Al
Umari on
African Transatlantic Voyages
Ibn Amir Hajib continued: "I asked Sultan Musa how the kingdom fell to him, and he said: 'We belong to a house which hands on the kingship by inheritance. The king who was my predecessor did not believe that it was impossible to discover the furthest limit of the Atlantic Ocean and wished vehemently to do so. So he equipped 200 ships filled with men and the same number equipped with gold, water, and provisions enough to last them for years, and he said to the man deputed to lead them: "Do not return until you reach the end of it or your provisions and water give out." They departed and a long time passed before anyone came back. Then one ship returned and we asked the captain what news they brought. He said: "Yes, O Sultan, we travelled for a long time until there appeared in the open sea [as it were] a river with a powerful current. Mine was the last of those ships. The [other] ships went on ahead but when they reached that place they did not return and no more was seen of them and we do not know what became of them. As for me, I went about at once and did not enter that river." But the sultan disbelieved him.
'"Then that Sultan got ready 2,000 ships, 1,000 for himself and the men whom he took with him and 1,000 for water and provisions. He left me to deputize for him and embarked upon the Atlantic Ocean with his men. That was the last we saw of him and all those who were with him, and so I became king in my own right.'
"This
Sultan Musa, during his stay in Egypt both before and after his journey to the
Noble Hijaz, maintained a uniform attitude of worship and turning
towards God. It was as though he were standing before Him because of His continual presence in
his mind. He and all those with him behaved in the same manner and were
well-dressed, grave, and dignified. He was noble and generous and performed many acts of
charity and kindness. He had left his country with 100 loads of gold that he spent during
his
Pilgrimage on the tribes who lay along his route from his country to Egypt,
while he was in Egypt, and again from Egypt to the Noble Hijaz and back.
Al
Umari was born in Damascus 1301and
died in 1349.
Source:
Levtzion, N and Spaulding,
MEDIEVAL
WEST AFRIC.A: VIEWS FROM ARAB SCHOLARS AND MERCHANTS. Markus Wiener: Princeton,
2003