Trade routes

The Saharan caravan order.

Six routes that organised the western Old World economy from the eighth century to the early twentieth. The desert as corridor, not barrier.

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Solid lines are still-operating routes; dashed lines are historic. Click a waypoint marker to open its atlas page where one exists.

Legend

Sijilmasa–Awdaghust
c. 8th – 14th century
Adrar–Walata–Timbuktu
c. 11th – 18th century
Tlemcen–Touat–Gao
c. 13th – 16th century
Algiers–Hoggar–Kano
c. 16th – early 20th century
Tripoli–Ghadames–Bilma
c. 8th – early 20th century
Bilma–Agadez (active)
11th century – present

Historic

Sijilmasa to Awdaghust

c. 8th – 14th century

The principal western gold route of the medieval Maghreb, linking Sijilmasa in the Tafilalt to the Sanhaja-controlled trading post of Awdaghust on the western Saharan steppe and onward to the Niger bend. The Almoravid empire was founded along this corridor in the eleventh century.

North-bound: gold from the Bambuk and Bure goldfields
South-bound: salt, dates, manufactured goods, manuscripts

Waypoints

Marrakesh → Sijilmasa (Tafilalt) → Touat oases → Awdaghust → Walata → Timbuktu

Historic

Mauritanian Adrar to the Niger bend

c. 11th – 18th century

The ksour of the Mauritanian Adrar — Chinguetti, Ouadane, Tichitt — were the principal Berber-Saharan staging posts of this route, linking the Atlantic Sahara to the Sahel through Walata and on to Timbuktu. The route remained active later than the Sijilmasa axis as the western trade re-routed through the Mauritanian plateau.

North-bound: gold and slaves
South-bound: salt from Idjil and Taoudenni; dates

Waypoints

Mauritanian Adrar → Ouadane → Chinguetti → Tichitt → Walata → Timbuktu

Historic

Tlemcen to Gao

c. 13th – 16th century

The principal Marinid- and Zayyanid-period western central route, used heavily during the late medieval period when Sijilmasa's importance was declining. The 1591 Saadian expedition that took Songhay at Tondibi followed substantially this corridor.

North-bound: gold and slaves
South-bound: salt, manufactured goods, manuscripts

Waypoints

Tlemcen → Sijilmasa (Tafilalt) → Touat oases → Adrar des Iforas → Gao

Historic

Algiers to Kano

c. 16th – early 20th century

The principal central trans-Saharan route under Ottoman regency administration. Run by Mozabite, Tuareg Kel Ahaggar, and Hausa merchant networks, the route linked Algiers to the Hausa city-states via Ghardaïa, the Hoggar, and Agadez. It declined in the late nineteenth century with French colonial pacification.

North-bound: gold and slaves north; later, ivory and ostrich feathers
South-bound: manufactured goods, salt, dates

Waypoints

Algiers → M'zab (Ghardaïa) → Tamanrasset (Hoggar) → Agadez → Kano

Historic

Tripoli to Lake Chad

c. 8th – early 20th century

The principal eastern trans-Saharan route, controlled successively by Ghadamsi, Tuareg Kel Ajjer, and Tubu lineages. Linked Tripolitania to the Hausa city-states and the Lake Chad polities (Kanem-Bornu) via Ghadames, Ghat, and Bilma. The Murzuk-Ghadames axis was an Ottoman regency tax-base from the seventeenth century.

North-bound: slaves, gold, ivory, ostrich feathers
South-bound: manufactured goods, salt, manuscripts

Waypoints

Tripoli → Ghadames → Ghat → Bilma → Lake Chad / Kano

Still operating

Bilma Azalaï

11th century – present

The annual autumn salt caravan from the Bilma salt-flats to Agadez, run by Kel Aïr Tuareg lineages on a scale of several thousand camels. Among the longest continuously practised commercial movements in Africa, still operating in reduced form. The principal interface between the Saharan-pastoral and Sahelian-agricultural economies.

North-bound: salt and dates from Bilma to Agadez
South-bound: millet and manufactured goods from Agadez to Bilma

Waypoints

Bilma → Fachi → Agadez