Trans-Saharan trade
Camels make it possible to cross the desert commercially, and West Africa joins the world economy.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 400 years
- Known to
- ± 100 years
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
The introduction of the camel to North Africa in the early centuries CE makes regular desert crossings viable, and the Garamantes of the Fezzan — who ran an extensive network of underground irrigation tunnels — become intermediaries. Gold and later enslaved people move north, salt and manufactured goods move south. The routes that will make Ghana, Mali and Songhai wealthy are established here.