AP WH 2.4 The Trans-Saharan Trade Network

Trans-Saharan Network: a series of trade routes that connected North Africa and the Mediterranean world with the interior of West Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa

  • part of the Sand Roads

  • began expanding around 1200

  • causes of expansion

    • innovations in transportation technologies

      • the Sahara was difficult terrain to cross

        • giant desert, dry environment

      • introduction of the Arabian camel

      • camel saddles, both for riding and for carrying bigger loads of merchandise

      • caravanserai were established along these routes

        • caravanserai: rest stops along the trade routes where merchants could rest and sleep and eat

      • with merchants able to travel more comfortably and carry bigger loads and find shelter along the way, be 1200, the Trans-Saharan network expanded larger than it had ever been

  • Trans-Saharan goods

    • gold

    • kola nuts

      • source of post-classical caffeine

    • horses

    • salt

      • in demand across the continent

    • each region specialized in creating and growing various goods, and that difference created the demand to trade with each other, and created the occasion for the expansion of those networks

  • the expansion and increased use of the Trans-Saharan network also led to the rise and expansion of powerful states

    • Empire of Mali

      • established in the 13th century

      • Islam had been introduced to the region hundreds of years before the Empire of Mali was established

        • when a state converted to Islam during this time, they get connected into the economic trade partnerships throughout Dar al-Islam

        • that religious and economic connection meant that Mali, once it was established, grew exceedingly wealthy because of its participation in the Trans-Saharan trade network

      • exported goods of their own, namely gold

      • gained wealth and power by taxing other merchants traveling the trade routes through their territory

      • Sultanate of Malacca and Mali similarities

        • controlled strategic points along high traffic trade routes

          • grew in power and wealth as a result

      • Mansa Musa

        • most powerful and influential ruler of Mali

        • as a Muslim, he decided he would embark on the hajj

          • hajj was a pilgrimage to the Muslim holy site in Mecca

          • he left with a giant entourage and stopped for a while in Egypt to resupply

            • while they were there, Mansa Musa and his crew injected so much gold into the Egyptian economy that the value of all existing gold plummeted

        • with the expansion of Mali’s power under the influence of Mansa Musa, he further monopolized trade between the North and the interior of the continent

          • both increased the wealth of Mali and facilitated the growth of existing trade networks