*Edit* Ibn Battuta also wrote this " It goes thence to Yufi (Nufi), one of the greatest states in Negroland, and the Sultan of which is among the most powerful princes of that quarter of the earth. No white man can reach that country, for sure death awaits him from the natives before he penetrates so far. From Yufi the Nile descends to Nubia, the inhabitants of which are Christians, and to Dongolah" books.google.com *End edit* Arabic Terms Used for Complexions "One of these misunderstood terms is the term "white" ابيض . Most people think that when the Arabs of the past described a person's complexion as "white", they meant the same light complexion that is meant today. This isn't true at all. When the Arabs described a person as "white", they actually meant a dark complexion" savethetruearabs.com "The Negroland of the Arabs examined and explained" By William Desborough Cooley "The boldness here evinced in bringing together and joining in commerce countries far asunder, is constantly exhibited in the geographical speculations of an early or ill-informed age. Distances are then enlarged as expediency requires; hypothesis leaps over the vacant spaces, and forcibly stretches the known portions in the opposite sides of a continent till they meet in the centre. Illustrations of this truth may be found in all ages. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Abyssinia, Congo, and Monomotapa were all supposed to meet together. One of the Jesuits resident in Abyssinia asserts ...

• published: 22 Jun 2009
• views: 22117
• author: markellion