West African gold-dust currency

Timeline

1. c. 900–1100Core region of the Ghana Empire · West AfricaThe Ghana Empire controlled gold-producing regions; gold dust and gold nuggets were exported north along trans-Saharan routes, forming early standardized weighed-exchange practices.
2. 1250–1350Timbuktu · MaliThe Mali Empire promoted uniform measures in major markets, with scales and weights becoming essential caravan tools; visitors such as Ibn Battuta recorded scenes of payment in gold dust.
3. 1401–1410Timbuktu market · MaliPolitical turmoil in the empire did not interrupt the gold-dust trade; North African and local merchants still traded with standard weights in Timbuktu and elsewhere, with gold dust and cowries together forming a multi-tiered payment system.
4. 1460–1591Gao–Timbuktu · MaliThe Songhai Empire inherited Mali's measuring traditions, and gold dust remained the core currency of trans-Saharan trade until the Moroccan invasion and European trade patterns changed West Africa's monetary ecology in the late sixteenth century.