Negroland, Nigrita, or Nigritia, is an archaic term in European mapping, referring to Europeans' descriptions of West Africa as an area populated with negroes.
This area comprised at least the western part of the region called Sudan (not to be confused with the modern country). The term is probably a direct translation of the Arabic term Bilad as-Sudan (بلاد السودان), meaning "Land of the Blacks", corresponding to about the same area. There were various kinds of people in the area. The Persians called these areas Zangistān (زنگستان), meaning "Land of the Blacks" and the name Zang for black still remains in the name of Zanzibar (from Persian زنگبار (Zangibār) meaning "The Coast of Blacks". The name was given by Persian navigators when they visited the area in the middle ages. Some of the greatest states of those considered part of Negroland were the Bornu Empire and the Sokoto Caliphate.
