Tuat was an oasis region and major Saharan entrepôt whose importance increased as caravan traffic shifted eastward from Sijilmāsa and Walata. Tamentit, located at the eastern end of Tuat, became a meeting point for merchants from the Sudan and the Mediterranean coast. The region’s oases supported extensive commercial activity, including gold exchange, brokerage, and links with Timbuktu, Morocco, and Egypt.
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The Story
Tuat gained prominence when insecurity in the western Sahara altered caravan movements. Arab nomads controlling the Sūs and Wādī Darʿa made earlier approaches from Sijilmāsa more difficult, encouraging caravans to take the eastern route through Sijilmāsa, Taghāza, and Walata, and later routes toward Tuat and Timbuktu. Tamentit, at Tuat’s eastern end, became a principal rendezvous for this traffic.
The oases of Tuat connected merchants from different regions. In 1447 Antonius Malfante travelled to Tamentit with a caravan and described it as the most important entrepôt for trade with the Sudan. Southern merchants carrying gold met traders from the Mediterranean coast there, while local inhabitants acted as brokers for high commissions. The region also included Jewish goldsmiths and wealthy merchants with long experience in Timbuktu and the Sudan.
Tuat was also tied to routes leading toward Egypt. In 1353 a caravan from Takeddā reached a Saharan crossroads from which one branch turned north-west to Tuat and another north-east through Ghāt toward Egypt. By the sixteenth century, Arab nomads imposed forms of protection over Berber traders in Tuat and other pre-Saharan oases, extracting tribute rather than participating directly in the trade.
Tuat was an oasis region and major Saharan entrepôt whose importance increased as caravan traffic shifted eastward from Sijilmāsa and Walata. Tamentit, located at the eastern end of Tuat, became a meeting point for merchants from the Sudan and the Mediterranean coast. The region’s oases supported extensive commercial activity, including gold exchange, brokerage, and links with Timbuktu, Morocco, and Egypt.
Continue exploring
The Story
Tuat gained prominence when insecurity in the western Sahara altered caravan movements. Arab nomads controlling the Sūs and Wādī Darʿa made earlier approaches from Sijilmāsa more difficult, encouraging caravans to take the eastern route through Sijilmāsa, Taghāza, and Walata, and later routes toward Tuat and Timbuktu. Tamentit, at Tuat’s eastern end, became a principal rendezvous for this traffic.
The oases of Tuat connected merchants from different regions. In 1447 Antonius Malfante travelled to Tamentit with a caravan and described it as the most important entrepôt for trade with the Sudan. Southern merchants carrying gold met traders from the Mediterranean coast there, while local inhabitants acted as brokers for high commissions. The region also included Jewish goldsmiths and wealthy merchants with long experience in Timbuktu and the Sudan.
Tuat was also tied to routes leading toward Egypt. In 1353 a caravan from Takeddā reached a Saharan crossroads from which one branch turned north-west to Tuat and another north-east through Ghāt toward Egypt. By the sixteenth century, Arab nomads imposed forms of protection over Berber traders in Tuat and other pre-Saharan oases, extracting tribute rather than participating directly in the trade.
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