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1889 map of trans-Saharan trading routes by French explorer Édouard Blanc []. The pre-colonial trade routes and networks in Africa were extensive and sophisticated, connecting various regions of the continent and facilitating the exchange of goods, culture, and ideas.
French-language map showing the major trans-Saharan trade routes (1862) Trans-Saharan trade is trade between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa that requires travel across the Sahara. Though this trade began in prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century CE.
There were many kingdoms and empires in all regions of the continent of Africa throughout history. A kingdom is a state with a king or queen as its head. [1] An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant centre and subordinate peripheries".
Between 1000 and 1500, the forests of West Africa also became part of trade networks, particularly under the reigns of the Yoruba kings. Ifé was a vital trade town, along the route from the tropical forests to Djenné, a major trade centre in Sudan, near other large trade cities such as Timbuktu and Gao. [8]
Both Gao and Kumbi Saleh (capital of Wagadu) grew fabulously rich through the trans-Saharan trade routes linking these cities with Tadmekka, Kairouan, and Sijilmassa in North Africa along which flowed trade in salt, gold, slaves, and more. [158] [159] [157] [105] Map of the western Sahel and Sudan (northern West Africa) c. 1200.
A map of pre-European African civilisations. By the 13th century there were three main confederations of states in the western Congo Basin. In the east were the Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza , considered to be the oldest and most powerful, which likely included Nsundi , Mbata , Mpangu , and possibly Kundi and Okanga .
Estimates of the total number of black slaves moved from sub-Saharan Africa to the Arab world range from 6 to 10 million, and the trans-Saharan trade routes conveyed a significant number of this total, with one estimate tallying around 7.2 million slaves crossing the Sahara from the mid-7th century until the 20th century when it was abolished.
Ghana grew wealthy through the trans-Saharan trade routes linking Aoudaghost with Tahert and Sijilmasa in north Africa following the introduction of the camel to the western Sahel in the 3rd century AD. Ghana was the first to benefit from the introduction of pack animals by Wolof traders. Ghana dominated the region between the 3rd century and ...