The Empire of Ghana and the Gold Trade

c. 950 CE — Africa, Ghana Empire (Wagadou)

Today: The western Sahel (modern Mauritania and Mali)

In the grasslands south of the Sahara, the Empire of Ghana grew immensely wealthy as the middleman in a trade of two things the world craved: West African gold and Saharan salt, exchanged nearly pound for pound. Camel caravans crossed the desert like ships crossing a sea, and Ghana taxed every load. It was the first of a series of great, rich West African empires — a reminder that sub-Saharan Africa was never isolated but a wealthy hub of a trans-Saharan world economy.

Worth knowing: In parts of medieval West Africa, salt was so scarce and vital it was traded for its literal weight in gold — and the region's mines supplied much of the gold behind the coinage of the entire medieval Mediterranean.

Pattern: Trade-route shift — The path or medium of exchange moves, and a place or power rises or declines because it sits on or off the new route.

Entry 112 of 240 in Precedent, a walk through the whole human story in order.