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THE TRANS-SAHARAN GOLD TRADE
Rich gold deposits in sub-Saharan West Africa have been exploited by indigenous peoples for many centuries.1Since at least one thousand years ago, some of this gold has been exported to the circum-Mediterranean world (see fig 1) where it has been widely used for coinage and other purposes. The earliest written records of this trade occur in Arabic texts2produced long after the Islamic3conquest of North Africa at the end of the seventh century ad (late first century ah);4they refer to overland transport, but do not indicate when that practice began. Documentary sources, however, clearly show that by the ninth/tenth century it had intensified and achieved significant regularity. Not until the fifteenth century did Europeans establish a sea-route to West Africa and gain control over northward conveyance of the region's gold. Although this outline is widely accepted, there is little consensus about the details, particularly for the earlier periods. Reliance on Arabic texts has led many scholars to assume that the trans-Saharan gold trade arose during Islamic times. Consequently, the search for numismatic evidence has been largely restricted to the study of Umayyad and Abbasid dinars.5
Fig 1
Map of North and West Africa, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East, showing principal locations mentioned in the text. For Africa only, simplified present-day vegetation patterns are indicated. Map: the author, with the advice and assistance of Charlotte Fox and the late Brian Foxley.
[Figure Omitted; See PDF]West African production of gold may probably be traced back to the middle centuries of the first millennium, but primary archaeological evidence is sparse and inconclusive. The principal regions where indigenous exploitation seems to have taken place have been mapped by several scholars.6They include the Bambuhu (Bambuk), Konkadugu and Gangara (Wangara) areas at the headwaters of the Niger and Senegal rivers,7both of which have auriferous sediments further downstream. The Sirba tributary of the Niger may likewise have been significant. Much of the gold has been recovered from alluvia and other secondary deposits, exploitation of which has left little permanent record.8In most cases, the quartz pipes from which the alluvial...