Editing Senegal River (section)

=== Arab sources ===
In the Early Middle Ages (c. 800 CE), the Senegal River restored contact with the Mediterranean world with the establishment of the [[Trans-Saharan trade]] route between [[Morocco]] and the [[Ghana Empire]].  Arab geographers, like [[al-Masudi]] of Baghdad (957), [[al-Bakri]] of Spain (1068) and [[al-Idrisi]] of Sicily (1154), provided some of the earliest descriptions of the Senegal River.<ref>A translation of al-Bakri's 1068 account is found in Levtzion & Hopkins, (2000, ''Corpus'': ([https://books.google.com/books?id=L3tNlgQmT9wC&pg=PA77 p. 77]). In French, see Monteil (1968). For an attempt to reconstruct the Senegal river's course from the accounts of al-Bakri and al-Idrisi, see Cooley (1841: [https://books.google.com/books?id=380NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA52 p. 52]).</ref> Early Arab geographers believed the upper Senegal River and the upper [[Niger River]] were connected to each other, and formed a single river flowing from east to west, which they called the "Western Nile".<ref>The term "Nile" seems to have been applied quite early to the Senegal. During the Arab conquest of North Africa in the 8th century, [[Ifriqiya]]n commanders launched several expeditionary raids from the [[Sous]] valley against the desert-dwelling nomadic [[Berber people|Berber]]s of [[Western Sahara]]. There is a report from an Arab commander from the 750s who claims to have reached as far south as "the Nile" (i.e. the Senegal). See Hrbek (1992: p.308).</ref> (In fact, some of the headwaters of the Senegal River are near the Niger River in Mali and Guinea.) It was believed to be either a western branch of the Egyptian [[Nile River]] or drawn from the same source (variously conjectured to some great internal lakes of the [[Mountains of the Moon (Africa)|Mountains of the Moon]], or [[Ptolemy]]'s Gir (Γειρ)<ref>Geographia, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4ksBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA222 Book IV, Chapter 6, Section 13].</ref> or the Biblical [[Gihon]] stream).<ref>e.g. [[Leo Africanus]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=rmcMAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Leo%20Africanus%22%20Niger&pg=PA124 p. 124]</ref>

[[File:Senegal River according to al-Bakri.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Western Nile (Senegal-Niger River) according to [[al-Bakri]] (1068)]]
Arab geographers Abd al-Hassan Ali ibn Omar (1230), [[Ibn Said al-Maghribi]] (1274) and [[Abu'l-Fida|Abulfeda]] (1331), label the Senegal as the "Nile of [[Ghana Empire|Ghana]]" (Nil Gana or Nili Ganah).<ref>See R.H. Major (1868) ''Life of Prince Henry'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=UfE5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA114 p. 114]</ref>

As the Senegal River reached into the heart of the gold-producing [[Ghana Empire]] and later the [[Mali Empire]], Trans-Saharan traders gave the Senegal its famous nickname as the "River of Gold". The Trans-Saharan stories about the "River of Gold" reached the ears of Sub-Alpine European merchants that frequented the ports of Morocco and the lure proved irresistible. Arab historians report at least three separate Arab maritime expeditions - the last one organized by a group of eight ''mughrarin'' ("wanderers") of [[Lisbon]] (before 1147) -  that tried to sail down the Atlantic coast, possibly in an effort find the mouth of the Senegal.<ref>See Beazley (1899: p. xliv, lxxv)</ref>