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17 - The Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Towns of West Africa

from Part III - Neighbours and Comparanda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

By
Sam Nixon
Edited by
Martin Sterry  and
David J. Mattingly
Martin Sterry
Affiliation:
University of Durham
David J. Mattingly
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
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Summary

In the early Islamic period, trade across the Sahara escalated to new levels as the rich resources of West African gold, slaves and ivory were imported on camel caravans to the markets of North Africa and the wider Islamic world trade system, these goods being exchanged for products from North Africa such as copper, textiles and glasswares. The immediate destinations for Trans-Saharan camel caravans coming from North Africa were the market towns which developed on the southern fringes of the Sahara, in the most arid zones of the Sahel (Sahel meaning ‘shore’ in Arabic; see Fig. 17.1). These centres became the principal locations for the Trans-Saharan commercial exchange, meeting points between traders from North Africa and the Sahara and those coming from further south in West Africa. Certain trading centres directly involved in the Trans-Saharan exchange also grew up slightly further south in the Sahel, close to the centres of the West African states controlling the gold, slaves, and ivory resources (see Fig. 17.1).

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Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond , pp. 621 - 666
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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