THE LAND OF THE SU-DAN DURING 11TH CENTURY DILEK NELSON. jtf>/ I'll>

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1 THE LAND OF THE SU-DAN DURING 11TH CENTURY DILEK NELSON jtf>/ I'll>

2 THE LAND OF SUDAN DURING llth CENTURY When we look at the locations of cities and empires, we realize that almost all of them have been established along rivers since water is an essential need for all hving \r =,rc.1' L ~_.~.)-o Jv beings. Therefore, I began to draw the map of the Sudanic region of Africa by clarifying the confusions about the course of the river Nile after I labeled the well-defined part of its course. People who are going to use this map for their travel to Africa may ask the questions: " How do I know the path of Nile?" and "Have I ever been in the land of the Sudan to be expert for drawing such a map?" because the success of their trade and the safety of their trip to Africa depend on the accuracy of the map that they are going to use. Therefore, I should say that I have never been in Africa but have read all the records written by Muslims, such as al-bakri, about the tand of Sudan to construct my map as accurately as possible. Since these records do not have complete infonnation about this land, I use my imagination to figure out which city or town might be where. As I said, my strategy to construct the map was to figure out, first, the main course of the river Nile. Therefore, according to al-bakri's description, I gave a start to the Nile somewhere in the land of Sudan close to its western part and kept drawing northward until it penetrated into the Sahara Desert. From there, I made a kind of smooth and semicircular tum toward the south and continued drawing it until it crossed the land of Sudan. Although al-bakri doesn't give any infolmation about how the Nile turns back./ again northward to reach the Mediterranean Sea from Cairo where I live, I imagine that the Nile, for a while, flows northeastward before flowing northward. o

3 The next step in my strategy making this map was to mark the city Tiraqqa, which was located at a region where the Nile turns south into the land of the Sudan because Tiraqqa was the only city whose location was well defined in al-bakri's documents. The third step in my strategy making this map was to mark other cities located on the banks of the Nile by starting from cities whose ~ocation can be known according to the city Tiraqqa. For example, al-bakri mentions the region Ra's al-ma' (head of the water), where two Berber tribes, one is Muslim and the other is pagan, live on opposite sides of the Nile and where the Nile leaves from the land of Sudan, and says that one can go from this region six stages along the Nile to Tiraqqa. Therefore, I located Ra's al-ma' at the north border of the Sudanic belt on both banks of the Nile. Also, al-bakri says that one can reach the country of Saghmara if he goes along the Nile from Tiraqqa for about three stages and that the inhabitants of Saghmara are a Berber tribe. Therefore, I mark Saghmara on the side of the Nile between Tiraqqa and the city Gao (Kawkaw) where the Nile starts flowing into the land of the Sudan. The fourth step in my strategy making this map was to try to clarify three confusions about the location of the cities Takrur, Sila, and Sanghana with respect to the Nile. First, although al-bakri does not mention how the Nile flows toward the west to reach the ocean, he describes the location of the city Sanghana by saying that its two towns are located on either side of the Nile and that its people reach the ocean. Therefore, ~, I extended the Nile from its starting point ln the land of the Sudan to the ocean by crossing the land of the Sudan westerly, and I marked the city Sanghana at the region where the Nile flows into the ocean. Second, al-bakri says that Sanghana is located southwest of the town of Takrur located on the Nile. Since he does not say that Sanghana

4 and Takrur are located on opposite banks of Nile and since he says that Sanghana IS Ji; y ~. " southwest of Takrur, he gave me the idea that the Nile divides into two branches flowing into the ocean. Therefore, I drew two parallel rivers: I marked Takrur and Sila on the north branch and Sanghana on the south branch. The third confusion arises from the passage that explains how one can reach the city Ghiyaru from Ghana. According to the passage, there is a road from Ghana to ~{...L/ Ghiyaru. The laher city is located twelve miles distant from Nile and on its east side. Also, on this road, one has to pass through a region called Zughu where a channel derives from the Nile. This passage gave me the idea that the Nile described above branches into two. Accordingly, the top branch of the Nile is an extension west of my starting point for it, and the bottom branch begins about 1 stage west from the starting point, flows southward for a short time, and then turns toward the west to become the south branch of the Nile. To the east of the south branch, two cities are located: Gharantal and Ghiyaru. On opposite sides of the south branch, as it is flowing south (not west toward the ocean) of the Nile, I marked Yarisna and Daw. The last step in my strategy making this map was to locate the city Ghana by using his descliption of the road southward from Ghana to Ghiyaru and to locate the neighboring cities and empires: Anbara, Awgham, Kugha, Almoravids, and Awdaghust For example, according to al-bakri, Anbara is located west of Ghana while Awgham is situated on the east, and the city Kugha, from where gold is produced, is nine stages away from Anbara and fifteen stages away from Ghana. Since ai-bam gave me a sense that he measured great distances in stages and that he measured short distances in days, and since

5 Kugha and Ghiyaru are the cities from where gold comes, I marked the city Kugha at the south border of the land of the Sudan close to the city Ghiyaru. The hardest part of making the map was to locate the empire Almoravid, since al-bakri doesn't give any sense of direction about its location. However, I used three clues to figure it out: first, I know that the Sahara desert is located on the north border of Ghana; second, the distance between the city Awdaghust and Ghana is fifteen days; and third, the people of Awdaghust were not Sudanese. Therefore, I marked Almoravids at the northwest border of Africa, facing toward the ocean and above the land of the Sudan. My map is based on the work of great historians and offers the most reliable information for people traveling into strange lands. Yet, there are uncertainties, and so use it with care and make your own observations and corrections as you travel. \... <..-V < IVj / / / t

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