The following is a timeline for the early Western Sudan, basically everything before imperial Mali. While there remains so much to discover and uncover about the Western Sudanic region before the major kingdoms converted to Islam and even deeper in antiquity, the paucity of written sources means we will probably remain in the dark for the foreseeable future on many aspects of its early history. That said, the early Arabic sources do contain a wealth of information on the area, from Takrur to Kawkaw. We decided to attempt a tentative timeline for the region (including the Sahara and sometimes North Africa or the Mediterranean) to illustrate some of the important personages, developments, locales, and events that transpired in our region from the 6th century until the end of the 13th. Since we mainly relied on written sources, the excellent Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African History edited by Levtzion and Hopkins. Our other sources include Delafosse, Trimingham on Takrur, the French and English translations of the Timbuktu tarikhs, and Arabic Medieval Inscriptions from the Republic of Mali: Epigraphy, Chronicles, and Songhay-Tuareg History by Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias.
294: Mint in Carthage (gold from West Africa a source?)
c.500: Imported cloth found at Kissi, evidence of pre-Islamic trans-Saharan trade
568: Garamantian ruler sent envoys to Byzantium
666/667: Uqba b. Nafi conquers Fazzan and Kawar, imposing tribute payments in slaves
before 732/33: Wahb b. Munabbih mentioned Nuba, Zanj, Qazan (Fazzan?), Zaghawa, Habasha, Qibt and Barbar as the race of Sudan
734-741: During this period, Muslim raids of Habib b. Abi Ubayda
740: Revolt of the Berbers during governorship of Abd Allah b. al-Habhab
744/45: Abd al-Rahman became governor of Ifriqiya; said to have begun digging wells on the Saharan trade route
757/58: Foundation of Sijilmassa
761/62: Tahard founded
804/820 or 823-872: Imam of Tahart sent Muhammad b. 'Arafa in a deputation to a Sudan king with a gift
814-15: Walls of Sijilmasa constructed
837: Death of king Sahaja king Tilutan
c.850: Foundation of earliest dynasty of Takrur, the Dya'ogo (Trimingham)
872/73: al-Yaqubi described Kawkaw as the most powerful kingdom of the blacks, obeyed by al-MRW, MuRDBH, al-HRBR, the kingdom of the Sanhaja, TDhKRYR, Zayanir, 'RWR and BQARWT; Ghana also powerful and described as having gold mines and vassal kings ('AM, Sama)
by 889/90: Anbiya people of Sanhaja mentioned by al-Yaqubi, camel nomads with royal capital at Ghust (Awdaghust) whose king lacks religion and raids the Sudan; Lamta Berbers who produce lamtiyya shields live between Zawila and Kawar, and adjoining Zawila to the route to Awjila and Ajdabiya
900: Death of Sanhaja king, Yalattan
c.903: Anbiya described as land of Lamta who produce the lamtiyya shields; people of Ghana grow sorghum and cowpeaes and wear clothes of skins
between 908-938: royal palace at Gao Ancien built
909: Tahart destroyed
918: End of reign of Tamim, Sanhaja king (Sanhaja divided politically again)
918/19: Foundation of Zawila in the Fazzan by Abd Alla b. Khattab al-Hawwari
944-45: Growth of power of Abu Yazid in Ifriqiya; Abu Yazid was born in Kawkaw to a Zanata father
950/51: Ibn Hawqal went to Sijilmasa, saw many shaykhs and much wealth; Ibn Hawal heard from Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. Abd Allah that the Sanhaja king of Awdaghust, Tinbarutan b. Usfayshar, king of all Sanhaja, had been ruling for 20 years and had 300,000 tents (plus shelters and huts) in his domain. Ibn Hawqal also reported story of Tinbarutan defeating a Berber tribe with the vast camel herd of his sister, the wealthiest person in the tribe
952: Check for 42,000 dinars in Awdaghust
961/2-972: Tin Yarutan b. Wisanu b. Nizar Sanhaja king, received tribute from more than 20 Sudan kings; also, this king aided the ruler of Masin against Awgham, east of Ghana, with 50,000 camelry
973: Death of Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Warraq, whose geographical work was a major source for al-Bakri
