# Al-Bakri Describes Takrur and Silla (1068)

URL: https://allhistories.com/senegal/timeline/1068-al-bakri-describes-takrur-and-silla
Location: Córdoba, al-Andalus
Themes: main-event

Abu Ubayd al-Bakri was a geographer and scholar of Córdoba who never travelled to Africa himself but compiled information from merchants and earlier writers, including the lost work of Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Warraq. His Kitab al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik, completed in 1068, contains the most detailed account of West Africa written before the 14th century. Al-Bakri describes the river he calls the Nile, the Senegal, and the towns along it. Near its mouth lay Awlil, an island with salt pans, and upstream the twin towns of Sanghana and then Takrur, whose inhabitants were black people who had become Muslims under War Jabi. Further on lay Silla, whose people were also Muslim and whose king was at war with the unbelievers; its inhabitants used millet, salt and copper rings and strips of cloth as currency. He also describes Ghana and its capital, with separate royal and Muslim towns, and the gold of the lands to the south. Al-Bakri's work is the foundation of the written history of Senegal. It provides the dates of War Jabi's conversion and Labi's alliance with the Almoravids and gives a vivid picture of the commerce, religion and politics of the Senegal valley in the 11th century. At this point in the timeline (1068), no head of state for this date is recorded in this dataset; Senegal's lands were divided among several kingdoms and chiefdoms whose rulers are not all dated.

## Why it matters
Al-Bakri's account is the earliest substantial written source for the history of Senegal and the Senegal river kingdoms.

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Al-Bakri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Bakri)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — al-Bakri](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=al-Bakri)
- [Wikipedia — Takrur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takrur)
- [Wikipedia — Waalo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waalo)