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57-679: The other major West African salt caravan route, heading from around Agadez to Fachi and Bilma in Niger , is called Taghlamt (in Tamasheq, or Taglem or Tagalem in Hausa language ). The two are among the last caravan routes in the Sahara that are still in use. Both caravans have largely been replaced by unpaved truck routes. At one time the caravan route from Timbuktu extended through Taoudenni to Taghaza , another salt-mining site, and on to

114-611: A market town and as a centre for the transportation of the uranium mined in the surrounding area. Notable buildings in the city include the Agadez Grand Mosque (originally dating from 1515 but rebuilt in the same style in 1844), the Kaocen Palace (now a hotel), and the Agadez Sultan's Palace . The city is also known for its camel market and its silver and leatherwork . Some well-known musicians from

171-542: A much smaller scale. The spread of Islam increased the number of nodes in the network and decreased its vulnerability. The use of Arabic as a common language of trade and the increase of literacy through Quranic schools , also facilitated commerce. Muslim merchants conducting commerce also gradually spread Islam along their trade network. Social interactions with Muslim merchants led many Africans to convert to Islam, and many merchants married local women and raised their children as Muslims. Islam spread into Western Sudan by

228-735: A restored sultan. Later, Agadez became an important location in the Tuareg Rebellion of the 1990s in central and northern Niger. As a result of the Second Tuareg Rebellion , sporadic violence and the displacement of thousands of people affected the Agadez area from late 2007 into 2009. All of northern Niger was placed on the United States State Department list of areas which are unsafe for travel by United States citizens, covering late 2007 to

285-474: A road "traversed ... in forty days", it became by his time an important land route facilitating trade between Nubia and Egypt , and subsequently became known as the Forty Days Road. From Kobbei , 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of al-Fashir , the route passed through the desert to Bir Natrum, another oasis and salt mine, to Wadi Howar before proceeding to Egypt. The Darb el-Arbain trade route

342-508: Is trade between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa that requires travel across the Sahara . Though this trade began in prehistoric times , the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century CE. The Sahara once had a different climate and environment . In Libya and Algeria , from at least 7000 BCE, pastoralism (the herding of sheep and goats), large settlements and pottery were present. Cattle were introduced to

399-648: Is now Niger . The eastern trans-Saharan route led to the development of the long-lived Kanem–Bornu Empire as well as the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires, centred on the Lake Chad area. This trade route was somewhat less efficient and only rose to great prominence when there was turmoil in the west such as during the Almohad conquests. The trans-Saharan slave trade , established in Antiquity , continued during

456-535: Is the traditional lingua franca of different ethnic groups in the city, especially in the area of trade, religion and administration ) and Timbuktu , and the North African oases of Ghat , Ghadames , and Tripoli , on the Mediterranean shore. Internal fighting led to the gradual decline of the sultanate, and by the mid-19th century the town was a shadow of its former self. Some contend that Agadez

513-581: Is worthwhile only when exceptional circumstances cause the expected gain to outweigh the cost and the danger. Trade was conducted by caravans of camels . According to Maghrebi explorer Ibn Battuta , who once traveled with a caravan, an average one would amount to 1,000 camels, but some caravans were as large as 12,000. The caravans were guided by highly-paid Berbers , who knew the desert and could ensure protection from fellow desert nomads . The caravans' survival relied on careful coordination: runners would be sent ahead to oases for water to be shipped out to

570-513: The foggara . Early records of trans-Saharan slave trade come from ancient Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BCE, who records the Garamantes enslaving cave-dwelling Egyptians in Sudan. Two records of Romans accompanying the Garamantes on slave raiding expeditions are recorded - the first in 86 CE and the second a few years later to Lake Chad . Initial sources of slaves were

627-625: The Amenukal (confederation leader), followed by each sub group. The camel was introduced into the Sahara in the late first millennium, and Tuareg tribes moved south into the region in the 13th century. In the 18th century, Tuareg confederations captured the Kaouar oases from the Kanem–Bornu Empire and began transporting goods from Agadez. The disruptions of the French colonial expansion in

