The Empire of Ghana

Ghana Was The first important kingdom to emerge as an empire in the western Sudan. Apart from metropolitan Ghana, the Empire included several important provincial territories. Chief among these was Awkar, a name by which Ghana was for some time better known in the Islamic world. Our major source of information about the history of ancient Ghana are the writing of Arabs and other Muslims scholars from from northern Africa. Some of this scholars like Ibn Hawqal, are believed to have visited part of the western Sudan. Others like the Spanish Muslims geographer, Al-Bakri, collected information from travellers and merchants who had visited the countries of western Sudan. Some of this writers wrote at the time when the Empire they describe was still flourishing. These included Al-Fazari, Al-Hakam, Al-Yakoubi, Ibn Hawqal, Al-Masudi, Al-Bakri and Al-Idris. Others like Mahmud Kati, wrote about the Empire long after its fall. We must take these factors into account when assessing the worth of the account which each writers gives.

Rise and growth of the Empire
This is not giving any conclusive evidence as to when and time Ghana emerged as a kingdom. We know that it was in existence in the eight century, although some historians summarized that the kingdom was in existence as early as A.D. 300. This date has been arrived from a rough calculations based upon the evidence of Mahmud Kati. Born in Timbuctu in the fifteenth century, Mahmud Kati wrote an important chronicle called Tarikh al-Fattash. In this chronicle,kati recorded that Ghana was ruled by twenty two white rulers before and twenty two other after the hijira of Muhammad A.D. 622. Working on the basis of an average reign lasting fifteen years, it's possible that the first ruler of Ghana reigned around the year A.D.300.

Stay tuned for the founders of the Empire.