Prior to the 19th century, the area which became Mali was criscrossed by trade and communication links, the most important being the Niger River, and important southern terminals of the Trans-Saharan trade routes.

Although the Midrarids of Sijilmassa and the Idrisids of Fez were frequently at odds politically and religiously, the Trans-Saharan trade route made them economically inter-dependent.

As Timbuktu was the southern end of the principal Trans-Saharan trade route to the western Mediterranean, it was the source of most European knowledge of the region.

Some Trans-Saharan trade routes also traversed Western Sahara.

Their wealth of the states came from controlling the Trans-Saharan trade routes across the desert, especially the slave trade with the Islamic world.

Trans-Saharan trade -

Zinder rose from a small Hausa village to an important center of the Trans-Saharan trade with the founding of the Sultanate of Damagaram in 1736 by Kanouri aristocrats.

By the beginning of the 19th-century, Misrata had been established as a major center for the Trans-Saharan trade route, where caravans carrying gold, leather, and slaves, regularly stopped.

As a result of the abolition of slavery and increasing European colonial influence in Sub-Saharan Africa, Trans-Saharan trade declined and consequently Misrata's role in the trade decreased.

However, the decline in Trans-Saharan trade saw the establishment of weekly and permanent markets in the city, replacing the seasonal markets associated with long-distance trade.

He was one of the academic teachers of the explorer Heinrich Barth, who traveled in Northern and Western Africa on behalf of the British government to negotiate treaties that were to stop the Trans-Saharan slave trade.

From the 5th century BCE to the 5th century CE, Fezzan was home to the Garamantian Empire, a state which operated the Trans-Saharan trade routes successively between Carthage and the Roman Empire in North Africa and Sahelian states of west and central Africa.

They traveled to Morocco by way of tribal caravans during ( and external to ) the hours of trade Trans-Saharan trade.

In Saharan countries, there is a term Al-Maghreb Al-Qadeem aka Old Maghreb ( Ancient Trans-Saharan trading sphere of influence, cross culturalization and trade ; primarily consisting of over 20 countries such as: present day Morocco ( Taghaza ), Algeria ( Djayr ), Tunisia ( Tunis ), Libya ( Libu ), Egypt ( Kemet ), Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Ancient Ghana ( Ouagadougou ), Niger and Nigeria were once one region, Burkino Faso, The Western Sahara ( also Taghaza ), South Africa, Sudan ( Nubia ), Somalia, Ethiopia ( Kush ), Eritrea etc.

However, revolutions and the rise of new powers decreased the power of the Bornu empire and caused them to lose control over the oasis town of Bilma and access to the Trans-Saharan trade in 1759.

He describes the Mali Empire ( Melli ) and the Trans-Saharan trade, e. g. how Berber caravans carry the Saharan salt from desert pans like Teghaza ( Tegazza ) to frontier cities like Timbuctu ( Tombutto ).

Vogel arrived at the end of the Trans-Saharan trade route, Kuka, the capital of Bornu on 13 January 1854.

Historically Bolgatanga was situated at the southern terminus of the ancient Trans-Saharan trade route.

Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, or the Levant.

From the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD, the Fezzan was home to the Garamantian Empire, a city state which operated the Trans-Saharan trade routes between the Carthaginians — and later the Roman Empire — and the Sahelian states of West and Central Africa.

Trans-Saharan trade routes passing through this region played an important role in its economy in pre-modern times, but have at present been superseded.

This became very wealthy as the western end-point of the Trans-Saharan trade route with the Sudan.

Various pipeline projects are planned to expand the domestic distribution of natural gas and to export natural gas to Benin, Ghana, Togo through the West African Gas Pipeline, and, potentially, even to Algeria ( where Mediterranean export terminals are located ) by proposed Trans-Saharan gas pipeline.

:* The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade 7th-14th Century from the Museum of Modern Art

Located just south of the Black Volta River at the Brong-Ahafo transitional zones between savanna and forest, the town was frequented by caravans from Djenné as part of the Trans-Saharan trade.

During the Trans-Saharan slave trade, many from below the Sahara were purchased as slaves and brought for work in North African and the Orient by Nubians, Egyptians, Berbers and Arabs.

Akan gold was also used to purchase slaves from further up north via the Trans-Saharan route.

The population quickly converted to Islam and Ghadames played an important role as base for the Trans-Saharan trade until the 19th century.

The program expands as part of the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative as CJTF personnel also assist in training the forces of Chad, Niger, Mauritania and Mali.

It was also a key US partner in the effort to fight global terrorism through the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative.

Myth and Metrology: The Early Trans-Saharan Gold Trade The Journal of African History, Vol.

The Garamantes and Trans-Saharan Enterprise in Classical Times The Journal of African History, Vol.

The Myth of Trans-Saharan Trade during the Roman Era The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol.

After Columbus, European exploration rapidly accelerated, and many new trade routes were established.

The great trade routes and the agreements that made them possible were the driving force for activities between the different areas ; warlike states become states ready to produce and to sell.

While the use of iron started to become more widespread around 1200 BC, mainly because of interruptions in the trade routes for tin, the metal is much softer than bronze.

According to ancient Chinese, Indian and Javanese manuscripts, western coastal cities of Borneo had become trading ports, part of their trade routes, since the first millennium.

The French and English were each seeking to control lucrative Indian Ocean trade routes.

Control over the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region formed the economic basis of these kingdoms.

Following independence, Costa Ricans found themselves with no regular trade routes to get their coffee to European markets.

The Spanish were interested in keeping their trade routes and slave trade routes protected.

In the context of emerging western imperialism and economic competition between European kingdoms seeking wealth through the establishment of trade routes and colonies, Columbus's speculative proposal, to reach the East Indies by sailing westward, eventually received the support of the Spanish crown, which saw in it a promise, however remote, of gaining the upper hand over rival powers in the contest for the lucrative spice trade with Asia.

Constantinople was the largest and richest urban center in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the late Eastern Roman Empire, mostly as a result of its strategic position commanding the trade routes between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.

In the south, lucrative maritime trade routes began from port cities such as Guangzhou.

With the development of trade routes under the Ottoman Empire,

Clippers sailed all over the world, primarily on the trade routes between the United Kingdom and its colonies in the east, in trans-Atlantic trade, and the New York-to-San Francisco route round Cape Horn during the California Gold Rush.

The most significant clippers were the China clippers, also called Tea clippers or Opium clippers, designed to ply the trade routes between Europe and the East Indies.

The disease first spread by trade routes ( land and sea ) to Russia in 1817, then to Western Europe, and from Europe to North America.

The Cathars ' beliefs are thought to have come originally from Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire by way of trade routes.

In the 19th century Mzizima ( Swahili for " healthy town ") was a coastal fishing village on the periphery of Indian Ocean trade routes.

Several modern theories have ventured to explain this decline, including the breakdown of trade routes to supply the needed metals, the lack of trace impurities in the metals, the possible loss of knowledge on the crafting techniques through secrecy and lack of transmission, or a combination of all the above.

Due to the distance of trade for this steel, a sufficiently lengthy disruption of the trade routes could have ended the production of Damascus steel and eventually led to the loss of the technique in India.