Salt, seemingly a simple mineral, played an extraordinarily crucial role in shaping the history, economies, and societies of West Africa. In ancient West Africa, where naturally occurring deposits of the mineral were scarce, salt from the Sahara desert was one of the major trade goods. It was one of the most treasured commodities in ancient times.
Saharan salt trade routes circa 1400 with the modern territory of Niger highlighted. (T L Miles / Public Domain)
The Essential Nature of Salt
Salt is a mineral that was in great demand particularly with the beginning of an agricultural mode of life. Hunters and food-gatherers probably obtained a large amount of their salt intake from the animals they hunted and from fresh plant food. In vey dry areas, where body perspiration is also normally excessive, salt only becomes an essential additive where fresh foods are unobtainable. It becomes extremely desirable, however, amongst societies with relatively restricted diets, as was the case with arable agriculturalists. In addition, salt was always in great demand in order to better preserve dried meat and to give added taste to food.
The savannah region south of the western Sahara desert (known as the Sudan region) and the forests of southern West Africa were poor in salt. Those areas near the Atlantic coast could obtain the mineral from evaporation pans or boiling sea water, but sea salt did not travel or keep well. A third alternative was salt derived from the ashes of burnt plants like millet and palms, but again these were not so rich in sodium chloride. Consequently, for most of the Sudan region, salt had to come from the north.
Saharan Salt: A Prized Commodity
The inhospitable Sahara desert was the chief natural source of rock salt, either acquired from surface deposits caused by the desiccation process such as found in old lake beds or extracted from relatively shallow mines where the salt is naturally formed into slabs.
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When exactly salt became a trade commodity is unknown, but the exchange of salt for cereals dates back to prehistory when desert and savannah peoples each looked to gain what they could not produce themselves. On a larger scale, camel caravans were likely crossing the Sahara from at least the first centuries of the 1st millennium CE. These caravans would be run by the Berbers who acted as middle-men between the North African states and West Africa. Salt was their major trade good but they also brought luxury items like glassware, fine cloth, and manufactured goods.
The Mechanics of the Salt Trade
Transported via camel caravans and by boat along such rivers as the Niger and Senegal, salt found its way to trading centres like Koumbi Saleh, Niani, and Timbuktu, where it was either passed further south or exchanged for other goods such as ivory, hides, copper, iron, and cereals. The most common exchange was salt for gold dust that came from the mines of southern West Africa.
The salt slabs, relatively durable but unwieldy, were loaded onto camels, each animal carrying two blocks that weighed up to 90 kilos (200 lbs) each. A camel caravan could be composed of anywhere from 500 to several thousands of camels in their heyday. The first caravans likely crossed the western Sahara in the 3rd century CE, if not earlier, but the practice really took off from the 9th to 12th century CE. When the caravans arrived at a trading centre or major settlement in the Sudan region, the salt was exchanged for goods to carry back across the desert on the return journey; typically such loads included gold, leather, animal skins, and ivory. The salt could be used in the communities around the trading centres or simply transported on by boat along such rivers as the Niger, the Senegal, and their tributaries.
Salt was a highly valued commodity not only because it was unobtainable in the sub-Saharan region but because it was constantly consumed and supply never quite met the total demand. There was also the problem that such a bulky item cost more to transport in significant quantities, which only added to its high price. Consequently, salt was very often exchanged for gold dust, sometimes even pound for pound in remote areas, with merchants specialising in one of the commodities. Indeed, such was the stability of the mineral's value, in some rural areas small pieces of salt were used as a currency in trade transactions and the kings of Ghana kept stockpiles of salt alongside the gold nuggets that filled their impressive royal treasury.
Silent Barter
Trading was carried out using a process called ‘silent barter’, during which neither party spoke to each other and often did not even meet each other. At the designated trade location, the salt traders would display the salt they brought, beat their drums to announce their intention to trade, and return to their camp. The gold traders, hearing the drums, would show up, have a look at the salt, and place an amount of gold that they believe would be a fair trade. They would then beat their drums and retreat to their camp.
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The salt traders would return, have a look at the gold, and if they were satisfied would take the gold, leave the salt, beat their drums, and depart. On the other hand, if they wanted more gold, they would leave everything behind, beat their drums, return to camp, and wait for a better offer.
Salt's Enduring Influence on West African Economies
Salt, both its production and trade, would dominate West African economies throughout the 2nd millennium CE, with sources and trade centres constantly changing hands as empires rose and fell. The salt mines of Idjil in the Sahara were a famous source of the precious commodity for the Ghana Empire (6-13th century CE) and were still going strong in the 15th century CE. In the 10th century CE the Sanhaja Berbers, who controlled the salt mines at Awlil and Taghaza and transportation through trade cities like Audaghost, began to challenge the Ghana Empire's monopoly of the trade. In the 11th century CE the Awlil mines were in the hands of Takrur, but it would be the Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE), with its capital at Niani, that dominated the sub-Saharan salt trade following the collapse of the Ghana Empire. However, semi-independent river 'ports' like Timbuktu began to steal trade opportunities from the Mali kings further west.
Salt may have been a rarity in the savannah but at desert mining towns like Taghaza (the main Sudan source of salt up to the 16th century CE) and Taoudenni, the commodity was still so abundant slabs of rock salt were used to build homes. Naturally, such a valuable money-spinner as a salt mine attracted competition for ownership, as when the Moroccan leader Muhammad al-Mahdi attempted to muscle in on the market by arranging for several prominent Tuareg salt traders to be murdered at Taghaza in the mid-16th century CE.
Even the passage through of salt could be a lucrative source of income for rulers. For example, the Arab traveller Al-Bakri, visiting the Sudan region in 1076 CE, describes the duties on salt in the Ghana Empire which were, unlike with other goods like copper, taxed twice: "On every donkey-load of salt the King of Ghana levys one golden dinar when it is brought into his country and two dinars when it is sent out" (quoted in Fage, 670). In another example, Timbuktu operated as the middle-trader in this exchange of northern and West African resources. A 90-kilo block of salt, transported by river from Timbuktu to Djenne (aka Jenne) in the south could double its value and be worth around 450 grams of gold.
Here's a table summarizing the key empires and their involvement in the salt trade:
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| Empire | Period | Key Salt Sources/Trade Centers | Role in Salt Trade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghana Empire | 6th-13th century CE | Idjil | Controlled salt mines and levied taxes on salt trade. |
| Mali Empire | 1240-1645 CE | Niani | Dominated the sub-Saharan salt trade after the decline of the Ghana Empire. |
| Songhai Empire | 15th-16th century CE | Timbuktu, Taghaza, Taoudenni | Important trade post and center of Islamic culture. |
Modern Echoes of Ancient Trade
Even today, the salt trade continues, although the deposits are running out and the salt merchants can no longer command gold dust in exchange. Saharan salt from Taoudenni is still transported by Tuareg camel caravans, the still-90-kilo slabs now ultimately destined for the refineries of Bamako in Mali.
History Forgotten EmPires | The Silent Trade Routes of the Sahara Salt Caravans
The 14th-century CE Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta, who visited West Africa c. It is a village with no attractions. A strange thing about it is that its houses and mosques are built of blocks of salt and roofed with camel skins. There are no trees, only sand in which there is a salt mine. They dig the ground and thick slabs are found in it, lying on each other as if they had been cut and stacked under the ground. A camel carries two slabs.
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