The decline of the trans-Saharan trade – Trans-Saharan Trade (Senior 1 History and Citizenship) | Ganzaa

Trans-Saharan Trade

Lessons

Senior 1 · History and Citizenship

Trans-Saharan Trade

5 lessons

Lesson 5 of 5

The decline of the trans-Saharan trade

25 min

"Everything changed at that moment"

In about 1655 a scholar of Timbuktu, Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di, finished a history of his region called the Tarikh al-Sudan. In it he described what happened after an army from Morocco crossed the Sahara and defeated the Songhai Empire in 1591.

"When the Moroccan army arrived in the Sudan, it found one of the lands most favoured by God in wealth and fertility. Peace and security reigned everywhere, in every province, thanks to the most fortunate and blessed ruler, the Commander of the Believers, Askia al-Hajj Muhammad, whose justice and firmness reached everywhere … Everything changed at that moment: danger took the place of security, poverty the place of plenty, and trouble, disaster and violence the place of calm. Everywhere people turned on one another; in every place and in every direction there was robbery, and war spared neither the lives, nor the property, nor the standing of the inhabitants."
Al-Sa'di, Tarikh al-Sudan (about 1655), chapter 21. Translated into English by Ganzaa from the French translation by O. Houdas (Paris, 1900), pp. 222–223. Public domain.

Reading note: "the Sudan" here means Bilad al-Sudan, "the land of the Black peoples", the old Arabic name for the Sahel and savanna of West Africa. It is not the modern country of Sudan.

Definition

Decline: a gradual loss of strength, size, wealth or importance. Example: the decline of Timbuktu's trade after 1591.

Definition

Arquebus: an early kind of gun, loaded through the muzzle and fired by lighting gunpowder with a slow-burning match. Armies used it in the 1400s and 1500s. Example: the arquebuses carried by the Moroccan soldiers at Tondibi in 1591.

Definition

Trading post: a fort or station built by merchants from abroad on a coast or river, where they bought and sold goods with local people. The Portuguese called it a feitoria, English writers a "factory". Example: Elmina, built by the Portuguese on the Gold Coast in 1482.

Worked example: judging al-Sa'di's account

Who? A Timbuktu scholar born in 1594 who spent his career as a secretary to the Arma, the rulers descended from the Moroccan soldiers. So he worked for the invaders' successors, yet he still describes the invasion as a disaster. He also belonged to the learned class that suffered badly after 1591: scholars were arrested and sent to Morocco in 1594.
When? He was born three years after the invasion and wrote about 60 years later. He did not see the events; he used older writings and what people told him.
What does he claim? That the Sahel was peaceful and rich under the Askias, and that the invasion brought insecurity, poverty and violence.
Look for bias. He praises the old Askia rulers warmly; in the passage he credits the peace to Askia Muhammad, who had died more than fifty years before 1591, and he says nothing of the civil war among the Askias shortly before the invasion. Like many people looking back, he may remember the past as better than it was.
Corroborate. Other evidence agrees on the main point. Songhai broke into small states that fought one another; Timbuktu's scholars, including Ahmad Baba, were deported to Morocco; and the old routes were used less and less.
Verdict. Reliable on the general collapse after 1591, but too rosy about the years before it.

Why the trade declined

The trade did not stop in one day. It shrank over about three centuries, for several connected reasons.

Cause	When	What happened
The Moroccan invasion	1591 and after	Morocco's army defeated Songhai at Tondibi. The empire broke into small warring states, and no power was strong enough to protect the routes.
The Atlantic route	from the 1440s	Portuguese ships reached West Africa by sea and set up trading posts, first at Arguin (1445) and then at Elmina on the Gold Coast (1482). Gold that once went north by camel now went south to the coast and out by ship, which could carry far more goods, far more cheaply.
Gold from the Americas	1500s	After 1500, Spain brought huge amounts of gold and silver from the Americas to Europe, so West African gold mattered less to European buyers.
Insecurity and heavy taxes	1600s	Without a strong empire, raiders attacked caravans and local rulers charged traders more, so crossings became riskier and dearer.
The Atlantic slave trade	1600s to 1800s	Trade in people moved to the coast, where European ships bought captives for the Americas (Unit 7).
Colonial rule	late 1800s	France conquered most of the region; French troops occupied Timbuktu in 1893–1894. Roads, railways and ports later turned trade towards the coast for good.

