# Trans-Saharan trade

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**Trans-Saharan trade** is [trade](/source/Trade) between [North Africa](/source/North_Africa) and the rest of Africa ([sub-Saharan Africa](/source/Sub-Saharan_Africa)) that requires travel across the [Sahara](/source/Sahara).[1] Though this trade began in [prehistoric times](/source/Prehistory), the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century CE. The Sahara once had a [different climate and environment](/source/Green_Sahara). In [Libya](/source/Libya) and [Algeria](/source/Algeria), from at least 7000 BCE, [pastoralism](/source/Pastoralism) (the herding of sheep and goats), large settlements and pottery were present. Cattle were introduced to the Central Sahara ([Ahaggar](/source/Ahaggar)) between 4000 and 3500 BCE. Remarkable rock paintings (dated 3500 to 2500 BCE) in arid regions portray flora and fauna that are not present in the modern desert.[2]

As a desert, the Sahara is now a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean economy from the economy of the [Niger River Basin](/source/Niger_River). As [Fernand Braudel](/source/Fernand_Braudel) points out, crossing such a zone, especially without mechanized transport, is worthwhile only when exceptional circumstances cause the expected gain to outweigh the cost and the danger.[3] Trade was conducted by [caravans](/source/Camel_train) of [camels](/source/Camel).[1] According to Maghrebi explorer [Ibn Battuta](/source/Ibn_Battuta), who once traveled with a caravan, an average one would amount to 1,000 camels, but some caravans were as large as 12,000.[4][5] The caravans were guided by highly-paid [Berbers](/source/Berbers), who knew the desert and could ensure protection from fellow desert [nomads](/source/Nomad). The caravans' survival relied on careful coordination: runners would be sent ahead to [oases](/source/Oasis) for water to be shipped out to the caravan when it was still several days away, as the caravans could usually not carry enough to make the full journey. In the mid-14th century CE, Ibn Battuta crossed the desert from [Sijilmasa](/source/Sijilmasa) via the salt mines at [Taghaza](/source/Taghaza) to the oasis of [Oualata](/source/Oualata). A guide was sent ahead, and water was brought over a four-day journey from [Oualata](/source/Oualata) to meet the caravan.[6]

Culture and religion were also exchanged on the trans-Saharan trade routes. Many [West African](/source/West_African) states eventually adopted [Arabic](/source/Arabic) writing and the religion of North Africa, resulting in these states' absorption into the [Muslim world](/source/Muslim_world).[7]

## Early trans-Saharan trade

Ancient trade spanned the northeastern corner of the Sahara in the [Naqadan](/source/Naqada) era. [Predynastic Egyptians](/source/Predynastic_Egypt) in the [Naqada I period](/source/Naqada) traded with [Nubia](/source/Nubia) to the south, the oases of the [Western Desert](/source/Libyan_Desert) to the west, and the cultures of the [eastern Mediterranean](/source/Eastern_Mediterranean) to the east. Many trading routes went from oasis to oasis to resupply on both food and water. These oases were very important.[8] They also imported [obsidian](/source/Obsidian) from [Senegal](/source/History_of_Senegal) to shape blades and other objects.[9]

The overland route through the [Wadi Hammamat](/source/Wadi_Hammamat) from the [Nile](/source/Nile) to the [Red Sea](/source/Red_Sea) was known as early as [predynastic](/source/Predynastic_Egypt) times;[10] drawings depicting Egyptian [reed boats](/source/Reed_boat) have been found along the path dating to 4000 BCE.[11] Ancient [cities](/source/City) dating to the [First Dynasty of Egypt](/source/First_Dynasty_of_Egypt) arose along both its Nile and Red Sea junctions,[citation needed] testifying to the route's ancient popularity. It became a major route from [Thebes](/source/Thebes,_Egypt) to the [Red Sea port](/source/Red_Sea_-_Exodus_station) of [Elim](/source/Elim_(Bible)), where travelers then moved on to either [Asia](/source/Asia), Arabia or the [Horn of Africa](/source/Horn_of_Africa).[citation needed] Records exist documenting knowledge of the route among [Senusret I](/source/Senusret_I), Seti, [Ramesses IV](/source/Ramesses_IV) and also, later, the [Roman Empire](/source/Roman_Empire), especially for mining.[citation needed]

