1468-Circa 1593
Historian

Soninke Writer. Mahmoud al-Kati was the first West African scholar to write an important history of the Western Sudan, Tarikh al-Fattash (The Chronicle of the Seeker After Knowledge). Al-Kati was a member of the Soninke tribe who learned to read and write Arabic, the language of West African scholars in his time.

Travel to Mecca. As a member of the Soninke tribe, al- Kati was a descendant of the rulers of the ancient Empire of Ghana and shared this lineage with Askia Muhammad the Great, ruler of Songhai in 1493-1528. When al-Kati was twenty-five, he became a member of Askia Muhammad's personal staff. In 1495 al-Kati went with the emperor on his hajj to Mecca. Askia Muhammad apparently stayed in Mecca and Cairo for two years, during which al-Kati observed and wrote about the events and people they encountered.

Scholar. After they returned from Mecca...