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684-483: The Fezzan , giving origin to a theory that the Garamantes or some other Saharan people had created chariot routes to provide Rome and Carthage with gold and ivory. However, it has been argued that no horse skeletons have been found dating from this early period in the region, and chariots would have been unlikely vehicles for trading purposes due to their small capacity. The earliest evidence for domesticated camels in

741-555: The French invasion of the Sahel in the 1890s and subsequent construction of railways to the interior. A railway line from Dakar to Algiers via the Niger bend was planned but never constructed. With the independence of nations in the region in the 1960s, the north–south routes were severed by national boundaries. National governments were hostile to Tuareg nationalism and so made few efforts to maintain or support trans-Saharan trade, and

798-625: The Lake Chad area. These stretches were relatively short and had the essential network of occasional oases that established the routing as inexorably as pins in a map. Further east of the Fezzan with its trade route through the valley of Kaouar to Lake Chad, Libya was impassable due to its lack of oases and fierce sandstorms. Several trade routes became established, perhaps the most important terminating in Sijilmasa ( Morocco ) and Ifriqiya to

855-681: The Malinke of the south, who later founded the Mali Empire . Unlike Ghana, Mali was a Muslim kingdom since its foundation, and under it, the gold–salt trade continued. Other, less important trade goods were slaves, kola nuts from the south and slave beads and cowry shells from the north (for use as currency). It was under Mali that the great cities of the Niger bend—including Gao and Djenné —prospered, with Timbuktu in particular becoming known across Europe for its great wealth. Important trading centers in southern West Africa developed at

912-485: The Middle Ages . The slaves brought from across the Sahara were mainly used by wealthy families as domestic servants, and concubines. Some served in the military forces of Egypt and Morocco. For example, the 17th century sultan Mawlay Ismail himself was the son of slave, and relied on an army of black slaves for support. The West African states imported highly trained slave soldiers. It has been estimated that from

969-582: The Roman Empire , especially for mining. The Darb al-Arbaʿīn trade route, passing through Kharga in the south and Asyut in the north, was used from as early as the Old Kingdom for the transport and trade of gold , ivory , spices , wheat , animals and plants. Later, Ancient Romans would protect the route by lining it with varied forts and small outposts, some guarding large settlements complete with cultivation. Described by Herodotus as

1026-462: The Sahel . It was revealed in 2016 that the military base in Niger cost the U.S. $ 100 million. Air pollution, including particulate matter and dust, poses significant health risks due to their microscopic size and potential inhalation into the deepest parts of the lung. Agadez has a hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ). Trans-Saharan trade Trans-Saharan trade

1083-641: The Sénégal River , and the Taghaza Trail , from the Niger River, past the salt mines of Taghaza , north to the great trading center of Sijilmasa , situated in Morocco just north of the desert. The growth of the city of Aoudaghost , founded in the 5th century BCE, was stimulated by its position at the southern end of a trans-Saharan trade route. To the east, three ancient routes connected

1140-557: The Toubou people , but by the 1st century CE, the Garamantes were obtaining slaves from modern day Niger and Chad . In the early Roman Empire , the city of Lepcis established a slave market to buy and sell slaves from the African interior. The empire imposed customs tax on the trade of slaves. In the 5th century CE, Roman Carthage was trading in black slaves brought across the Sahara. Black slaves seem to have been valued in

1197-554: The Tuareg rebellion of the 1990s and Algerian Civil War further disrupted these routes, closing many. Traditional caravan routes are largely void of camels, but the shorter Azalai routes from Agadez to Bilma and Timbuktu to Taoudenni are still regularly—if lightly—used. Some members of the Tuareg still use the traditional trade routes, often traveling 2,400 km (1,500 mi) and six months out of every year by camel across

