The history of the ancient empire of Ghana is largely drawn from written observations made by outsiders to the area. The two most common descriptions come from the eighth-century Arab geographer al-Fazari and the 11th-century Arab geographer al-Bakri. Why might someone be skeptical of these accounts?
Outsiders like these tended to compare Ghana to the more prosperous cities of east Africa.
Al-Bakri and al-Fazari were both Muslims who tended to be biased against non-Muslim groups.
Both geographers were trained in Islamic Spain and saw Africans as slaves. The accounts of outsiders have likely been altered to suit the needs of later empires like Mali