Reading Questions
Trans Sahara Trade: From Barrier to Trade Network
Before the arrival of Islam into West Africa, few societies had inhabited the Sahara Desert because of its arid climate made it nearly impossible to farm. Many African societies were relatively isolated from the rest of Afro-Eurasia. Though nomadic communities did conduct some trade across the Sahara, the volume of trade increased with the arrival of Muslim merchants. The Sahara is immense, occupying 3.6 million square miles, about the same size as China. Of the vast expanse of sand and rock, only about 800 square miles are oasis-places where human settlement is possible because water deep underground is brought to the surface either naturally or by digging wells, making the land fertile.
A major turning point in African commercial life occurred with the introduction of the camel to North Africa and the Sahara in the early centuries of the Common Era. Compared to horses, camels can consume a large quantity of water at one time (over 50 gallons in three minutes) and not need more water for up to ten days. North African Arabs, now bearing the new religion of Islam, also organized caravans across the desert. What Muslims merchants sought, above all else, was gold, which was found in some abundance in West Africa. Salt was in demand for it can preserve food. Watch the video to the right to see the working conditions of West African salt miners. Ivory and African slaves were likewise in considerable demand. |
Diffusion of Islam
The extent of Dar-al-Islam includes the entire Trans-Saharan trade network. Just like India, Sub-Saharan Africa increasingly traded with Muslim merchants and learned of Islam at the same time. Though many West Africans converted to Islam, they did not adopt all Islamic customs. For example, African women typically did not veil themselves. Sub-Saharan societies had their own gender norms that predated the ones that arrived with Islam, and such traditions did not change quickly. Outside of the House of Wisdom, Timbuktu was the West African center of Islamic learning. By the 1500s, books created and sold in Timbuktu prices higher than most other goods.
The Camel and Technology
Caravan, a group of merchants, pilgrims, or travelers journeying together, usually for mutual protection in deserts or other hostile regions. In the deserts of Asia and northern Africa, the animal most commonly used in caravans was the camel, because of its its ability to go without water for several days, and its loading capacity. Usually the load was divided into two parts and secured on either side of the camel’s back. In hot weather, on a long journey, a camel characteristically carried about 350 pounds (160 kg); but, on shorter journeys, in cooler weather, or in order to evade customs duties, the animal’s load might be increased to 1,000 pounds. Passengers were carried in panniers slung one on each side of the camel.
Trading on camels existed for thousands long before the invention the saddle, which allowed each animal to carry heavier loads. This invention transformed the camel into the most versatile and efficient form of land-based transportation in the Foundations Period. The camel saddle was so efficient that carts and other wheeled vehicles disappeared from the Middle East, and the camel maintained its dominance for fifteen hundred years. Only the emergence of the automobile in the twentieth century did the camel decisively lose its advantage over wheeled vehicles. Diffusion of Camels Animals have their own histories, and they have long played a larger role in human history as well. Consider the single-humped Arabian camel, for thousands of years an important means of transport and a beast of burden on the Tran-Sahara and Silk Routes. But it took thousands of years for this breed of camel to spread beyond it native Arabian Desert, first domesticated in 3000 BCE. The first camels to journey across the Sahara to western Africa occurred around 200 BCE. But these exchanges really took off when the Islamic conquerors of North Africa brought their expertise in camel caravan trading to the region. At their height, caravans of up 5,000 camels regularly crossed the Sahara on established routes. It could take 70 days to travel the desert, but profits from trade in gold, ivory, salt, and slaves made the journey worthwhile. |