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Entry 112 of 240Economic

The Empire of Ghana and the Gold Trade

c. 950 CE/Africa/Ghana Empire (Wagadou)
Today The western Sahel (modern Mauritania and Mali)Span Empire of Ghana · c. 700–1200 CE

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 knowingIn 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.
◆ The mechanismTrade-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.

Also: Wealth concentration & leveling · State formation & institutional founding

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