Episode 4: (Islam in West Africa) The Trans-saharan Trade Route by Abdulhamid Mutohhir Olanrewaju

The Trans-Saharan Trade route was the main part which connected North Africa with Sudan in the early and medieval time. They passed through a number of oases in the desert and terminated in the urban centers of Sudan.

 The most famous trade routes included Taghaza (modern Algeria), which was linked to Gao and Timbuktu. Sigilmasa in Morocco was another one, which continued southwards to Awdaghast in Western Sahara and then unto ancient Ghana. Much further west was a Trans-Saharan trade route which linked the Kanem-Bornu region from Tripoli via Vezzan to Sijilmasa in North Africa.

Therefore, the situation developed in which the Sanhaja of the Western Sahara, who provided guidance and protection to Muslim traders crossing the Sahara, came increasingly under the influence of Islam.

It is probable that, by the 10th century, some of their leaders had themselves become Muslims. Moreover, West African merchants were also in contact with both the Sanhaja and Muslim merchants from North Africa. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, some of the latter had begun to establish Muslim quarters in the West African states of Gao, ancient Ghana, and Takrur.