ABSTRACT
There has been.a great deal of controversy as to the origins of Ghana and its kings.' The existence of Ghana as a great state in the western Sudan was first mentioned by Arab authors at the eqd of the eighth century. Mauny. who rejects Delafosse's hypothesis that the founding dynasty of Ghana was Jewish and Syrian in origin (I: p. 204), insists that 'all that can be said of the history ofG hana before the coming of the Arabs in the eighth century must. in the present state of our knowledge of West Africa. be merely speculation' (I: p. 207). On the other hand. it has long been known that there were early infiltrations if not invasions into the western Sudan from North Africa. Indeed. Fage has summarised the available evidence as follows (2: pp.89-90):
Whatever the uncertainties of the origins of ancient Ghana, there is little doubt as to the important part played by Ghana in the gold trade of the Middle Ages. Indeed, as Mauny puts it (I: p. 209):
Ghana was succeeded by the kingdom of Mali, whose renown spread through Europe and the Middle East during the reign of Mansa Musa who, in 1324, surprised the world by his prodigal display of gold. However, after Mansa Musa, the Mali empire began to decline, and by the middle of the sixteenth century it finally ceased to exist.
