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Mali Gold Trade System

Type Object Region West Africa Time 1200–1500

The Mali gold trade system was a transnational commercial institution of the 13th–16th centuries centered on gold mining, minting, and long-distance …

Timeline

  1. 1200–1310Bambuk–Bure gold belt · MaliThe Mali Empire brought southern gold mines under royal monopoly and local chieftain authority, setting gold dust measurement standards and collecting customs duties from caravans, laying the institutional foundation for West African gold exports.
  2. 1321–1330Timbuktu trade route hub · MaliIn 1324 Mansa Musa carried vast quantities of gold on pilgrimage to Mecca, distributing it along the way and making Mali famous far and wide; meanwhile the empire strengthened control over mines and trade routes, with North African merchants exchanging gold and salt in places like Timbuktu, bringing trade to its medieval West African peak.
  3. 1400–1500Gao · MaliThe Songhai Empire gradually seized the trade centers of the middle Niger, Mali's control over mines and routes weakened, the focus of West African gold trade shifted to Gao and Timbuktu, and the former Mali system existed in name only.

Sources