2.4 - Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

Desert trade networks linking North Africa and West Africa across the Sahara

Oases

Desert watering places where caravans rested, resupplied, and traded along routes

Camel saddle

A saddle design that made long-distance camel travel safer, easier, and more efficient

Caravans

Large organized groups of merchants, camels, guides, and guards traveling together across deserts

Mali Empire

A powerful West African empire that expanded by controlling and taxing regional trade

Sundiata

Mali’s founding ruler, nicknamed “The Lion Prince”

Mansa Musa

Mali's Muslim ruler whose wealth and pilgrimage made the empire famous across Afro-Eurasia

Mecca

The holiest city in Islam, where Hajj (pilgrimage) is performed

Timbuktu

A wealthy West African trading city that became a center of Islamic learning

Songhai Kingdom

The powerhouse of West Africa after the fall of the Mali Empire

Ghana

An early West African kingdom enriched by taxing gold and salt trade