The [Darb El Arba'īn](/source/Darb_El_Arba'%C4%ABn) trade route, passing through [Kharga](/source/Kharga_Oasis) in the south and [Asyut](/source/Asyut) in the north, was used from as early as the [Old Kingdom](/source/Old_Kingdom_of_Egypt) for the transport and trade of [gold](/source/Gold), [ivory](/source/Ivory), [spices](/source/Spice), [wheat](/source/Wheat), animals and plants.[12] Later, [Ancient Romans](/source/Ancient_Rome) would protect the route by lining it with varied forts and small outposts, some guarding large settlements complete with cultivation.[citation needed] Described by [Herodotus](/source/Herodotus) as a road "traversed ... in forty days", it became by his time an important land route facilitating trade between [Nubia](/source/Nubia) and [Egypt](/source/Egypt),[13] and subsequently became known as the Forty Days Road. From [Kobbei](/source/Kobbei), 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of [al-Fashir](/source/Al-Fashir), the route passed through the desert to Bir Natrum, another oasis and salt mine, to [Wadi Howar](/source/Wadi_Howar) before proceeding to Egypt.[14] The [Darb el-Arbain](/source/Darb_al-Arba%CA%BF%C4%ABn) trade route was the easternmost of the central routes.

The westernmost of the three central routes was the [Ghadames Road](/source/Ghadames_Road), which ran from the [Niger River](/source/Niger_River) at [Gao](/source/Gao) north to [Ghat](/source/Ghat,_Libya) and [Ghadames](/source/Ghadames) before terminating at [Tripoli](/source/Tripoli,_Libya).

Next was the easiest of the three routes: the [Garamantean](/source/Garamantes) Road, named after the former rulers of the land it passed through and also called the [Bilma Trail](/source/Bilma_Trail). The [Garamantean Road](/source/Garamantean_Road) passed south of the desert near [Murzuk](/source/Murzuk) before turning north to pass between the [Alhaggar](/source/Ahaggar_Mountains) and [Tibesti Mountains](/source/Tibesti_Mountains) before reaching the oasis at [Kawar](/source/Kawar). From Kawar, caravans would pass over the great sand dunes of [Bilma](/source/Bilma), where [rock salt](/source/Halite) was mined in great quantities for trade, before reaching the savanna north of [Lake Chad](/source/Lake_Chad).[15] This was the shortest of the routes, and the primary exchanges were [slaves](/source/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade) and [ivory](/source/Ivory) from the south for salt. One early 20th century researcher wrote of the [Tripoli-Murzuk-Lake Chad route](/source/Tripoli-Murzuk-Lake_Chad_route), "Most of the [trans-Saharan] traffic from the Mediterranean coast during the last 2,000 years has passed along this road."[16]

Another Libyan route was [Benghazi](/source/Benghazi) to [Kufra](/source/Kufra) to the lands of the [Wadai Empire](/source/Wadai_Empire) between Lake Chad and Darfur.[16]

The western routes were the [Walata Road](/source/Walata_Road) past present-day [Oualata, Mauritania](/source/Oualata), from the [Sénégal River](/source/S%C3%A9n%C3%A9gal_River), and the [Taghaza Trail](/source/Taghaza_Trail), from the Niger River, past the salt mines of [Taghaza](/source/Taghaza), north to the great trading center of [Sijilmasa](/source/Sijilmasa), situated in [Morocco](/source/Morocco) just north of the desert.[14] The growth of the city of [Aoudaghost](/source/Aoudaghost), founded in the 5th century BCE, was stimulated by its position at the southern end of a trans-Saharan trade route.[17]

