The history of the trans-Saharan trade consist not only the travel across the Sahara (north and south) to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, to the Levant but also a multifaceted journey that married exchange of goods and also cultures.. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century. The trans-Saharan trade was not merely an economic phenomenon, but it connected Western Africa to the Mediterranean world on the intellectual level, too.The major traderoutes moved goods across the Sahara Desert between Western/Central Africa and the port trade centers along the Mediterranean Sea. Other trade routes included Gao to Tunis and Cairo to Agadez. Caravans. Traders moved their goods across the Sahara in large groups called caravans.
Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and North African civilization’s artifacts began to travel further more quickly and easily. The Sahel people traditionally semi-nomads, were the middlemen of trans-Saharan trade. Camels were used as a form of transportation.
The main items traded were gold and salt. Salt was a key commodity as it plays a crucial role in maintaining human health as the main source of sodium and chloride ions in the human diet. Sodium is essential for nerve and muscle function and is involved in the regulation of fluids in the body. Chloride ions serve as important electrolytes by regulating blood pH and pressure. The goldmines of West Africa provided great wealth to West African Empires such as Ghana and Mali. Other items that were commonly traded included ivory, kolanuts,cloth, slaves, metal goods, and beads. Camel caravans from North Africa carried bars of salt as well as cloth, tobacco, and metal tools across the Sahara to trading centers like Djenne and Timbuktu on the Niger River.
As trade in gold and salt increased, Ghana’s rulers gained power. Eventually, they built up armies equipped with iron weapons that were superior to the weapons of nearby people. Over time, Ghana took control of trade from merchants. Merchants from the north and south then met to exchange goods in Ghana.
The trans-Saharan trade was fundamentally important to the success of the Empire of Ghana between the eighth and twelfth centuries, this trading system reached its peak during the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, during the heydays of the Mali and Songhai Empires.
The Songhai empire had a great cosmopolitan market place where kola nuts, gold, ivory, slaves, spices, palm oil and precious woods were traded in exchange for salt, cloth, arms, horses and copper. Islam had been introduced to the royal court of Songhai in 1019, but most people remained faithful to their traditional religion.
Sunni Ali, also known as Sunni Ali Ber, was born Ali Kolon. He reigned from about 1464 to 1492. SunniAli was the first king of the Songhai Empire, located in Africa and the 15th ruler of the Sunni dynasty. Sunni Ali organized a fleet to patrol the Niger river.
The golden age of the trans-Saharan trade ended with the collapse of Songhai empire after the Moroccan attack in 1591. The disintegration of West African political structures, the contemporary economic decline of Northern Africa, and the European competition on the Guinea coast made the caravan trade less profitable. Neverthless, the trade continued, until the railroads gave it the final death blow in the beginning of our century. The shift in favour of the Atlantic trade began with the arrival of the first Portuguese ships on the Mauritanian coast in 1443. For West Africans, who had already had contacts with other peoples for centuries, the coming of Europeans was no cultural shock. Although the merchants and merchandizes were different, the fundamental pattern of economic and cultural exchange was the same in the Atlantic trade as it had been in the caravan trade. Similarly, it was another channel for West Africans to the outside world: in 1594 a Portuguese navigator reported that he had in Senegal met many blacks who were not only capable of speaking French but have even visited France. In was only during the age of imperialism that the encounter of West Africans with other civilisations turned definitely from controlled relationship to collision.
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