Gold Dust Currency

Timeline

1. 800–1050Ghana Empire trade zone · SahelThe Ghana Empire controlled gold mining and export at Wangara and Bambuk; markets traded gold powder and grains weighed on standard scales. Arab geographers recorded that West African gold flowed through this system into North Africa and the Mediterranean world.
2. c. 1050–1150Hausaland markets · HausalandIn the 1080s, markets in Hausa city-states such as Kano used gold dust to pay for bulk goods and customs duties, exchanging it with coins and salt blocks carried by North African caravans; weighing standards were maintained jointly by market elders and merchant guilds.
3. c. 1230–1500Mali Empire · SahelThe Mali Empire regulated gold dust weighing and taxation on a larger scale; commercial centers such as Timbuktu became key nodes for exchanging gold dust with North African currency, and it remained one of the main means of payment into the early modern period.