A translation of al-Bakri's 1068 account is found in Levtzion & Hopkins, (2000, Corpus: (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: p. 52).
Cadamosto suggest this was begun in 1450: "Five years before I went on this voyage, this river was discovered by three caravels belonging to Don Henry, which entered it, and their commanders settled peace and trade with the Moors; since which time ships have been sent to this place every year to trade with the natives." Cadamosto (Engl. 1811 trans., p. 220) The identification of Lourenço Dias as the opener of Portuguese trade on the Senegal River is suggested in a 1489 document. See Russell (2000:p.97n14).
Cadamosto (Engl. 1811 trans., (p. 213). Giovanni Battista Ramusio, publisher of the 1550 Italian edition of Cadamosto's memoir, refers to the gold from the Senegal as oro tiber (p. 107), thus leading some to imagine it was also customary to call the Senegal the Tiber River! In all likelihood, "Tiber Gold" was just a generic Italian reference to river-dug gold.
By confounding the Ptolemy's Greek 'Nigir' with the Latin word for "black", Leo Africanus assumed the "Nile of the Blacks" (i.e. Senegal-Niger of the Arab traders) must be the Nigir of the ancients. See Leo Africanus, (Ital: p. 7, Eng: p. 124
The "River of Treasure" interpretation of Vedamel can be found in J.G.H. "'Histoire du commerce entre le Levant et l'Europe' in 1831, Antologia; giornale di scienze, lettere e arti, Vol. 3 (Aug.) p. 27. R.H. Major (p.113) proposes the "Nile" interpretation.
Al Bakri (p. 77). Monteil (1964: p. 91; 1968). Cooley (1841: p. 50, p.55) believes that al-Idrisi, contrarily to al-Bakri, might have confused Sanghana with Ganah/Awkat, the capital of the Ghana empire.
Delafosse "Senegal River", in First encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Leiden: E.J. Brill. vol. 7 (pp. 223–24)
feow.org
Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (2008). Senegal-Gambia. Accessed 2 May 2011.
