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Sahelian Trans-Saharan Trade
In the 1660s, the trans-Saharan caravan route network of the Sahel region remained highly active: Timbuktu, Gao, and towns along the Niger River bend…
Timeline
- 1661–1667Northern trans-Saharan trade route · West AfricaAfter Morocco's unification, northern ports and inland markets were reconnected; caravans carried salt, cloth, and metal goods southward via salt-producing centers like Taghaza, in exchange for West African gold and slaves. In the 1660s, this northern route maintained periodic passage despite intervals of political turmoil.
- 1663–1668Timbuktu and Gao · SahelTimbuktu, as a center of scholarship and trade, and Gao, as a node of river and overland transport, gathered goods from the Senegal River, the upper Niger River, and the Lake Chad region, forming an intra-Sahelian re-export network that sustained the regional urban economy.
- 1665–1670Sahelian trade corridor · SahelIn addition to the traditional gold–salt exchange, trade in slaves, kola nuts, and livestock remained at high volumes in the 1660s, competing with and complementing the Portuguese, Dutch, and British slave trades along the Atlantic coast. Sahelian merchants (such as the Diula network) played an intermediary role in interregional circulation.
Sources
- Hopkins, A. G. An Economic History of West Africa — A. G. Hopkins (1973)
- Levtzion, Nehemia & Hopkins, J. F. P. (eds.) Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History — Nehemia Levtzion (1981)