To the east, three ancient routes connected the south to the Mediterranean. The herdsmen of the [Fezzan](/source/Fezzan) of [Libya](/source/Libya), known as the Garamantes, controlled these routes as early as 1500 BCE. From their capital of [Germa](/source/Germa) in the Wadi Ajal, the Garamantean Empire raided north to the sea and south into the Sahel. By the 4th century BCE, the independent city-states of [Phoenicia](/source/Phoenicia) had expanded their control to the territory and routes once held by the Garamantes.[14] Shillington states that existing contact with the Mediterranean received added incentive with the growth of the port city of [Carthage](/source/Carthage). Founded c. 800 BCE, Carthage became one terminus for West African gold, ivory, and slaves. West Africa received salt, cloth, beads, and metal goods. Shillington proceeds to identify this trade route as the source for West African iron smelting.[18] Trade continued into Roman times. Although there are Classical references to direct travel from the Mediterranean to West Africa (Daniels, p. 22f), most of this trade was conducted through middlemen, inhabiting the area and aware of passages through the drying lands.[19] The [Legio III Augusta](/source/Legio_III_Augusta) subsequently secured these routes on behalf of [Rome](/source/Roman_Empire) by the 1st century CE, safeguarding the southern border of the empire for two and half centuries.[14]

The Garamantes also engaged in the [trans-Saharan slave trade](/source/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade). The Garamantes used slaves in their own communities to construct and maintain underground irrigation systems known as the *[foggara](/source/Foggara)*.[20] Early records of [trans-Saharan slave trade](/source/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade) come from [ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greece) historian [Herodotus](/source/Herodotus) in the 5th century BCE, who records the Garamantes enslaving cave-dwelling Egyptians in Sudan.[21][22] Two records of Romans accompanying the Garamantes on slave raiding expeditions are recorded - the first in 86 CE and the second a few years later to [Lake Chad](/source/Lake_Chad).[21][22] Initial sources of slaves were the [Toubou people](/source/Toubou_people), but by the [1st century](/source/1st_century) CE, the Garamantes were obtaining slaves from modern day [Niger](/source/Niger) and [Chad](/source/Chad).[22]

In the early [Roman Empire](/source/Roman_Empire), the city of [Lepcis](/source/Lepcis) established a [slave market](/source/Slave_market) to buy and sell slaves from the African interior.[21] The empire imposed [customs tax](/source/List_of_Roman_taxes#Slave_taxes) on the trade of slaves.[21] In the 5th century CE, [Roman Carthage](/source/Roman_Carthage) was trading in black slaves brought across the Sahara.[22] Black slaves seem to have been valued in the Mediterranean as household slaves for their exotic appearance.[22] Some historians argue that the scale of slave trade in this period may have been higher than medieval times due to high demand of slaves in the Roman Empire.[22]

## Introduction of the camel

Herodotus wrote of the Garamantes hunting Ethiopian [Troglodytes](/source/Troglodytae) from [chariots](/source/Chariot); this account was associated with depictions of horses drawing chariots in contemporary [cave art](/source/Cave_art) in southern Morocco and the [Fezzan](/source/Fezzan), giving origin to a theory that the Garamantes or some other Saharan people had created chariot routes to provide [Rome](/source/Rome) and Carthage with gold and ivory. However, it has been argued that no horse skeletons have been found dating from this early period in the region, and chariots would have been unlikely vehicles for trading purposes due to their small capacity.[23]

