ABSTRACT
Four historians who wrote in Arabic are responsible for much of what we know about the Sudanic empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. They are Ibn Battuta, Chihab Addine Abul-Abbas Ahmad ben Fadhl al-Umari, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mohammad ibn Khaldun, and Leo Africanus. Ibn Battuta was the only medieval traveler who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. Al-Umari provided essential information about the African continent while he served as secretary to the Mamluk court of Egypt between 1340 and 1348. Ibn Khaldun's chief contribution may be his first volume aimed at an analysis of historical events. In some senses, Ibn Khaldun's work either created or continued stereotypical comments about Africans. Leo Africanus's Arabic name was Al-Hasan ibn Muhammed el-Wazzan ez-Zayyat. In fact, Africanus's accounts were the only ones that the Europeans had for many years of the fabulous city of Timbuktu.
