Ya'qubi

Aḥmad ibn Abī Ya‘qūb ibn Ja'far ibn Wahb ibn Waḍīḥ al-Ya‘qūbī (died 897/8), known as Ahmad al-Ya'qubi, or Ya'qubi (Arabic: اليعقوبي‎), was a Muslim geographer^[3] and perhaps the first historian of world culture in the Abbasid Caliphate.^[4] He was a great-grandson of Wadih, the freedman of the caliph Al-Mansur. Until 873 he lived in Armenia and Khorasan, working under the patronage of the Tahirids Governors; then he traveled to India, Egypt and the Maghreb,^[5] and died in Egypt. He died in AH 284 (897/8).^[2]

His sympathies with Ahl al-Bayt^[6] are found throughout his works.^[7]

In 872, he lists the kingdoms of Bilad el-Sudan, including Ghana, Gao, and Kanem.^[8]