; Hopkins, John F. P. eds. and trans. (2000),Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West Africa, New York, NY: Marcus Weiner,ISBN978-1-55876-241-1. First published in 1981 by Cambridge University Press,ISBN0-521-22422-5.
Levtzion, Nehemia; Spaulding, Jay (2003),Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants, Princeton NJ: Markus Wiener,ISBN978-1-55876-305-0. Excerpts from Levtzion & Hopkins 1981. Includes an extended introduction.
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.
Thomassey, Paul; Mauny, Raymond (1951),"Campagne de fouilles à Koumbi Saleh",Bulletin de l'Institut Français de l'Afrique Noire (B) (in French),13:438–462, archived fromthe original on 2011-07-26. Includes a plan of the site.
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,doi:10.2307/3171598,JSTOR3171598,S2CID163009319.
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,doi:10.2307/3171690,JSTOR3171690,S2CID162867483.
Cuoq, Joseph M., ed. (1975),Recueil des sources arabes concernant l'Afrique occidentale du VIIIe au XVIe siècle (Bilād al-Sūdān) (in French), translated by Cuoq, Joseph M., Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Reprinted in 1985 with corrections and additional texts,ISBN2-222-01718-1. 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,ISBN978-951-41-0886-0.
Mauny, Raymond (1971), "The Western Sudan", in Shinnie, P.L. (ed.),The African Iron age, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 66–87,ISBN978-0-19-813158-8.
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.
![Funerary complex of the Column Tomb[74]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPlan_of_the_entire_funerary_complex_of_the_Column_Tomb.jpg)
