Al-Bakri (1068) names Ghiyaru, on the river eighteen days from the city of Ghana, as the source of the best gold in Ghana's lands, and Yaresna (Iresni), a town of Muslims among unbelievers where the Wangara gold traders (the Banu Naghmarata) lived.
Both are usually placed on the upper Senegal near the gold of Bambuk and the Faleme, in the country later called Galam; neither site is fixed. The point is a stand-in at the meeting of the Senegal and the Faleme.
Who holds it
- Title
- Gold-trading towns of the Soninke and Wangara
- Since
- Not known
- Confidence
- low
Lord in 1200
Not known. In 1068 the gold of Ghiyaru went to the king of Ghana; in 1154 Takrur held Barisa in the same reach; in 1200 the Soninke chiefs of Galam (see Galam) are the likely local masters.
How things stand that morning
Not known whether either town still stood under these names.
Council
Not recorded.
Communities
Soninke; Muslim Wangara traders (al-Bakri).
Fairs and markets
Not recorded.
Militia
Not recorded.
Walls and castle
Not recorded.
Trade and crafts
Gold dust and nuggets from Bambuk and the Faleme; salt and copper coming in.
Where the sources disagree
- Identifications differ between scholars; the confluence point is a stand-in for the gold-trading reach, not a site.
Evidence: One eleventh-century source.
On the map: A point at a guessed position.
Sources and studies
- al-Bakri (1068) in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, pp. 80-82 (from the researcher's knowledge); N. Levtzion, Ancient Ghana and Mali (1973)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.