Takedda

Takedda, which Ibn Battuta vocalizes Takadda, is a town he reached on his way back from Mali, ill from the heat; he lodged near the shaykh of the Maghribis, Sa'id ibn Ali al-Juzuli, and its judge Abu Ibrahim Ishaq al-Janati entertained him. ¹

Its houses were built of red stone; its water ran over copper deposits, which changed its colour and taste; there was no cultivation except a little wheat eaten by merchants and strangers; and its many scorpions killed children: Ibn Battuta tells how a son of Shaykh Sa'id ibn Ali was stung one morning and died at once, and he attended the funeral. ¹ Its people had no occupation but trade, travelling to Egypt every year and bringing back fine cloth; they lived in comfort and prided themselves on the number of their slaves and servants. ¹

The copper mine lay outside the town; the ore was dug and brought in, and slaves and servants smelted it in the houses, then cast it into bars a span and a half long, thin and thick; thick bars sold at four hundred to a mithqal of gold and thin at six hundred, and they served as money: thin bars bought meat and firewood, thick bars slaves, millet, butter and wheat. ² The copper was carried to the city of Kubar in pagan country, to Zaghay, and to Bornu, forty days away, whose people were Muslims with a king called Idris who spoke to people only from behind a curtain. ²

The sultan of Takedda in his day was a Berber called "Izar", a day's journey away, whom Ibn Battuta visited and who hosted him for six days. ^{2 3} At Takedda the order of Sultan Abu Inan reached him to come to court, and he left on Thursday 11 Sha'ban 754 AH for Tuwat. ³