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When Africa Led – Part 2

Between roughly 700 and 1500 CE, West Africa controlled one of the world’s most important commercial systems: the trans-Saharan trade. Empires such as the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the ...
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On Trans-Saharan trails : Islamic law, trade networks, and cross-cultural exchange in nineteenth-century Western Africa / Ghislaine Lydon

This study is the first of its kind to examine the history and organization of trans-Saharan trade in western Africa using original source material. It documents the internal dynamics of a trade ...

How West Africa's medieval Gold Road shows a path for free trade

This week I moderated a conversation about the three great West African empires of the medieval period between 1100-1500 AD: ...
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The trans-Saharan book trade : manuscript culture, Arabic literacy and intellectual history in Muslim Africa / edited by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon

A historic geography of the trans-Saharan trade / Eric Ross -- A thirst for knowledge : Arabic literacy, writing paper, and Saharan bibliophiles in Southwestern Sahara / Ghislaine Lydon -- The paper ...

'The world's greatest city' in Africa - once richer than London

Once wealthier and more influential than London, this city remains a legendary hub of trade, learning, and African heritage.