The earliest evidence for domesticated [camels](/source/Camel) in the region dates from the 3rd century. Used by the [Berbers](/source/Berbers), they enabled more regular contact across the entire width of the Sahara, but regular trade routes did not develop until the beginnings of the Islamic conversion of West Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries.[23] Two main trade routes developed. The first ran through the western desert from modern Morocco to the Niger bend, the second from modern [Tunisia](/source/Tunisia) to the [Lake Chad](/source/Lake_Chad) area. These stretches were relatively short and had the essential network of occasional oases that established the routing as inexorably as pins in a map. Further east of the Fezzan with its trade route through the valley of [Kaouar](/source/Kaouar) to Lake Chad, Libya was impassable due to its lack of oases and fierce sandstorms.[24]

## Medieval trans-Saharan Trade

Several trade routes became established, perhaps the most important terminating in [Sijilmasa](/source/Sijilmasa) ([Morocco](/source/Morocco)) and [Ifriqiya](/source/Ifriqiya) to the north.[1] There, and in other North African cities, Berber traders had increased contact with Islam, encouraging conversions, and by the 8th century, Muslims were traveling to Ghana. Many in Ghana converted to Islam, and it is likely that the Empire's trade was privileged as a result.[1] Around 1050, Ghana lost [Aoudaghost](/source/Aoudaghost) to the [Almoravids](/source/Almoravids), but new goldmines around [Bure](/source/Bambouk) reduced trade through the city, instead benefiting the [Malinke](/source/Malinke) of the south, who later founded the [Mali Empire](/source/Mali_Empire).[1] Sijilmasa peaked in importance as a trading city in the 11th and 12th centuries under the Almoravids, due to its access to gold and therefore its ability to mint gold [dinars](/source/Gold_dinar), as well as its access to the unique [Tafilalt](/source/Tafilalt) agricultural oasis that allowed the city to feed those participating in the caravan economy.[25]

Unlike Ghana, Mali was a Muslim kingdom since its foundation, and under it, the gold–salt trade continued. Other, less important trade goods were slaves, [kola nuts](/source/Kola_nut) from the south and [slave beads](/source/Slave_beads) and [cowry shells](/source/Cowry_shell) from the north (for use as currency). It was under Mali that the great cities of the [Niger](/source/River_Niger) bend—including [Gao](/source/Gao) and [Djenné](/source/Djenn%C3%A9)—prospered, with [Timbuktu](/source/Timbuktu) in particular becoming known across Europe for its great wealth.[1] Important trading centers in southern West Africa developed at the transitional zone between the forest and the savanna; examples include [Begho](/source/Begho) and [Bono Manso](/source/Bono_Manso) (in present-day Ghana) and [Bondoukou](/source/Bondoukou) (in present-day [Côte d'Ivoire](/source/C%C3%B4te_d'Ivoire)). Western trade routes continued to be important, with [Ouadane](/source/Ouadane), [Oualata](/source/Oualata) and [Chinguetti](/source/Chinguetti) being the major trade centres in what is now Mauritania, while the [Tuareg](/source/Tuareg_people) towns of [Assodé](/source/Assod%C3%A9) and later [Agadez](/source/Agadez) grew around a more easterly route in what is now [Niger](/source/Niger).

The eastern trans-Saharan route led to the development of the long-lived [Kanem–Bornu Empire](/source/Kanem%E2%80%93Bornu_Empire) as well as the Ghana, Mali, and [Songhai](/source/Songhai_Empire) empires,[1] centred on the Lake Chad area. This trade route was somewhat less efficient and only rose to great prominence when there was turmoil in the west such as during the [Almohad](/source/Almohad) conquests.

### Trans-Saharan slave trade

The [trans-Saharan slave trade](/source/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade), established in [Antiquity](/source/Late_antiquity),[22] continued during the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages). The slaves brought from across the Sahara were mainly used by wealthy families as domestic servants,[26] and concubines.[27] Some served in the military forces of Egypt and Morocco.[27] For example, the 17th century sultan [Moulay Ismail](/source/Moulay_Ismail) himself was the son of a slave,[1] and relied on an army of black slaves for support. The West African states imported highly trained slave soldiers.[27]

Estimating the number of enslaved people who were transported via the trans-Saharan routes is challenging, particularly prior to widespread record-keeping. Historian John Wright offers an estimated average of 5,000 people per year over the 1250 years of the trade (from the 7th to 20th century), resulting in a total estimate of "between 6 and 7 million".[28] The majority of these people were transported after the 1500s.

