116 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and EnslavementBovill, Edward W. Th e Golden Trade of the Moors: West African
Kingdoms in the Fourteenth Century. Princeton, NJ: Markus
Wiener, 1995.
Gomez, Michael Angelo. Reversing Sail: A History of the African
Diaspora. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Hunwick, John O., ed. Sharia in Songhay: Th e Replies of Al-Maghili
to the Questions of Askia Al-Hajj Muhammad. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press, 1985.
Hunwick, John O., ed. Timbuktu and the Songhai Empire: Al-Sadi’s
Tarikh al-Sudan down to 1613 and Other Contemporary Doc-
uments. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1999.Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
Trans-Saharan slave trade refers to the capture, enslave-
ment, and transport of human beings, originating mostly
from south of the Sahara Desert in North Africa, to areas
both within the desert and points north and east. While it
was at its peak between the 8th and 19th centuries of the
common era, the trade spanned much of the fi rst millen-
nium ce. Despite its longevity, only relatively modest aca-
demic attention has been paid to the trans-Saharan slave
trade and the African Diaspora it spawned in the Mediter-
ranean region as well as in West and South Asia.
Long-distance trade networks across the Sahara Des-
ert existed as early as 800 bce. Th e camel was introduced
to North Africa in the fi rst century ce and was in wide-
spread use among Berbers, nomads inhabiting North Af-
rica, by ce 400. Its relative hardiness and ability to travel
long distances with little water expanded desert trade ca-
pacity signifi cantly. Although salt mined in the desert was
the primary commodity and driver of the trade, slavery
was indeed an early part of the trans-Saharan trade. As the
trade developed, slavery and salt were quite related to one
another in the Saharan context, as captives were sometimes
put to work in the desert salt mines. Much later, by the mid-
1800s, merchants oft en found it impossible to purchase salt
unless they had slaves to trade in return.
While slavery was a element of the early trade across
the Sahara, slave trading in the region grew most rapidly
aft er ce 600–700, with the emergence of an Islamic em-
pire spanning much of what is now West Asia, parts of
Europe, and North and West Africa. Th e spread of Islam
created a greater demand for slaves. Initially, many slaves
in Muslim societies were obtained as a result of conquest
under the expanding Islamic empire. However, as many
of the conquered peoples converted to Islam, MuslimsTaghaza to the north, Aïr in the east, the edge of Borgu in
the south, and the Senegal River in the west. His superior
tactics and troop numbers oft en secured victory, but he
was thwarted in Borgu and the Mossi States, and had lim-
ited success in Hausaland. As a consequence of the warfare,
Songhai captured many prisoners and enslaved them under
the auspices of the Songhai state or sold them to North Af-
rican traders. Large numbers of slaves were taken during
many of the campaigns; some accounts reveal that large
parts of cities had to be set aside to house the captives. Only
non-Muslims could be enslaved according to religious law;
however, Muslim states could be and were forced into a trib-
utary relation with Songhai. Ironically, most of the soldiers
of Songhai were themselves more or less servile to the state.
Askia Muhammad inherited a strong central govern-
ment from Sunni Ali, but Muhammad strengthened it even
further, adding new positions and functions to oversee the
governance of the enlarged territory. He also consulted
with prominent Muslim scholars on how to rule his empire,
men such as Egyptian Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Muhammad
ibn Abd al-Karim al-Maghili of Tlemcen (in modern Alge-
ria), and local scholars from Timbuktu. Th e advice ranged
from the mundane to the permissibility of forcing leader-
less local Muslim peoples under his authority and deposing
tyrannical Muslim rulers for the greater good of Muslims.
Although al-Maghili’s advice had contemporaneous im-
pact, his work would also be cited and acted upon more
than three centuries later by 19th-century jihadists such as
Umar Tal and Shaykh Usuman dan Fodio. Th e latter’s mili-
tary campaigns, legitimized largely by al-Maghili’s rulings,
led to enslaved captives on all sides of the confl ict being
sold into slavery and sent to the Americas.
Askia Muhammad’s son Musa deposed him in 1529.
He was banished for a period and then returned to live the
rest of his life restricted to the royal palace before dying in
- Th e succeeding 50 years would bring internal strug-
gles and revolts as Askia Muhammad’s descendents vied for
power, all of which allowed for the Moroccan invasion in
1591 and an end to the Songhai Empire, Askia dynasty rule,
and the fortunes of Timbuktu as a scholarly center.
See also: Songhai; Sudanic Empires; Timbuktu
Brent D. SingletonBibliography
Blum, Charlotte, and Humphrey Fisher. “Love for Th ree Or-
anges; or, Th e Askiya’s Dilemma: Th e Askiya, Al-Maghili
and Timbuktu, c. 1500 A.D.” Journal of African History 34
(1993):65–91.