Between the 8th and 18th centuries, Trans Saharan trade was at its peak and made Western Africa a major trade route. This allowed to trade with Arabia, Europe, India and China. It brought prosperity, religion (Islam) the establishment of new and vital cities as well as new world knowledge of their previously unknown cities.
Trans-Saharan trade is trade across the Sahara desert between Mediterranean countries and sub-Saharan Africa. A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. In spite of her vast geographical dimensions and natural extremes, the Sahara has never been a barrier which had completely isolated Black Africa from other civilisations, in the same sense as the Atlantic Ocean separated the New World from the Old.
While the Sudan, where the Empire of Ghana was situated, posessed a large amount of gold, the region lacked adequate salt for the survival of Empire's population. The Desert regions of present day Morocco and Algeria, however, contained huge salt resources, and desert inhabitants were always in search of valuables. Not surprisingly, the gold-salt trade between the Ghana Empire and the Arab desert merchants flourished.
The Sahara Desert is a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean world-economy from the economy of the Niger. The trade was conducted by caravans of Arabian camels. These camels would be fattened for a number of months on the plains of either the Maghreb or Sahel before being assembled into a caravan. According to Ibn Battuta, the explorer who accompanied one of the caravans, the average size was a thousand camels per caravan, with some being as large as 12,000. Gold, sought from the western and central Sudan, was the main commodity of the trans-Saharan trade. The traffic in gold was spurred by the demand for and supply of coinage. The rise of the Soninke Empire of Ghana appears to be related to the beginnings of the trans-Saharan gold trade in the fifth century. From the seventh to the eleventh century, trans-Saharan trade linked the Mediterranean economies that demanded gold and could supply salt to the sub-Saharan economies, where gold was abundant.
it Songhai control of trade throughout western Africa by controlling of trade Songhai was able to enrich itself mainly
Islam
The Trans-Saharan trade shaped history by sharing other people's goods and beliefs that soon spread through other cultures and changed them.
The rise of European maritime trade in the 15th century, particularly the discovery of new sea routes to Asia, caused a decrease in trans-Saharan trade. Europeans were able to bypass the Sahara Desert and establish direct trade links with Africa's coastal regions, diminishing the importance and profitability of the trans-Saharan trade routes.
Some factors that led to the rise of trans-Saharan trade were the spread of Islam and the trading between the North and West.
Songhai
which counties were involved in the trans-Saharan slave trade
Trans-Saharan trade declined significantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to the increasing power of European colonialists and the development of alternative trade routes. The trade routes were further disrupted by the introduction of modern transportation, such as trains and ships, which made it easier to transport goods across oceans rather than through the harsh desert terrain.
gold and salt
what are the similarities and differences between trans saharan trade and transatlantic trade
trans-saharan-trade
Islam
The Trans-Saharan trade shaped history by sharing other people's goods and beliefs that soon spread through other cultures and changed them.
The settlement of timbuktu
The settlement of timbuktu
Trans-Saharan trade routes were primarily land based, the Silk road was both land and sea.
The rise of European maritime trade in the 15th century, particularly the discovery of new sea routes to Asia, caused a decrease in trans-Saharan trade. Europeans were able to bypass the Sahara Desert and establish direct trade links with Africa's coastal regions, diminishing the importance and profitability of the trans-Saharan trade routes.
The first permanent trade route was created in 1482