Muslims from North Africa and Southwest Asia had contact with Africans living south of the Sahara long before Europeans did. In the two selections that follow, Muslim travelers provide firsthand accounts of the peoples they encountered. The first account was written by Arab historian and geographer al-Mas’udi about A.D. 915. In it he describes the Zanj—his name for the people living along the East African coast. The second selection was written by the great Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta and describes the kingdom of Mali in West Africa in the 1300s.
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A View of the Zanj by al-Mas’udi
The Zanj use the ox as a beast of burden, for their country has no horses or mules or camels and they do not even know these animals. . . . This country is divided by valleys, mountains . . . and stony deserts; it abounds in [is full of] wild elephants.
The name of the kings of the country is Waklimi which means supreme lord; they give this title to their sovereign [supreme ruler] because he had been chosen to govern them with equity [justice]. But once he becomes tyrannical and departs from the rules of justice, they cause him to die . . . [for] he ceases to be son of the Master. . . . They call God by the name of Maklandjalu, which means supreme Master. . . .
The Zanj speak elegantly, and they have orators in their own language. Often a devout [religiously devoted] man of the country, pausing in the midst of a numerous crowd, . . . invites them to serve God and submit to His orders.
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The Kingdom of Mali by Ibn Battuta
The negroes possess some admirable qualities. They are seldom unjust. Their sultan [ruler] shows no mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least act of it [injustice]. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence. . . . They are careful to observe the hours of prayer, . . . and in bringing up their children to them. On Fridays, if a man does not go early to the mosque, he cannot find a corner to pray in, on account of the crowd.
Another of their good qualities is their habit of wearing clean white garments on Fridays. Even if a man has nothing but an old worn shirt, he washes it and cleans it, and wears it to the Friday service. Yet another is their zeal [enthusiasm] for learning the Koran [Qur’an, the Muslim holy book] by heart. They put their children in chains if they show any backwardness in memorizing it, and they are not set free until they have [learned] it by heart.
From “In the Kingdom of the Blacks” from Travels of Ibn Battúta, translated by H.A.R. Gibb. Copyright 1927 by Routledge & Kegan Paul. Reprinted by permission of Routledge Ltd.
