7th century – 19th century
Western Sudan, Sahel and trans-Saharan commercial zone
A network of slave capture, exchange, and transport linking the Western Sudan with the Sahara, Maghrib, Mediterranean ports, Iberia, Sicily, and the Atlantic coast. The trade involved Arab, Moorish, Portuguese, and African actors, moved captives through caravan and maritime routes, and connected slavery to the circulation of European goods, horses, and regional political power.
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The Story
The pages portray the Western Sudanese slave trade as a chain of interconnected routes rather than a single corridor. A caravan travelling from Takedda to Sijilmāsa carried six hundred slaves, probably from Bornu, while Tripoli exchanged slaves with Gao and merchants from Mesrata traded European goods for Sudanese captives. The presence of a Mesratan merchant at the court of Askīya Dāwūd in Gao, seeking to buy five hundred slaves, illustrates the commercial reach of these connections.
The trade extended westward and northward through several intermediate markets. In 1446, João Fernandes reported that Arabs and the Azeneğues, identified as Ṣanhāja groups of the Western Sahara, captured Black Africans and sold them to the Moors or transported them as far as Barca in Tunisia. A decade later, Cadamosto described the division of slave caravans at Wadan: some captives went to Barca and Sicily, others to Tunis, the Barbary coast, or the Portuguese at Arguin.
Southern Morocco and the northern Saharan oases also absorbed Sudanese captives. Trading centres such as Tagaoust, Darʿa, and Wargala contained many Black people and mulattos born to Sudanese slave women. In Morocco, Sudanese slaves served both domestic and political functions: they were owned by commoners, formed the bodyguard of the Zirid rulers of Ifrīqiya, served in armies and royal households, and included eunuchs guarding the royal harem.
From Morocco, Sudanese slaves crossed the straits to al-Andalus. They were recorded in Cordova and Algeciras during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and later appeared in Catalan Christian states, Valencia, Majorca, Marseille, and Montpellier. In Naples, they constituted 83 per cent of the servile population in the period described, while in Sicily they worked in agriculture. Genoa and Venice also held Black slaves, although such captives were not present in large numbers at northern latitudes.
The Portuguese presence on the Atlantic coast altered the organization of the trade. Portuguese raiders first kidnapped Moors from the Saharan coast and carried them to Portugal; later, captured Moors were exchanged for Black slaves brought north from the Sudan. South of the Senegal River’s mouth, a more regular trade developed with African rulers. Portuguese merchants paid for gold and captives with cloth, manufactured textiles, beads, tin, silver, and especially horses, which African chiefs sought for military purposes and prestige.
7th century – 19th century
Western Sudan, Sahel and trans-Saharan commercial zone
A network of slave capture, exchange, and transport linking the Western Sudan with the Sahara, Maghrib, Mediterranean ports, Iberia, Sicily, and the Atlantic coast. The trade involved Arab, Moorish, Portuguese, and African actors, moved captives through caravan and maritime routes, and connected slavery to the circulation of European goods, horses, and regional political power.
Continue exploring
The Story
The pages portray the Western Sudanese slave trade as a chain of interconnected routes rather than a single corridor. A caravan travelling from Takedda to Sijilmāsa carried six hundred slaves, probably from Bornu, while Tripoli exchanged slaves with Gao and merchants from Mesrata traded European goods for Sudanese captives. The presence of a Mesratan merchant at the court of Askīya Dāwūd in Gao, seeking to buy five hundred slaves, illustrates the commercial reach of these connections.
The trade extended westward and northward through several intermediate markets. In 1446, João Fernandes reported that Arabs and the Azeneğues, identified as Ṣanhāja groups of the Western Sahara, captured Black Africans and sold them to the Moors or transported them as far as Barca in Tunisia. A decade later, Cadamosto described the division of slave caravans at Wadan: some captives went to Barca and Sicily, others to Tunis, the Barbary coast, or the Portuguese at Arguin.
Southern Morocco and the northern Saharan oases also absorbed Sudanese captives. Trading centres such as Tagaoust, Darʿa, and Wargala contained many Black people and mulattos born to Sudanese slave women. In Morocco, Sudanese slaves served both domestic and political functions: they were owned by commoners, formed the bodyguard of the Zirid rulers of Ifrīqiya, served in armies and royal households, and included eunuchs guarding the royal harem.
From Morocco, Sudanese slaves crossed the straits to al-Andalus. They were recorded in Cordova and Algeciras during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and later appeared in Catalan Christian states, Valencia, Majorca, Marseille, and Montpellier. In Naples, they constituted 83 per cent of the servile population in the period described, while in Sicily they worked in agriculture. Genoa and Venice also held Black slaves, although such captives were not present in large numbers at northern latitudes.
The Portuguese presence on the Atlantic coast altered the organization of the trade. Portuguese raiders first kidnapped Moors from the Saharan coast and carried them to Portugal; later, captured Moors were exchanged for Black slaves brought north from the Sudan. South of the Senegal River’s mouth, a more regular trade developed with African rulers. Portuguese merchants paid for gold and captives with cloth, manufactured textiles, beads, tin, silver, and especially horses, which African chiefs sought for military purposes and prestige.
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