Trans-Saharan trade

Introduction

The Saharan trade extended from the Sub-Saharan West African kingdoms across the Sahara desert to Europe. Trans-Saharan trade, between Mediterranean countries and West Africa, was an important trade route from the eighth century until the late sixteenth century. Before inquiring about the locations of caravan routes and the ebb-and-flow of trade volume, it is essential to ask how such trade existed at all. The Sahara Desert is a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean world-economy from the economy of the Niger(Shillington,50).

Discussion

The trans-Saharan trade is also interesting because in a real geographic sense it seems almost counterproductive, given that the trading routes cross some of the most hostile territory on earth. Trans-Saharan trade did not become feasible until the introduction of the camel as a pack animal. Camels, which originated in North America, were first domesticated in the Middle East around 3,000 BCE and were used as pack animals. Initial experimentation with using the camel to cross a desert as vast enough as the Sahara appears to have taken place around the third or fourth century CE. The kingdoms established in the Sahel became wealthy and powerful. Around the same time that the Islamic kingdoms of North Africa were established, the kingdom of Ghana was formed in the Sahel(Shillington,89). The formation of kingdoms was a direct result of the trade, as it encouraged strong military figures to form a monopoly over the trade routes and trade centers.

The king of Ghana benefited directly from the passage of salt through his territories: a tax of one dinar was levied on each donkey load of salt that entered, and two on each that left. The arrival of Islam into the North African region brought about a new way of thinking, particularly with regards to dealing with and traveling between Islamic lands and non-Muslim lands. This brought about the formation of a new political economy in the Saharan region(Braudel,89).

The pacification of the Berbers allowed the new Islamic state of Ifriqiya to be established as a major trading center.Located on the Mediterranean, as well as on the major east-west routes across North Africa, Ifriqiya and its rulers was in an ideal position to head the North African economy(Braudel,100). At this point it may be useful to consider the cultural effects that the establishment and expansion of trans-Saharan trade had both upon the peoples north and south of the Sahara. It has long been argued that Islam was introduced to the Saharan and sub- Saharan regions through the growth of this trade, and it has already been mentioned that the population of the area surrounding quickly became Muslim after the town became a major stop on the trade routes.

The similar conversion of at least certain elements of the population of other such trading centers is also well documented by Arab historians. It should be pointed out here, however, that widespread and complete conversion of certain sub-Saharan population did not occur for many centuries, and that in some cases Islam co-existed with the indigenous ...