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Secondary sourceBookc. 1655

Tarikh al-Sudan

Abderrahmane Es Saâdi · c. 1655

A 17th-century Timbuktu chronicle written in Arabic that records West African memory of 'Kankan Musa', his pilgrimage and his building works.

This chronicle preserves West African memory of Musa's pilgrimage, conquests, and building projects in Timbuktu.

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Open manuscript on a display, pages covered in brown-ink Arabic script on aged, yellowed paper. The left page is written in handwriting across most of its lines, and the right page has a decorated heading at the top followed by dense Arabic text. The leather-bound spine is visible at the left edge.
Abderrahmane Es Saâdi, Tarikh al-Sudan, c. 1655. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.

About this source

What it is

The Tarikh al-Sudan is a history of the Sudan region written in Arabic around 1655 by al-Sa'di, a chronicler who worked in the administration of Timbuktu. It is one of the most important sources for the history of the Songhai Empire and also covers the earlier Mali Empire. Several manuscript copies survive and are held in collections including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

Why it matters

The chronicle preserves oral tradition and local memory about Mansa Musa (called Kankan Musa), including his pilgrimage, the submission of Gao and Timbuktu to Mali, and his construction of a mosque and palace. It shows how West African scholars recorded their own history long after European writers reached the region, and reveals what later generations in Timbuktu remembered and valued about Musa's reign.

Look closer

  • Why might a chronicler writing centuries after Musa's reign still rely on oral tradition for some sections?
  • What does it mean that this history was written in Timbuktu, in Arabic, by a West African author?
  • What parts of Musa's reign does the chronicle choose to highlight?

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Detail of a medieval painted map showing a seated crowned figure holding a gold coin and a scepter on a throne, a camel rider in green robes and turban on the left, walled cities drawn in red and purple, red rhumb lines, and handwritten Catalan-style text in brown ink.Painting

Primary source

Catalan Atlas, Sheet 6: Western Sahara

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Djinguereber Mosque

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