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.

However, this early slave trade was a two-way affair.

Al-Bakri, a contemporary Arab writer, was impressed with the display of power and affluence of the Ghanaian king.

According to him, the king had an army of two hundred thousand warriors which included about forty thousand men with bows and arrows.