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Ελληνικά03 · CONTEXT · 9th–13th centuries and later memory
Ghana/Wagadu
What we know about the kingdom of Ghana or Wagadu
The sources document this kingdom, but the location of its capital, its boundaries and its end remain under discussion.
Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.
Editorial visualisation · Contextual correspondence
Declared editorial visualisation, based on the cartography and sources of the fact sheet; it is not an exact historical frontier.
History and context
Ghana’s power is historical, but its map, capital and fall should not be presented as settled questions.
Outside authors describe an authority called Ghana associated with fiscal and commercial control in the western Sahel. Soninke traditions remember Wagadu and the Bida cycle as a moral explanation of prosperity, pact and dispersal. Kumbi Saleh is a major medieval site, but its exact identification with the capital described by al-Bakri is inconclusive.
Evidence and interpretation
EXT+ORAL+ARQ+CUR. Facts: Outside authors describe an authority called Ghana associated with fiscal and commercial control in the western Sahel. Caution: Do not state that the Almoravids destroyed Ghana in 1076 as a straightforward fact; do not confuse the kingdom with modern Ghana.
Catalogue facts
- Narrative date
- 9th–13th centuries and later memory
- Location
- Western Sahel, Mauritania–Mali–Senegal
- Material
- External texts, Soninke tradition and an archaeological site
- Context
- A title, a Soninke memory and a disputed capital
- Curatorial reading
- The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
- Dossier axis
- politics
- Research record
- MANDE · CTX-03
- Documentary coverage
- 4 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.
A closer look
About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: .
Charging for transit
In the extracts from al-Bakri held by Boston University, a load of salt paid one dinar on entering and two on leaving; copper carried a different levy. The author also distinguishes gold dust available to the population from nuggets reserved for the king. These are statements passed on by informants, not excavated tax accounts. Nevertheless, they reveal an important idea of sovereignty: deriving income from movement and classifying materials. The ruler’s benefit could depend on allowing caravans to continue, as well as controlling places of production.
Sources and references
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