Case study: the Battle of Tondibi, 13 March 1591

Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur of Morocco believed, wrongly, that Songhai owned the gold mines from which its wealth came, and he also wanted the salt mines of Taghaza. In October 1590 he sent an army south across the Sahara under Judar Pasha: about 4,000 soldiers, many armed with arquebuses, with eight cannons carried by a train of thousands of camels. After a four-month march they reached the Niger in February 1591.

On 13 March 1591 they met the much larger army of Askia Ishaq II near Tondibi, just north of Gao. The Songhai drove a herd of cattle at the Moroccan lines, but the noise of the guns and cannons turned the cattle back. Spears, arrows and brave cavalry could not match gunfire, and the Songhai army was defeated.

The Moroccans occupied Gao, Timbuktu and Djenné.
Songhai leaders fought on from the south for years, but the empire never recovered.
Al-Mansur found no gold mines to seize, and Morocco could not control such a distant land for long. Its soldiers who settled there, called the Arma, became a local ruling group.

The battle shows how a new technology, the gun, could overturn an old balance of power, and how the fall of one state could damage a trade network that had lasted for centuries.

Important

The Moroccan invasion of 1591 (Battle of Tondibi) destroyed the Songhai Empire and the security the trade needed.
The Atlantic route, opened by the Portuguese from the 1440s (Elmina, 1482), carried gold by sea and drew trade to the coast.
Gold from the Americas, insecurity, the Atlantic slave trade and, later, colonial rule completed the decline.

What remains today

Names. When the Gold Coast became independent in 1957, it took the name Ghana, and in 1960 the French Sudan became the Republic of Mali, both in honour of the old empires.
Faith and learning. Islam, spread by the trade, is the main religion of much of West Africa, and Timbuktu's manuscripts are still read.
Towns and caravans. Timbuktu, Gao, Djenné and Agadez still stand, and small salt caravans still cross the desert.

Tip

Memory hook for the decline: "Guns, Gold, Galleons".Guns: the Moroccan arquebuses at Tondibi. Gold: new gold from the Americas. Galleons: European ships on the Atlantic route.

Crash Course World History: "Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Zheng He: 15th Century Mariners". Watch the part about Portugal: why did the Portuguese want to reach West Africa and the Indian Ocean by sea, and how did that threaten the desert routes?

Discussion

Class debate: "The trans-Saharan trade would have declined even without the Moroccan invasion." Use the table of causes to argue for or against this statement. Which cause do you think was the most important in the long run, and why?

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Practice

In which year, and at which battle, was the Songhai Empire defeated by Morocco?
Name the Portuguese trading post built on the Gold Coast in 1482.
Explain why ships on the Atlantic were a threat to the camel caravans.
Give three causes of the decline of the trans-Saharan trade.
How many years passed between the building of Elmina and the Battle of Tondibi?
Why did the Moroccan army win at Tondibi even though the Songhai army was larger?
Al-Sa'di says there was peace everywhere before 1591. Why should a historian be careful with this claim?
Evaluate: which was more important for the decline, the Moroccan invasion or the Atlantic route? Give a reason for your choice.

Show answersHide answers

In 1591, at the Battle of Tondibi (13 March 1591).
Elmina (São Jorge da Mina).
Ships could carry far larger loads more cheaply and quickly to Europe, so gold and other goods went to the coast instead of across the desert.
Any three: the Moroccan invasion of 1591; the Atlantic route and European trading posts; gold from the Americas; insecurity and heavy taxes; the Atlantic slave trade; colonial rule.
$1591 - 1482 = 109$ years.
The Moroccans had arquebuses and cannons; the noise of the guns turned the Songhai cattle charge back, and spears and arrows could not match gunfire.
He wrote about 60 years later, praised the old rulers, and left out the civil war among the Askias shortly before the invasion; he may have idealised the past.
Either answer, with a reason. For example: the invasion caused sudden collapse and insecurity; but the Atlantic route had been drawing gold to the coast for 150 years and would have reduced the trade anyway, so it was more important in the long run.

1"Everything changed at that moment"

2Why the trade declined

3Case study: the Battle of Tondibi, 13 March 1591

4What remains today

5Discussion

"Everything changed at that moment"

Why the trade declined

Case study: the Battle of Tondibi, 13 March 1591

What remains today

Discussion