1. Commerce & Culture 500-1500 CE Trans-Saharan Trade
AP World History – Chapter 8 Notes

2. The Sand Roads Trans-Saharan trade route
Linked North Africa and the Mediterranean world with West Africa
Transforming impact
Stimulated and enriched west African civilizations

3. Trans-Saharan Trade
Like the Silk and Sea Roads  this trade begins as a result of environmental variation
What does each region have to offer?
North African coastal areas = cloth, glassware, weapons, books
Sahara region = copper and salt
Savanna grasslands = grain crops
Sub-Saharan forests = tree crops like yam and kola nuts

4. Earliest form of trade Not in Sahara
Among Agricultural people known as Sudan
“Land of Black People”
1st Millennium
Exchanged metal goods, cotton textiles, gold and food products
Used boats on the Nile and donkeys overland
Jenne-Jeno
Crucial point on Niger River

5. Trans-Saharan Trade Made possible by the CAMEL! Traders
camel-owning people from desert oases
Major traders became = North African Muslim Arabs
What did they come to West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa for?
GOLD!, ivory, kola nuts, slaves
Gave in return: SALT!, horses, cloth, weapons, tools

6. Caravans As many as 5,000 camels Hundreds of people
Travelling at night
Length of journey = about 70 days
15-25 miles walked per day
Lasted for 1000 years
Sahara becomes a major international trade route
Fosters new relationships among distant people

7. Construction of Empires
Trade provides incentive & Resources for creating new larger political structures
Between 500 and 1600 CE
Major empires = Mali, Ghana, and Songhai

8. West African Empires All monarchies
Drew upon wealth of trans- Saharan trade
Relied on slaves
Females used as = domestic servants and sex slaves
Males used as = state officials, craftsmen, miners, agricultural laborers
5500 per year

9. Ghana Richest King Mali Monopolized the import of horses and metals
Taxes on salt, copper and other stuff

10. Cities Within the Kingdoms
Urban and commercial centers
Traders met and exchanged goods there
Centers of manufacturing
Items created: beads, iron tools, cotton textiles, etc.
Largely Islamic
Mosque in Timbuktu (in Mali)

11. American Network America develop separately from eastern Hemisphere
No sustained interaction
Llama and potato domesticated in Andes
Never reached Mesoamerica
Maya writing never reached Andes

12. American Network Incas and Aztecs
Little to not contact with each other
Why? No
horses
Donkeys
Camels
Wheeled vehicles
Large ocean going vessels

13. American Network Gradual diffusion of maize Rubber ball game Caribbean
Mexico
N & S America

14. Maya Maya Seaborne commerce Canoes Hold up to 40 to 50 people
Luxury items
Cotton Clothing
Jewels
Feathers

15. Aztecs
Pochteca
Professional merchants
Private Traders

16. Incas State run trade Quipu Knotted cords used to record data
Local exchange with groups outside Inca Empire