### Saharan triangle trade

The rise of the [Ghana Empire](/source/Ghana_Empire) in what is now [Mali](/source/Mali), [Senegal](/source/Senegal), and southern [Mauritania](/source/Mauritania), accompanied the increase in trans-Saharan trade. Northern economies were short of gold but at times controlled salt mines such as [Taghaza](/source/Taghaza) in the Sahara, whereas West African realms or states like [Wangara](/source/Soninke_Wangara) had plenty of gold but needed salt.[1] Taghaza, a trading and mining outpost where [Ibn Battuta](/source/Ibn_Battuta) recorded the buildings were made of salt, rose to preeminence in the salt trade under the hegemony of the [Almoravid Empire](/source/Almoravid_dynasty).[29] The salt was mined by slaves and purchased with manufactured goods from Sijilmasa.[29] Miners cut thin rectangular slabs of salt directly out of the desert floor, and caravan merchants transported them south, charging a transportation fee of almost 80% of the salt's value.[29] The salt was traded at the market of [Timbuktu](/source/Timbuktu) almost weight for weight with gold.[29] The gold, in the form of bricks, bars, blank coins, and gold dust went to [Sijilmasa](/source/Sijilmasa), from which it went out to Mediterranean ports and in which it was struck into [Almoravid dinars](/source/Almoravid_dinar).[29][1]

### Spread of Islam

The spread of Islam to the rest of Africa was linked to trans-Saharan trade. Islam spread via trade routes, and other Africans converting to Islam increased trade and commerce which increased the trade's population.[30]

Historians give many reasons for the spread of Islam facilitating trade. Islam established common values and rules upon which trade was conducted.[30] It created a network of believers who trusted each other and therefore traded with each other even if they did not personally know each other.[31] Such trade networks existed before Islam but on a much smaller scale. The spread of Islam increased the number of nodes in the network and decreased its vulnerability.[32] The use of Arabic as a common language of trade and the increase of literacy through [Quranic schools](/source/Madrasa), also facilitated commerce.[33]

Muslim merchants conducting commerce also gradually spread Islam along their trade network. Social interactions with Muslim merchants led many sub-Saharan Africans to convert to Islam, and many merchants married local women and raised their children as Muslims.[33][1]

Islam spread into Western Sudan by the end of the [10th century](/source/10th_century), into Chad by the [11th century](/source/11th_century), and into [Hausa](/source/Hausa_Kingdoms) lands in [12th](/source/12th_century) and [13th centuries](/source/13th_century). By 1200, many ruling elites in Western Africa had converted to Islam, and from 1200 to 1500 saw a significant conversion to Islam in the rest of Africa.[34]

## Decline of trans-Saharan trade and collapse of West African empires and kingdoms

The [Portuguese forays](/source/Portuguese_discoveries) along the West African coast opened up new avenues for trade between Europe and West Africa. By the early 16th century, European trading bases, the [factories](/source/Factory_(trading_post)) established on the coast since 1445, and trade with Europeans became of prime importance to West Africa.[vague] North Africa had declined in both political and economic importance, while the Saharan crossing remained long and treacherous. However, the major blow to trans-Saharan trade was the [Battle of Tondibi](/source/Battle_of_Tondibi) of 1591–92. In a major [military expedition](/source/Saadian_invasion_of_the_Songhai_Empire) organized by the [Saadian](/source/Saadi_Sultanate) sultan [Ahmad al-Mansur](/source/Ahmad_al-Mansur), Morocco sent troops across the Sahara and attacked Timbuktu, Gao and some other important trading centres, destroying buildings and property and exiling prominent citizens. This disruption to trade led to a dramatic decline in the importance of these cities and the resulting animosity reduced trade considerably.

