Sometime in the fifth century C.E. the North African Berbers fashioned a saddle for use on the camel. This saddle had no direct effect on commercial operations, for a merchant usually walked and guided the camel on foot. But the saddle gave the Berbers and later the region’s Arabian inhabitants maneuverability on the animal and thus a powerful political and military advantage: they came to dominate the desert and to create lucrative routes across it. The Berbers determined who could enter the desert, and they extracted large sums of protection money from merchant caravans in exchange for a safe trip.

Between 700 C.E. and 900 C.E. the Berbers developed a network of caravan routes between the Mediterranean coast and the Sudan (see Map 10.2). The long expedition across the Sahara testifies to the traders’ spirit and to their passion for wealth. Because of the blistering sun and daytime temperatures reaching 110°F, caravan drivers preferred night travel, when temperatures might drop to the low 20s. Ibn Battuta, an Arab traveler in the fourteenth century, when the trade was at its height, left one of the best descriptions of the trans-Saharan traffic. (See “Individuals in Society: Ibn Battuta.”) It took Ibn Battuta twenty-five days to travel from Sijilmasa to the oasis of Taghaza and another sixty-five days to travel from Taghaza to the important market town of Walata.

Nomadic raiders, the Tuareg (TWAH-rehg), posed a serious threat to trans-Saharan traders. The Tuareg were Berbers who lived in the desert uplands and preyed on the caravans as a way of life. To avoid being victimized, merchants made safe-conduct agreements with them and selected guides from among them. Large numbers of merchants crossed the desert together to discourage attack; caravans of twelve thousand camels were reported in the fourteenth century. Blinding sandstorms often separated part of a line of camels and on at least one recorded occasion buried alive some camels and drivers. Water was the biggest problem. To satisfy normal thirst and to compensate for constant sweating, each person required a gallon of water per day. Desperate thirst sometimes forced the traders to kill camels and drink the foul, brackish water in their stomachs. The Tuareg used this problem to their advantage, sometimes poisoning wells to wipe out caravans and steal their goods.

Berber merchants from North Africa controlled the caravan trade that carried dates, salt (essential in tropical climates to replace the loss from perspiration) from the Saharan salt mines, and some manufactured goods — silk and cotton cloth, beads, mirrors — to the Sudan. These products were exchanged for the much-coveted commodities of the West African savanna — gold, ivory, gum, kola nuts (eaten as a stimulant), and enslaved West African men and women who were sold to Muslim slave markets in Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli, and Cairo.