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Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi (d897) from Armenia
Tarikh al-Ya'qubi (Biblical Narratives)
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Taken from; www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu
N. Levtzion and J.F.P.Hopkins; Corpus of early Arabic Sources for West
African History.
One day Noah fell asleep with his clothing open, and his son Cham saw his genitals and laughed (about it). He informed his brothers Sam and Yafith. They took hold of a garment as they were approaching him, diverted their faces from him, and spread the garment over him. When Noah woke up from his sleep and learned the news, he pronounced a curse on Cham. Among his descendants are the Copts, the Ethiopians, and the people of India.
Kana'an was the first of the descendants of Noah to behave like one of the progeny of Qabil. He made musical instruments, songs flutes, drums, harps, and cymbals, and obeyed Satan with regard to amusements and diversions.
Noah divided the earth among his sons. Sam's portion was the center of the earth. Chams portion was what surrounded it as well as Yemen and the Hadramout extending to Oman and the Bad rain and to the Alij and to the Yabrin and Wabar and al-Dauw and al-Dahna. Cham was also granted the Maghrib and the coastlands. He was the ancestor of the Kush ibn Cham, Kana'an ibn Cham the Nubian, Zanj and Ethiopia.
When the progeny of Noah dispersed from the country of Babil (Babylon) the descendants of Ham son of Noah went to the west, and crossed the Furat (Euphrates) towards the setting sun.
After they had crossed the Nile of Egypt the descendants of Kush son of Ham, namely the Habasha and the Sudan, split into two groups. One of these groups proceeded to the south, between the east and the west. These were the Nuba, Buja, Habasha and Zanj. The other group went to the west. These were the Zaghawa, HBSH, Qaqu, Marawiyyun, Maranda, Kawkaw, and Ghana.
Note: this is the famous curse of Cham, the reason why his descendants are black and why they are inferior and can be enslaved.
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Al-Ya'qubi ; Kitab al Buldan (Book of Countries)
Taken from; Gabriel Ferrand; Relations des voyages et textes geographiques....
The translation of ; Al Yaqubi : Kitab al Buldan
He considers the Barbara as Zanj. He describes al-Habasha, lying north of the countries of the Berber and of the Zanj.
The second sea which starts at Ras al-djumdjuma is called the sea of Lawri; it is a big sea, it has in it the islands of Wakwak and other Zandj people. On those islands there are kings. One can only navigate in those seas guided by the stars.
The empire of the Buga
The sixth empire is finally the empire of Nagasi. The country is vast and highly esteemed. The capital is Kaban. The Arabs come there to trade. There are big cities. The coastal town is called Dahlak. The kings of Abysinia are under the law of its upper king, which they follow and pay taxes to. The Nagasi are jacobitische Christians. The end of the kingdom of the Abyssinians is caused by the Zang, who are close to the people of Sind and what goes together with those countries and they are also together with the areas on the other side of Zang, who border Sind and Kurgu, where the people are prudent and calm.
After the amber of Shihr comes the amber of Zandj, exported from the land of Zandj up to Aden : it is white amber. Then the amber of Salahit.......then the amber of India........ Then the amber of Zandj, the one they bring from the coasts of Zandj: it resembles the amber of India and resembles it a lot.
(This is how the classification is of Tamini in his Djaib al-Arus, because he places the Amber of Zandj after the one of Shihr and he places it also after the one of India. )