Although much reduced, trans-Saharan trade continued. But trade routes to the West African coast became increasingly easy, particularly after the [French invasion of the Sahel](/source/French_West_Africa) in the 1890s and subsequent construction of railways to the interior. A railway line from [Dakar](/source/Dakar) to [Algiers](/source/Algiers) via the Niger bend was planned but never constructed. With the independence of nations in the region in the 1960s, the north–south routes were severed by national boundaries. National governments were hostile to [Tuareg](/source/Tuareg_people) nationalism and so made few efforts to maintain or support trans-Saharan trade, and the [Tuareg rebellion](/source/Tuareg_rebellion_(1990%E2%80%931995)) of the 1990s and [Algerian Civil War](/source/Algerian_Civil_War) further disrupted these routes, closing many.

Traditional caravan routes are largely void of camels, but the shorter [Azalai](/source/Azalai) routes from [Agadez](/source/Agadez) to [Bilma](/source/Bilma) and [Timbuktu](/source/Timbuktu) to [Taoudenni](/source/Taoudenni) are still regularly—if lightly—used. Some members of the Tuareg still use the traditional trade routes, often traveling 2,400 km (1,500 mi) and six months out of every year by camel across the Sahara trading in salt carried from the desert interior to communities on the desert edges.[35]

## The future of trans-Saharan trade

The [African Union](/source/African_Union) and [African Development Bank](/source/African_Development_Bank) support the [Trans-Sahara Highway](/source/Trans-Sahara_Highway) from [Algiers](/source/Algiers) to [Lagos](/source/Lagos) via [Tamanrasset](/source/Tamanrasset), to stimulate economic development, and the latter noted an increase in traffic at the border with Chad due to exports to Algeria crossing Niger.[36] The route is paved except for a 120 mi (200 km) section in northern Niger, but border restrictions still hamper traffic. Only a few [trucks](/source/Truck) carry trans-Saharan trade, particularly [fuel](/source/Fuel) and salt. Three other highways across the Sahara are proposed: for further details see [Trans-African Highways](/source/Trans-African_Highway_network). Building the highways is difficult because of sandstorms.

## See also

- [Trans-Sahara Highway](/source/Trans-Sahara_Highway)
- [Neolithic Subpluvial](/source/Neolithic_Subpluvial)
- [Trans-Saharan slave trade](/source/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade)

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1. Andrew Wilson. "Saharan Exports to the Roman World". *Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond*. [Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press). pp. 192–3.

1. Masonen, Pekka (1997). ["Trans-Saharan Trade and the West African Discovery of the Mediterranean World"](https://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Masonen.html). *Ethnic Encounter and Culture Change*. Sabour, M'hammad (ed.). Bergen. pp. 116–142. ISBN 1-85065-311-9. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/19981206194916/http://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Masonen.html) 1998-12-06 at the Wayback Machine.

1. Lewicki, T. (1994). ["The Role of the Sahara and Saharians in Relationships between North and South"](https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000077974). *UNESCO General History of Africa*. Vol. 3. University of California Press. ISBN 92-3-601709-6. Retrieved 2021-05-06. [page needed]

1. Capel, Chloé (2021-11-02), ["Birth and growth of medieval trans-Saharan trade in West Africa"](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003229810/chapters/10.4324/9781003229810-9), *Caravans in Global Perspective*, 1 ed., London: Routledge, pp. 168–183, [doi:10.4324/9781003229810-9](https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003229810-9). ISBN 978-1-003-22981-0, retrieved 2025-12-01

1. ["Ibn Battuta's Trip: Part Twelve – Journey to West Africa (1351–1353)"](http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Twelve.html). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20100609184636/http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/ibn_battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Twelve.html) June 9, 2010 at the Wayback Machine.

1. Ralph A. Austen. *Trans-Saharan Africa in World History*. [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). p. 31.

