10th century – 11th century
Western Sahara and West Africa
A set of commercial corridors linking West African gold-producing regions with Saharan and North African markets. In the eleventh century, one system connected Senegalese towns through Azuki to Sidjilmasa, while another, centred on Ghana and the Niger countries, maintained stronger links with Wargla. The networks carried gold, hides, dates, wheat, raisins, glass, pottery, metals, stones, and cowries, but their structure remains partly uncertain because written itineraries and archaeological evidence do not always agree.
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The Story
In the eleventh century, western African commerce appears to have been organized through at least two major systems. One centred on the towns of the Senegal valley and reached Sidjilmasa through Azuki, a pattern associated in the analysis with Almoravid ascendancy and an alliance between the Almoravids and Takrur. A second system commanded the countries of the Niger and was dominated by Ghana, with especially close connections to Wargla.
The routes joined a chain of markets and staging points rather than a single uninterrupted road. Sidjilmasa, Azuki, Awdaghust, Ghana, Barisa, Takrur, Wargla, and towns of the Niger Bend appear in different combinations within the itineraries attributed to al-Idrisi. Distances were expressed in days of travel, but several repeated intervals and surprising measurements led the analysis to warn that some of the geography may reflect schematic or ideological constructions rather than precise economic reality.
The movement of goods across these corridors was substantial but uneven. Awdaghust received wheat, dates, raisins, glass, glazed pottery, silver, precious and semi-precious stones, and possibly cowries for a wealthy clientele connected with the northern world. Gold and hides moved in the opposite direction, while archaeological finds show that commercial exchange also involved technologies, fashions, beads, and local processing of imported materials.
Archaeology complicates any model that treats West Africa as dependent on the north. Urban occupations at Awdaghust, Ghana, Sintiu-Bara, Jenne-Jeno, and other sites reveal locally rooted production and long-term settlement histories. The excerpt therefore presents trans-Saharan trade as important but proportionally limited, embedded within wider regional exchanges across the Sahel, savanna, and forest margins.
10th century – 11th century
Western Sahara and West Africa
A set of commercial corridors linking West African gold-producing regions with Saharan and North African markets. In the eleventh century, one system connected Senegalese towns through Azuki to Sidjilmasa, while another, centred on Ghana and the Niger countries, maintained stronger links with Wargla. The networks carried gold, hides, dates, wheat, raisins, glass, pottery, metals, stones, and cowries, but their structure remains partly uncertain because written itineraries and archaeological evidence do not always agree.
Continue exploring
The Story
In the eleventh century, western African commerce appears to have been organized through at least two major systems. One centred on the towns of the Senegal valley and reached Sidjilmasa through Azuki, a pattern associated in the analysis with Almoravid ascendancy and an alliance between the Almoravids and Takrur. A second system commanded the countries of the Niger and was dominated by Ghana, with especially close connections to Wargla.
The routes joined a chain of markets and staging points rather than a single uninterrupted road. Sidjilmasa, Azuki, Awdaghust, Ghana, Barisa, Takrur, Wargla, and towns of the Niger Bend appear in different combinations within the itineraries attributed to al-Idrisi. Distances were expressed in days of travel, but several repeated intervals and surprising measurements led the analysis to warn that some of the geography may reflect schematic or ideological constructions rather than precise economic reality.
The movement of goods across these corridors was substantial but uneven. Awdaghust received wheat, dates, raisins, glass, glazed pottery, silver, precious and semi-precious stones, and possibly cowries for a wealthy clientele connected with the northern world. Gold and hides moved in the opposite direction, while archaeological finds show that commercial exchange also involved technologies, fashions, beads, and local processing of imported materials.
Archaeology complicates any model that treats West Africa as dependent on the north. Urban occupations at Awdaghust, Ghana, Sintiu-Bara, Jenne-Jeno, and other sites reveal locally rooted production and long-term settlement histories. The excerpt therefore presents trans-Saharan trade as important but proportionally limited, embedded within wider regional exchanges across the Sahel, savanna, and forest margins.
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