Sources of Gold and Silver in Islam According to al-Hamdani (10th Century A. D.)

From what appears to be an isolated passage in the Muqaddima (Prolegomena) of Ibn Khaldin where incidentally he mentions goldand silver-mines, it is plain that he regarded the Sudan as the principal, if not the only source of gold in his time (14th century) (1). On a matter of this kind Ibn Khaldln's opinion is likely to be reliable. The testimony of al-Bakri (2) (llth century) and al-Idrlsl (8) (12th century) goes far to confirm the importance of gold from the Sudan. Other sources of gold were available, at least in the early days of Islam, as we shall have occasion to see, but it may be taken that Ibn Khaldun's opinion was correct for his time, at least as far as the West of Islam is concerned.