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Trans-Saharan Trade
Outcome: While caravans traded with one another, they also exchanged their cultures. The societies within different towns became more diverse and people began making more money. This was good for the economy because more people were finding a way to make money, and goods were coming in and out of each trading post. Overtime, the Europeans came into the trading network and spread their religion of Christianity. This didn't only spread European culture, but it also helped the African societies become friendlier to outside European societies. Overall, the societies, economies, religions, and politics from different areas became much more diverse thanks to the trans-Saharan trade network.
Conditions for travelers: Since the traders had to cross the largest desert in the world, there was a high risk of dehydration and heat exhaustion within the caravans. Each caravan held around one thousand camels, some caravans reaching up to the ten thousands. Each caravan had a guide and several runners. The runners would run ahead to the oasis' and get water to bring back to caravan. Water was far to heavy to carry on the backs of camels, so the runners were a vital part of the caravans survival.
Motives: The trans-Saharan trade network extended all across the Sahara desert between the Mediterranean countries and sub-Saharan Africa. The main motive for the trading was based off of the salt and gold supply. Most towns in the Sahara had plenty of gold, but needed salt. So they set off to find towns which had a higher abundance of salt. This eventually led to a series of trade routes which developed into one of the largest, most risky trading networks in the western world.
Conditions for travelers