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1254-609: The factories established on the coast since 1445, and trade with Europeans became of prime importance to West Africa. North Africa had declined in both political and economic importance, while the Saharan crossing remained long and treacherous. However, the major blow to trans-Saharan trade was the Battle of Tondibi of 1591–92. In a major military expedition organized by the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur , Morocco sent troops across

1311-502: The 10th to the 19th century some 6,000 to 7,000 enslaved people were transported north each year. Perhaps as many as nine million enslaved people were exported along the trans-Saharan caravan route. The rise of the Ghana Empire , in what is now Mali , Senegal , and southern Mauritania , accompanied the increase in trans-Saharan trade. Northern economies were short of gold but at times controlled salt mines such as Taghaza in

1368-555: The Azalai reaches Timbuktu, the rock salt it is taken by boat to Mopti and further on to other Sahel and Sudanian markets. The Agadez–Bilma route, passing through the Ténéré desert and the oasis town of Fachi in eastern Niger, takes around three weeks to complete (both ways). It is traditionally a twice yearly caravan from the capital of the Aïr region to the natron salt pans along

1425-556: The Central Sahara ( Ahaggar ) between 4000 and 3500 BCE. Remarkable rock paintings (dated 3500 to 2500 BCE) in arid regions portray flora and fauna that are not present in the modern desert. As a desert, the Sahara is now a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean economy from the economy of the Niger River Basin . As Fernand Braudel points out, crossing such a zone, especially without mechanized transport,

1482-496: The Garamantes. Shillington states that existing contact with the Mediterranean received added incentive with the growth of the port city of Carthage . Founded c. 800 BCE, Carthage became one terminus for West African gold, ivory, and slaves. West Africa received salt, cloth, beads, and metal goods. Shillington proceeds to identify this trade route as the source for West African iron smelting. Trade continued into Roman times. Although there are Classical references to direct travel from

1539-494: The Mediterranean as household slaves for their exotic appearance. Some historians argue that the scale of slave trade in this period may have been higher than medieval times due to high demand of slaves in the Roman Empire. Herodotus wrote of the Garamantes hunting Ethiopian Troglodytes from chariots ; this account was associated with depictions of horses drawing chariots in contemporary cave art in southern Morocco and

1596-538: The Mediterranean to West Africa (Daniels, p. 22f), most of this trade was conducted through middlemen, inhabiting the area and aware of passages through the drying lands. The Legio III Augusta subsequently secured these routes on behalf of Rome by the 1st century CE, safeguarding the southern border of the empire for two and half centuries. The Garamantes also engaged in the trans-Saharan slave trade . The Garamantes used slaves in their own communities to construct and maintain underground irrigation systems known as

1653-491: The Sahara and attacked Timbuktu, Gao and some other important trading centres, destroying buildings and property and exiling prominent citizens. This disruption to trade led to a dramatic decline in the importance of these cities and the resulting animosity reduced trade considerably. Although much reduced, trans-Saharan trade continued. But trade routes to the West African coast became increasingly easy, particularly after

1710-473: The Sahara towards the Libyan coast. Crackdowns in 2016 slowed the flow of migrants, but recent Displacement Tracking Matrix data showed a daily average of 1,212 individuals crossing at six monitored points in Niger, many of whom would have been coming through Agadez. The city now hosts hundreds of migrants living in small houses on the outskirts of the city before moving on to Libya. Today, Agadez flourishes as

1767-476: The Sahara trading in salt carried from the desert interior to communities on the desert edges. The African Union and African Development Bank support the Trans-Sahara Highway from Algiers to Lagos via Tamanrasset , to stimulate economic development, and the latter noted an increase in traffic at the border with Chad due to exports to Algeria crossing Niger. The route is paved except for

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1824-486: The Sahara, whereas West African countries like Wangara had plenty of gold but needed salt. Taghaza, a trading and mining outpost where Ibn Battuta recorded the buildings were made of salt, rose to preeminence in the salt trade under the hegemony of the Almoravid Empire . The salt was mined by slaves and purchased with manufactured goods from Sijilmasa. Miners cut thin rectangular slabs of salt directly out of

