Why was trans saharan trade important to africa

Soso, the southern chiefdom of the Soninke, gained control of Ghana as well as the Malinke, the latter eventually liberated by Sundiata Keita, who founded the Mali empire. Mali rulers did not encourage gold producers to convert to Islam , since prospecting and production of the metal traditionally depended on a number of beliefs and magical practices that were alien to Islam.

In the fourteenth century, cowrie shells were introduced from the eastern coast as local currency, but gold and salt remained the principal mediums of long-distance trade. The flow of sub-Saharan gold to the northeast probably occurred in a steady but small stream.

Undoubtedly, some of this African gold was also used in Western gold coins. When Mossi raids destroyed the Mali empire, the rising Songhai empire relied on the same resources. Gold remained the principal product in the trans-Saharan trade, followed by kola nuts and slaves. The connections of West Africa with the Mediterranean world is a very old one, which long predates the rise of Islam in the late 6 th century CE.

Several centuries before the rise of the Roman empire, the Greek historian Herodotus c. Herodotus wrote repeatedly of the peoples of the Nile Valley, stressing that many of them were Black Africans, and suggesting connections with people further to the west.

Rock art from this period, and later, suggests the existence of wheeled chariots south of what is now the Sahara, and suggest a connection with the Mediterranean world. Rock art from the Sahara desert is abundant, and some of it is as much as years old. This is one of the oldest examples of rock art in the Sahara. Another good example is in the Tibesti Massif in Chad, which also has rock art dating from around this time. These old paintings show areas which are now in the desert as fertile, rich with animals which can no longer live in these desert areas, such as buffalos, elephants, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus.

The Ice Age was not a problem in Africa, and in fact this seems to have been a time of plenty. The Sahara appears to have begun desertifying more rapidly around years BCE, but there remained strong connections with the Mediterranean until a later point.

This is shown by the Carthaginian general, Hannibal. Carthage was an empire based in Libya [the most powerful empire in the Mediterranean until the rise of Rome], and around BCE Hannibal embarked on an attack on Roman forces in Europe which involved crossing the high Alps mountain range. His military supplies were carried by elephants, and these were African elephants connected to the peoples and geographies south of the Sahara.

Desertification increased and the geographical boundaries became harder to cross. By the time of the rise of Islam, in the early 7 th century CE [from c. But the growth of powerful Islamic kingdoms in Morocco, and of centres of learning based in Cairo, Tripoli, and the Middle East, saw the rise of the caravan trade. By the 10 th century CE there were separate settlements for those practicing African religions and those practising Islam at Koumbi-Saleh, indicating the large number of North African traders who were coming.

The gold trade was already spreading to influence commerce and society in the Mediterranean, and it was at around CE that West African gold was first minted for markets in Europe. A vital change occurred in this time, spearheaded by the Almoravid movement. They appear to have grown from Berber Muslims who migrated north from the Senegal river seeking a purer form of Islam after the middle of the 11 th century.

Mali would not rise until the 13 th century. Thereafter, the gold trade was the centrepiece of the trans-Saharan trade. The trade in gold saw the rise of powerful empires such as Mali, Bono-Mansu, and Songhay, the expansion of urban centres such as Kano, and the rise of powerful trading classes such as the Wangara.

Arabic became increasingly influential through the spread of Islam and its use as a script for administration. By the 15 th century, when the Atlantic trade would begin, the trans-Saharan trade had been flourishing for at least 5 centuries, and had already shaped the rise, fall, and consolidation of many West African states and societies. One of the major elements in the creation of trade networks is geography.

Trade tends to be in products which cannot be found in one area, and which are exchanged with those which are needed in another. For example, societies living in areas with forest products can exchange them for salt from desert areas, and grain crops from savannah areas. In turn, savannah and desert peoples can acquire forest products.

Thus, a vital factor in the emergence of the social fabric of West Africa was the Sahara desert. Where the geographical barriers between different climate zones are extensive, the trade networks needed to move goods have to be more complicated. In order to thrive, societies need to develop new means of accommodating stranger traders.

Where the barrier is as large as the Sahara desert, or the Atlantic Ocean, the social fabric will become intertwined with these complex trading networks. This occurred in West Africa with the trans-Saharan trade; and the social frameworks which emerged with this trade then became influential in shaping the early trans-Atlantic trade.

So it is hard to understand the importance of trans-Saharan trade without understanding its importance for society, in terms of organisation and belief. One important climatic factor in the shaping of West African societies was the spread of the tsetse fly. In humid forest zones, the tsetse fly which causes Sleeping Sickness meant that it was hard for pack animals to survive. Camels, horses, donkeys, and the like could not easily survive in areas where the tsetse fly could live and thrive.

This meant that society had to be organised so that people would fulfill that role, and be able to carry headloads of gold, kola nuts, ivory, and more. This became significant as the trans-Saharan gold trade became ever more important from the 11 th century onwards. There were two main zones for the location of gold in West Africa. The other was in the forests of the Gold Coast. In the Gold Coast, this came in a series of powerful Akan states, beginning with Bono-Mansu in the 14 th century, and then continuing through Denkyira and Akwamu to , all of whom relied on the gold trade.

It includes research on topics ranging from the organization of caravan trade, patterns of trans-Saharan migration, and contraband activities, to the trans-Saharan trade in camels for butcher.

Bovill, Edward William. London: Oxford University Press, Written by a gentleman-scholar whose passion for African history was sparked after he served in the West African Frontier Forces in Kano, Nigeria. Bovill surveyed all the known information on the links between western Africa and northern markets. Princeton, NJ: Markus Weiner, In his much-revised version of Caravans , Bovill expanded his discussion of the 14th century, considered the heyday of trans-Saharan commercial exchange.

He also considers when the era of the great caravans drew to an end in the late 19th century. Originally published in , it remains a landmark study in African history. Delafosse, Maurice. Godinho, Vitorino M. Lydon, Ghislaine. DOI: It is the first study to trace changes in the logistics of caravanning based on trade records and the writings of Muslim legal scholars. It also documents the involvement of women.

Living reference work entry First Online: 23 July How to cite. Definition Trans-Saharan slave trade was conducted within the ambits of the trans-Saharan trade, otherwise referred to as the Arab trade. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Retrieved from 5 Dec Boahen A The caravan trade in the nineteenth century. Brett M Ifriqiya as a market for Saharan trade from the tenth to the twelfth century A.