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Mali gold-dust trade measurement

Type Object Region West Africa Time c. 1200–1600

Mali's gold trade circulated as gold dust, weighed by local units such as the mitkal and supplemented by copper or stone weights, shells and salt blo…

Timeline

  1. c. 1200–1337Bambuk · MaliGold dust from the Bambuk and Bure mines was weighed by imperial officials with standard weights to collect the tithe; the court used gold dust for rewards, diplomatic gifts and trade payments, forming a centralized distribution system for precious metals.
  2. 1360–1370Timbuktu · TimbuktuIn the 1360s markets of Timbuktu and Gao, gold dust was exchanged at units such as the mitkal for kola nuts, slaves, cloth and North African salt blocks; Berber and Arab merchants brought Islamic scales to interface with Mali's local copper weights, and caravans had to complete standard weighing and pay customs duties before departure.
  3. c. 1370–1591Gao · GaoAfter Mali's decline and Songhai's rise, gold-dust weighing practices continued, with copper weights and shell currency circulating in parallel, until the Moroccan expedition and European coastal trade changed the pattern of West African precious-metal circulation.

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