1881-467: The Tuareg, and successively the Kel Gres , Kel Owey and Kel Ayr confederations in particular. Many Tuareg traders owned the salt pits and date plantations in Kaouar, as well as holding bonded laborers there, and traveled the caravan to administer their property. The Tuareg Taghlamt, numbering 10,000 camels and stretching 25 km at the beginning of the colonial period, is led by the representative of

1938-480: The arrival of caravans bringing salt from Bilma . In 1449 Agadez became a sultanate , but was later conquered by the Songhai Empire in 1515, remaining a part of that empire until 1591. At this point, the city had a population of around 30,000 people. By then, the city was a key passage for the medieval caravans trading between the West African cities of Kano (the source of the Hausa language which

1995-409: The caravan when it was still several days away, as the caravans could usually not carry enough to make the full journey. In the mid-14th century CE, Ibn Battuta crossed the desert from Sijilmasa via the salt mines at Taghaza to the oasis of Oualata . A guide was sent ahead, and water was brought over a four-day journey from Oualata to meet the caravan. Culture and religion were also exchanged on

2052-481: The caravans had shrunk to 8000 camels, and continued to shrink thereafter. The northern road route, marked by the Tree of Ténéré , has supplanted most camel trains, but small Taghlamt trains continue to head out each November. Agadez Agadez ( Air Tamajeq : ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, Agadaz ), formerly spelled Agadès , is the fifth largest city in Niger , with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of

2109-608: The cultures of the eastern Mediterranean to the east. Many trading routes went from oasis to oasis to resupply on both food and water. These oases were very important. They also imported obsidian from Senegal to shape blades and other objects. The overland route through the Wadi Hammamat from the Nile to the Red Sea was known as early as predynastic times; drawings depicting Egyptian reed boats have been found along

2166-445: The desert floor, and caravan merchants transported them south, charging a transportation fee of almost 80% of the salt's value. The salt was traded at the market of Timbuktu almost weight for weight with gold. The gold, in the form of bricks, bars, blank coins, and gold dust went to Sijilmasa , from which it went out to Mediterranean ports and in which it was struck into Almoravid dinars . The spread of Islam to sub-Saharan African

2223-468: The desert near Murzuk before turning north to pass between the Alhaggar and Tibesti Mountains before reaching the oasis at Kawar . From Kawar, caravans would pass over the great sand dunes of Bilma , where rock salt was mined in great quantities for trade, before reaching the savanna north of Lake Chad . This was the shortest of the routes, and the primary exchanges were slaves and ivory from

2280-572: The end of 2008. Tourist flights to Agadez were suspended by European airlines for the 2007–2008 tourist season (September – March). The burgeoning tourist industry, which prior to 2007 had surpassed that of Niamey and the rest of the nation, essentially came to an end. The entire region was placed under a Nigerien government State of Exception (limiting travel, gatherings, political activities, etc.) in October 2007, renewed through early 2009. Roads to and from Agadez were reported to have been mined, and

2337-547: The end of the 10th century , into Chad by the 11th century , and into Hausa lands in 12th and 13th centuries . By 1200, many ruling elites in Western Africa had converted to Islam, and from 1200 to 1500 saw a significant conversion to Islam in Africa. The Portuguese forays along the West African coast opened up new avenues for trade between Europe and West Africa. By the early 16th century, European trading bases,

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2394-444: The eponymous Agadez Region , the city lies in the Sahara desert , and is also the capital of Aïr , one of the traditional Tuareg – Berber federations. The historic centre of the town has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . Agadez was founded before the 14th century, and, by growing around trans-Saharan trade , gradually became the most important city of the Tuareg people , supplanting Assodé . The city still sees

