Trans-Saharan Trade

Trans-Saharan Trade

Between the 300s and the late 1500s CE, in the grassland regions of West Africa rose at least three successive empires built on trade—Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. These three empires built their wealth on the north-south trans-Saharan trade. Ghana built wealth on gold and salt trade. Mali pioneered trans-Saharan camel caravan routes. And Songhai expanded wealth through trade alliances and conquests. Camel caravans carried such goods as salt, cloth, and metalware south from North Africa and gold, ivory, and enslaved people north from the tropical rainforest kingdoms. Along with the trade goods from North Africa came Arab merchants and eventually Muslim warriors. Cloth originated in North Africa and was traded in West Africa. Salt originated in North Africa, as well and was sent south by caravans. Gold came from the tropical rainforest kingdoms and was sent north.

Camels were the ideal beast of burden for crossing the great Sahara. Camels can travel at speeds of eight to ten miles (thirteen–sixteen km) per hour for up to eighteen hours without resting. The hump of the camel stores fat that can be used for sustenance when food is scarce. Camels are also known for being able to go long periods, even up to a week in the summer, without drinking water. This unique ability is due to the way camels regulate their body temperature. Humans, for example, need to perspire to keep variations in their body temperature to within two degrees Fahrenheit. Perspiration leads to a loss of water through evaporation. Camels, however, store water in their tissues and cells and can withstand variations in body temperature of up to eleven degrees Fahrenheit without perspiring. At night, camels release their body heat so that their temperature is low again in the morning.

The Ghana Empire

The first large empire in West Africa was Ghana, which may have begun as early as 300 CE and most likely became a powerful kingdom by about 800 CE. The Soninke people, who built the Ghana Empire, were quick to take advantage of their position astride a major trans-Saharan trade route and spread their control through parts of what are today Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal. At this time, Muslim traders from northern Africa exchanged salt for West African gold. The Ghanaian king taxed all the goods coming into the kingdom from the north and all the gold flowing up from the south. Initially, the Soninke did not mine the gold but bought it from people to the south; later, they gained control of some gold mines. The king limited the amount of gold that could leave the kingdom, thus driving up its value. Soon Ghana was known as the “land of gold.”

The trans-Saharan trade was not limited to salt and gold. Artisans turned iron mined in Ghana into weapons. These weapons were used in wars to monopolize trade and expand the empire. Military conflict also provided a source of enslaved labor. Some captured people were made to work in Ghana’s mines, while others were brought from sub-Saharan Africa to slave markets in the north. From there, Muslim traders transported them to slave markets in North Africa, Southwest Asia, and eventually Europe.

Islam followed the trade routes south. Muslim North African merchants came to Ghana to trade, and many stayed. The name Ghana is actually an Arabic word meaning “ruler”. Along with their religion, these Muslim merchants introduced Islamic artistic and architectural styles to Ghana. Over time, the kings of Ghana employed Muslims as advisors and government officials. In the mid-1000s CE, Almoravids, a group of Muslims from the desert, overran the kingdom but were unable to hold it. With Ghana beset by ecological problems and internal revolts by conquered peoples, its trading network collapsed, and its capital was destroyed in the mid-1200s CE.

The modern nation of Ghana is named in honor of the famous empire of Ghana, but its boundaries are not the same. The modern nation is farther south and slightly east of the old empire. The empire was landlocked, but the present-day nation has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.