c.977: final version of Ibn Hawqal's work written, including mention of a check concerning a debt of Muhammad b. Abi Sa'dun in Awdaghust for 42,000 dinars and the kings of Tadmakka, Fusahr b. Alfara and Inaw b. Sabanzak
c.980: Dya'ogo dynasty of Takrur overthrown by the Manna who came from the Nyakhate clan of Dyara (Soninke)
by 990: al-Muhallabi describes Kawkaw (Kuku) as ruled by a king who pretends to be Muslim, names the town Sarnah and its markets
1009-10: Conversion to Islam by King Zuwa Kusay of Kawkaw; said by Trimingham to have moved capital from Kukiya to Kawkaw
1013/14: Earliest known epitaph from Essouk (Tadmakka)
1037-1065: Reign of Ferdinand I, "Galician" king who received a stone substance from the Dar'a valley that takes on the consistency of flax; Fernando I later sent a kerchief made of this to the Emperor in Constantinople, who in return, sent him a crown
1040/41: Death of Warjabi, Takrur king who converted to Islam
1042: Earliest Islamic epitaph at Kawkaw
1043/44: Wazjay b. Yasin imposed Islam in Takrur
1048: Early rise of Almoravids
1054/55: Sijilmasa residents massacre Almoravid garrison left in the town after Almoravids conquer it; Awdaghust invaded by Almoravids, and city described as divided due to conflict between Zanata and Arabs (Almoravids persecuted the residents for recognizing the suzerainty of Ghana)
1056-57: Yahya b. Umar fought Banu Gudala with the aid of Labbi b. Warjabi, the king of Takrur
1063: Start of reign of Tunka Menin of Ghana (Wagadu), nephew of previous ruler, Basi
1067-68: Commander of the Almoravids is Abu Bakr b. Umar
1076-77: Conversion of Ghana to Islam
1076-1180: Soso ruled by pagan Soninke dynasty with clan name Dyari-so (Trimingham)
1079-1082: Islam adopted by people of Gao (Mahmud Kati)
c.1083/84: Ghana attacked Tadmakka
1100s: Ghana said to raid Amima and Barbara peoples for slaves; Timbuktu growing in importance for trade
c.1100-1120: Reign of Banna-Bubu of Soso, when Fulbe appear in region and members of the royal family married wives from the So or Ferboe clan, becoming the Sose and Soso
1108: Death of queen S.wa at Gao Saney
1110: Death of Abu Abdullah Muhammad b. Abdu Llah b. Zaghi at Gao Saney, with a stela in Almerian style; death of king Abu Bakr ibn Abu Quhafa at Gao Saney
1116/17: Ghana's royal palace constructed (al-Idrisi)
1117: Death of Aisha, daughter of King Kuri, probably the same Korey or K.r.y in the Zuwa dynasty lists
1119: Death of Queen M.s.r (Gao Saney)
1120: Death of King Yama b. K.ma b. Zaghi, or Umar b. al-Khatta, a king who waged holy war
c.1125-1150: Zafun king received with honor in Marrakesh by Almoravids
1126: Death of Fatima, daughter of King Mama (or Yama or Nama) (Gao Saney)
1127: Death of Za (Zu'a) b. Queen Hakkiya (Saney inscriptions)
1140: Death of Bariqa, daughter of Kuri (Gao Saney inscriptions)
after 1154: Kawkaw mentioned as wealthy town reached by caravans from Egypt, Waraqlan, and Sijilmasa; inhabitants grow sesame, sugarcane, rice
1154: Completion of al-Idrisi's geographical work, which describes Ghana and Kawkaw as Muslim states
1180: Soso dynasty overthrown by a soldier named Dyara Kante (Trimingham)
c.1199: letter to the king of Ghana refers to him as a pagan (perhaps a reference to the Soso?)
c.1203: Sosso conquest of Ghana
1203: Death of King Fanda, son of 'Aru Bani (Aru-Baani/Arbaani/Aru Bine/Arbine), son of Zaghi (or Zaghay)
1210: Funerary stelae of a Songhay woman, Buwy or Waybiya, at Gorongobo
before 1222: al-Sharishi described Ghana as Muslim kingdom with schools and many Maghribi merchants who stay, buy slaves for concubinage and are well-received by the king
1224: Wealthy Soninke families plus Arabs ad Berbers move to Walata (Biru), according to Delafosse
c.1235: Sundiata Keita defeated Soso king at the Battle of Kirina
1251: Death of Zuwa of Kawkaw
1253: Death of Ai'isha, daughter of king Zuwa Kayna (Gao Saney)
1264-65: Death of Yama Kuri (Yama Korey), son of king R.w.a (Zuwa)
c.1300: Manna dynasty of Takrur replaced by Tondyon