Expansion of the Trans-Saharan Trade Network

Name: Expansion of the Trans-Saharan Trade Network
Start: 701
End: 800

Type Event Region Africa Time 701–800

In the 8th century, trans-Saharan routes between the Islamic world of North Africa and the Sahel–Sudanic grasslands expanded markedly.…

Timeline

701–750Taghaza salt mines–Western Sahara oasis belt · Western SaharaBerber and Arab merchants, relying on camel transport, established supply networks at salt mines and water points, forwarding goods from North African ports to the Sahel's margins.
750–800North of the Niger bend–Ghana Empire frontier · SahelWest African rulers taxed gold-producing regions and trade routes, converting trade profits into cavalry, courts, and control of vassal states; the trans-Saharan network became the economic lifeline for the rise of Sahel states.

Levtzion, N. & Hopkins, J.F.P. (eds.), Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History — Nehemia Levtzion (1981)
Bovill, E.W., The Golden Trade of the Moors — E.W. Bovill (1958)