Trans-Saharan trade, conducted across the Sahara Desert, was a web of commercial interactions between the Arab world (North Africa and the Persian Gulf) and sub-Saharan Africa. … Sub-Saharan African slaves were bartered for bars of salt and other Mediterranean goods.
What happened during the trans-Saharan trade?
The trans-Saharan trade route transformed West Africa by connecting it to the larger parts of the world. … It has all the components of a good trade network: the formation of diasporic communities, new technology, the spread of religion (Islamic traditions) and even a super rich king by the name of Mansa Musa.
What is Trans-Saharan in history?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century. The Sahara once had a very different environment.
What were the causes and effects of the trans-Saharan trade?
The causes of the growth in trans-Saharan trade are similar to those that increased commerce on the Silk Roads and Indian Ocean trade networks. They included the desire for goods not available in buyers’ home regions, improvements in commercial practices, and technological innovation.
What is the importance of the trans-Saharan trade?
From the seventh to the eleventh century, trans-Saharan trade linked the Mediterranean economies that demanded gold—and could supply salt—to the sub-Saharan economies, where gold was abundant.
Why is the trans-Saharan trade important?
Trans-Saharan trade also provided strong motivation for the formation of large Sudanic states and empires to protect traders and trade routes, which in turn brought in the necessary wealth to conduct wars of population and territorial expansion, to acquire horses and superior iron weaponry, to send thousands of …
What problems did the Trans-Saharan traders face?
Communication barriers due to lack of a common language in which to conduct commercial transactions. Traveling long distances and for many months across the desert. Traveling under extreme weather conditions-too hot during the day and too cold at night. Scarcity of water and food during the journey across the desert.
Why did the trans-Saharan trade decline?
The golden age of the trans-Saharan trade ended with the collapse of Songhay 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.
What were the negative effects of trans-Saharan trade?
–It increased warfare in the Wet Africa region in an effort to acquire slaves. -The Western Sudan was characterized by insecurity and misery as enslavement occurred. -The demand for ivory also led to the destruction of wildlife in Western Sudan.
Why were camels essential for the Sahara trade?
They were essential for the Sahara desert because it would take days and the animals would probably die from the heat, so they started to use camels. … Ghana was located between the Sahara salt mines and gold mines near the West African coastal rain forests. Ghana became an important crossroads of trade.
What ideas were traded on the trans-Saharan trade route?
The West Africans exchanged their local products like gold, ivory, salt and cloth, for North African goods such as horses, books, swords and chain mail. This trade (called the trans-Saharan trade because it crossed the Sahara desert) also included slaves.
How did Islam spread through the trans-Saharan trade route?
Following the conquest of North Africa by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated the religion or converted to it themselves.
What two factors led to the growth of trans-Saharan trade?
The two factors that led to the growth of trans-Saharan trade were the introduction of the camel and the spread of Islam.
Which two commodities seem most important to the trans-Saharan trade?
The two most important trade items of the trans-Saharan trade network. Gold was mined on the West African Coast and traded for salt from the Sahara Desert. A network of trading cities across the Sahara Desert that connected west Africa with north Africa, the Mediterranean region, and the Middle East.
What impact did trade have on West Africa?
By providing firearms amongst the trade goods, Europeans increased warfare and political instability in West Africa. Some states, such as Asante and Dahomey, grew powerful and wealthy as a result. Other states were completely destroyed and their populations decimated as they were absorbed by rivals.
How did the Mali Empire control the Trans-Saharan trade?
Mali gained power through gold and salt mining and through control of the Trans-Saharan trade routes in the region. Mali’s relative location lay across the trade routes between the sources of salt in the Sahara Desert and the gold mines of West Africa.
Who did Mali trade with?
Mali’s major trading partners are China and other Asian countries, neighbouring countries, South Africa, and France.
What did trans-Saharan trade bring to West Africa?
What changes did trans-Saharan trade bring to West Africa? It provided both incentives and resources for the construction of new and larger political structures, including the city-states of the Hausa people and the empires of Ghana, Mali, Songhay, and Kanem.