As oral history is always open to
modification and embellishment, with no means available for
checking the original version, this material must be used
cautiously. Nevertheless, when employed in conjunction with other
sources, it does provide a rich source of information.
The earliest written records were provided by the Arabs who
developed close contact with West Africa by 800 A.D. After that,
West Africans began using Arabic themselves to record their own
history. In the middle of the fifteenth century, Europeans began
regular contact with West Africa, and they left a wide variety of
written sources. While most of these early Europeans were not men
of learning, many of their records are still valuable to the student
of history.
Ghana was already a powerful empire, with a highly complex
political and social organization, when the Arabs reached it about
800 A,D. An Arabic map of 830 A.D. has Ghana marked on it, and
other contemporary Arabic sources refer to Ghana as the land of
gold. From this time on, a thriving trade developed between Ghana
and the world of Islam, including the beginnings of a slave trade.
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