By about 700 CE, regular use of camels made long desert crossings more practical and helped connect North Africa with the Sahel. This transport change encouraged larger, more predictable caravans and helped trade in salt, gold, and other goods grow into a major regional system.
In 757–758 CE, Sijilmasa was founded in the Tafilalt oasis (southeastern Morocco). Its location at the Sahara’s northern edge made it an important staging point where caravans could gather supplies before crossing the desert, helping trade routes become more organized.
From the 8th century onward, growing demand for gold coinage in Mediterranean and Islamic economies increased the value of West African gold. The Ghana Empire (Wagadou) gained power by taxing and managing trade moving between gold-producing areas in the south and salt markets in the north.
In the mid-11th century, the Almoravids expanded into important Saharan and Sahelian trade zones, including Awdaghust (a major southern trade center). Control of these nodes increased pressure on Ghana and shifted who could tax and protect caravan traffic.
In 1076, Almoravid forces sacked Kumbi Saleh, Ghana’s capital and a major commercial center. Even where direct rule was limited or temporary, the disruption reduced Ghana’s ability to control and profit from trade, contributing to political fragmentation over time.
Around 1235, Sundiata Keita defeated Sumanguru Kanté at the Battle of Kirina. This victory helped unify key Mandinka states into the Mali Empire, which soon became the main power shaping trans-Saharan trade in the western Sahel.
In 1324, Mali ruler Mansa Musa traveled to Mecca on pilgrimage, passing through Cairo with a large entourage and major amounts of gold. Reports of this journey drew wider attention to West Africa’s gold supply and to the trade routes linking Mali with North Africa and the Middle East.
By the 14th century, Taghaza was a well-known Saharan salt-mining settlement supplying West African markets. Salt was vital for diet and preservation, and its high transport cost made it a major, profitable caravan commodity exchanged for gold and other goods.
In 1468, Songhai ruler Sunni Ali took Timbuktu, a major commercial and scholarly center connected to caravan networks. Control of Timbuktu helped Songhai increase influence over trans-Saharan trade and the flow of taxes and goods through the Niger bend region.
In 1482, Portugal built Elmina Castle on the Gold Coast to protect coastal gold trade. Over time, Atlantic sea routes and European forts expanded opportunities to move gold and enslaved people by ship, creating new competition that would gradually reduce the relative dominance of Saharan caravan routes.
In 1493, Askia Muhammad I took power in Songhai and built a more formal administration, including provincial governance and taxation. These reforms helped Songhai manage key trade corridors and cities such as Gao and Timbuktu, strengthening the state’s role in trans-Saharan exchange during the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
In 1590–1591, Morocco’s Saadian rulers sent an army across the Sahara, and it defeated Songhai at the Battle of Tondibi (13 March 1591). The invasion helped break Songhai’s power over major trade cities, destabilizing long-distance caravan security and taxation systems that had supported trans-Saharan trade.
After the late 16th century, political fragmentation in the Niger bend region and rising Atlantic shipping routes made long-distance desert caravans less dominant. Trans-Saharan trade continued, but its earlier peak (from roughly the 8th century into the early modern period) gave way to a more mixed set of regional and ocean-based trading systems.
Trans-Saharan Trade Networks and Their Transformation (c. 700–1600 CE)