1. Wright, John (2007). *The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade*. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 167–8. ISBN 9780415589475.

1. Messier, Ronald A. (15 June 2015). *The Last Civilized Place : Sijilmasa and its Saharan Destiny*. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-4773-1135-6.

1. Toyin Falola, Matthew M. Heaton. *A History of Nigeria*. pp. 32–33.

1. Anne Haour. "What made Islamic Trade Distinctive, as Compared to Pre-Islamic Trade?". *Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond*. [Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press). pp. 82–83.

1. Anne Haour. "What made Islamic Trade Distinctive, as Compared to Pre-Islamic Trade?". *Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond*. [Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press). pp. 95–96.

1. Christoph Strobel (11 February 2015). [*The Global Atlantic: 1400 to 1900*](https://books.google.com/books?id=0q-gBgAAQBAJ&q=trans-sahara+trade+spread+islam&pg=PA27). [Routledge](/source/Routledge). p. 27. ISBN 9781317525523.

1. Patricia Pearson. "The World of Atlantic before the "Atlantic World"". *The Atlantic World, 1450-2000*. Toyin Falola, Kevin David Roberts (ed.). [Indiana University Press](/source/Indiana_University_Press). pp. 10–11.

1. "Desert Odyssey". No. 2. Africa. Episode 2. [National Geographic Channel](/source/National_Geographic_Channel). 2001. This episode follows a Tuareg tribe across the Sahara for six months by camel.

1. ["Trans-Sahara Highway: "The Niger section is almost complete and offers new economic opportunities for the population", Alberic Houssou, Project Manager in Niger for the African Development Bank"](https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/interviews/trans-sahara-highway-niger-section-almost-complete-and-offers-new-economic-opportunities-population-alberic-houssou-project-manager-niger-african-development-bank-59304) (in en, French, Arabic, Portuguese). African Development Bank Group. February 13, 2023.

## Further reading

- Boahen, Albert Adu (1964). *Britain, the Sahara and the Western Sudan 1788–1861*. Oxford.
- Bovill, Edward William (1995). *The Golden Trade of the Moors*. Princeton: Markus Wiener. ISBN 1-55876-091-1.
- Harden, Donald (1971 [1962]). *The Phoenicians*. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
- Shillington, Kevin (ed.) (2004). ["Tuareg: Takedda and trans-Saharan trade"](http://www.routledge-ny.com/ref/africanhist/tuareg.html). *[Encyclopedia of African History](/source/Encyclopedia_of_African_History)*. Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1-57958-245-1.
- Warmington, B. H. (1964 [1960]). *Carthage*. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
- Masonen, Pekka (1997). ["Trans-Saharan Trade and the West African Discovery of the Mediterranean World"](https://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Masonen.html). *Ethnic Encounter and Culture Change*. Sabour, M'hammad (ed.). Bergen. ISBN 1-85065-311-9. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/19981206194916/http://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Masonen.html) 1998-12-06 at the Wayback Machine.
- Ross, Eric (2011). "A historical geography of the trans-Saharan trade". *The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa*. Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–34. ISBN 978-90-04-18742-9.
- ["The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade 7th–14th Century"](http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gold/hd_gold.htm). *[Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art)*. October 2000.
- Chegrouche, Lagha (2010). ["Géopolitique transsaharienne de l'énergie"](http://www.editionstechnip.com/F/revue_geopolitique_medias_pouvoirs_1693.asp) (in French). *Revue Géopolitique*. Vol. 108. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20101130140835/http://www.editionstechnip.com/F/revue_geopolitique_medias_pouvoirs_1693.asp) November 30, 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
- Chegrouche, Lagha (2010). ["Géopolitique transsaharienne de l'énergie, le jeu et l'enjeu?"](http://www.editecom.com/index2.php?refRevue=RE&numero=593) (in French). *Revue de l'énergie, Etude*

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