Question

What is the trans-Saharan slave trade?

Answer 1

Hint: Traveling across the Sahara between Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa is needed for trans-Saharan trade. Although trade has existed since prehistoric times, it peaked in the 8th century and lasted until the early 17th century. The Sahara used to be a very different place. The slave trade was also used to move slaves and food from one place to another. This brief history article may be expanded upon.

Complete answer:
Trans Saharan slave trade -
- Slaves from West Africa were shipped through the Sahara Desert to North Africa to be sold to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures during the Trans-Saharan slave trade. It was a trans-Saharan trade route.
- The trans-Saharan slave trade began in the late seventh century, when Abdallah Ben Said, the King of Islamised Egypt, conquered Sudan – “the land of infidels” – through Jihad and imposed the Bakht Treaty on Sudanese King Khalidurat in 652.
- During the Middle Ages, the trans-Saharan slave trade, which began in Antiquity, continued. Arabs, Berbers, and other ethnic groups ventured into Sub-Saharan Africa after conquering North Africa in the eighth century, first along the Nile Valley towards Nubia, then across the Sahara to West Africa. They were particularly interested in the trans-Saharan trade in slaves.
- Slaves brought across the Sahara were often used as domestic servants and concubines by wealthy families. Some worked in Egypt's and Morocco's militaries. The Nubians agreed to grant Muslim merchants more trade rights in addition to a share in their slave trade during the Baqt, a treaty between the Nubian Christian state of Makuria and the new Muslim rulers of Egypt, in 641. For hundreds of years, the Bornu Empire in eastern Niger was a major player in the trans-Saharan slave trade.

Note: In the trans-Saharan trade, gold remained the most valuable commodity, followed by kola nuts and slaves. By linking West Africa to the rest of the world, the trans-Saharan trade route transformed the continent. It has all of the elements of a successful trade network: diasporic cultures, modern technologies, religious spread (Islamic traditions), and even a super-rich king named Mansa Musa.