The ninth-century Arab writer, Al Yaqubi, describes ancient Ghana as one of the three most organized states in the region (the others being Gao and Kanem in the central Sudan).

Its rulers are renowned for their wealth in gold, the opulence of their courts, and their warrior-hunting skills.

They are also masters of the trade in gold, which draws North African merchants to the western Sudan.

The military achievements of these and later western Sudanic rulers and their control over the region's gold mines constitute the nexus of their historical relations with merchants and rulers of North Africa and the Mediterranean.