How did trans-Saharan trade work?
Trans-Saharan trade relied on camel caravans crossing 1,000+ miles of desert between North African and West African trading cities. Gold from the south was exchanged for salt from the north, along with textiles, horses, and books. Caravans of hundreds or thousands of camels followed established routes between oasis staging posts, creating one of the medieval world's most important commercial networks.
The trans-Saharan trade was one of the most logistically challenging and economically important commercial networks in the medieval world. Crossing the Sahara Desert — the largest hot desert on earth — required sophisticated organization, extensive infrastructure, and the indispensable camel.
The dromedary camel, introduced to the Sahara around the 3rd century CE, made regular trans-Saharan trade possible. Capable of carrying 200–300 kilograms and surviving for days without water, camels could traverse the 1,000+ miles of desert that separated North African cities from the gold-producing regions of West Africa. Caravans typically consisted of hundreds or even thousands of camels, organized and led by experienced guides who knew the locations of wells and oases.
The journey was organized in stages between oasis cities that served as rest stops and trading posts. Caravans departed from northern staging points like Sijilmasa (in modern Morocco) and traveled south to Saharan salt mines at Taghaza, where they loaded salt — a commodity as valuable as gold in tropical West Africa. They then continued south to the Sahel cities of Timbuktu, Djenné, and Gao, where salt was exchanged for gold, ivory, slaves, leather, and kola nuts.
The trade was not just bilateral. A complex web of merchants, brokers, and intermediaries facilitated exchanges. North African and Arab merchants typically handled the trans-Saharan crossing, while West African traders controlled commerce south of the Sahel. Islam spread along these trade routes, as Muslim merchants established communities and mosques at key trading centers.
At its peak, the trans-Saharan trade may have moved several tons of gold northward annually. This gold flowed into the Mediterranean economy, where it fueled the minting of coins from Cairo to London. The trade created the wealth that built the great West African empires — Ghana, Mali, and Songhai — and made Timbuktu one of the medieval world's most famous cities.