ABSTRACT
Previous to the foundation of Morocco, all the trade of Negroland with Western Barbary was directed towards Sijilmésah, a town on the eastern side of Atlas, eight or ten days from Fás or Fez, and in the district which is now called Táfílélt. 1 From Sijilmésah, a two months’ journey southward conducted to the nearest kingdom of the Blacks, which was that called Ghánah. 2 But in propriety of speech Ghánah was the title of the king, whose dominion, anterior to the rise of the Al Morábiṭún or Morabites, extended to Aúdaghost, a town on the southern border of the great desert, and containing a Berber population. 3 Driven from Aúdaghost, the negro king fixed his residence at Aúkár, fifteen days’ journey south-westward from the former place, and not far from the great river of the interior, called by Arab writers the Nile of the Blacks. 4 But the new capital, as well as the kingdom, was still generally known by the name of Ghánah.