2451-477: The first years of the 20th century led to inter clan rivalries, and later, the rise of mechanised traffic. In 1904, Ouled Sliman raiders from what is now Chad destroyed the caravan at Bilma, and again in 1906 at Fachi. The French reported that the 1906 caravan numbered 20,000 camels. Following the Kaocen revolt , no Taghlamt traveled the route until 1925, and then it was accompanied by French colonial forces. By 1948,

2508-409: The government closed the area to international journalists and aid organizations. An unknown number (reported as several thousands) of internally displaced people converged on the city as a result of the unrest. In the 2010s, Agadez became a major transit town for West African migrants heading to Libya and then on to Europe, since Agadez is the final stop before passing through the long trek across

2565-664: The lands north of the Sahara on the Mediterranean Sea. Caravans with up to 10,000 camels carried gold and slaves north, returning with manufactured goods and salt from Taghaza and Taoudenni. Until the 1940s, the Taoudenni caravans were made up of thousands of camels, departing Timbuktu at the beginning of the cool season in November, with a smaller caravan departing Timbuktu at the beginning of the hot season in March. After

2622-538: The north. There, and in other North African cities, Berber traders had increased contact with Islam, encouraging conversions, and by the 8th century, Muslims were traveling to Ghana. Many in Ghana converted to Islam, and it is likely that the Empire's trade was privileged as a result. Around 1050, Ghana lost Aoudaghost to the Almoravids , but new goldmines around Bure reduced trade through the city, instead benefiting

2679-552: The path dating to 4000 BCE. Ancient cities dating to the First Dynasty of Egypt arose along both its Nile and Red Sea junctions, testifying to the route's ancient popularity. It became a major route from Thebes to the Red Sea port of Elim , where travelers then moved on to either Asia , Arabia or the Horn of Africa . Records exist documenting knowledge of the route among Senusret I , Seti, Ramesses IV and also, later,

2736-526: The region dates from the 3rd century. Used by the Berbers , they enabled more regular contact across the entire width of the Sahara, but regular trade routes did not develop until the beginnings of the Islamic conversion of West Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries. Two main trade routes developed. The first ran through the western desert from modern Morocco to the Niger bend, the second from modern Tunisia to

2793-623: The south for salt. One early 20th century researcher wrote of the Tripoli-Murzuk-Lake Chad route , "Most of the [trans-Saharan] traffic from the Mediterranean coast during the last 2,000 years has passed along this road." Another Libyan route was Benghazi to Kufra to the lands of the Wadai Empire between Lake Chad and Darfur. The western routes were the Walata Road past present-day Oualata, Mauritania , from

2850-525: The south to the Mediterranean. The herdsmen of the Fezzan of Libya , known as the Garamantes, controlled these routes as early as 1500 BCE. From their capital of Germa in the Wadi Ajal, the Garamantean Empire raided north to the sea and south into the Sahel. By the 4th century BCE, the independent city-states of Phoenicia had expanded their control to the territory and routes once held by

2907-517: The string of oases formed by the Kaouar cliffs in north east Niger. Food and supplies were carried from Agadez each November and March and traded for bricks of salt, condensed in the natron pits of oasis towns, and to a lesser extent, dates and vegetables. The salt was then generally traded for animal use in the Hausaland regions to the south. The Agadez–Bilma Taghlamt was historically a monopoly of

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2964-572: The town include Tuareg guitar player Bombino and his band Group Bombino , and Group Inerane . Mdou Moctar 's film, Akounak Teggdalit Taha Tazoughai , is set and filmed on location in Agadez. Agadez's air transport hub, Mano Dayak International Airport , was named after Mano Dayak , the Tuareg leader who is native to the region. The United States built Nigerien Air Base 201 , a dedicated drone airbase in Agadez from which it can more easily monitor terrorist activities in West and North Africa, and

3021-631: The trans-Saharan trade routes. Many West African states eventually adopted Arabic writing and the religion of North Africa, resulting in these states' absorption into the Muslim world . Ancient trade spanned the northeastern corner of the Sahara in the Naqadan era. Predynastic Egyptians in the Naqada I period traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the Western Desert to the west, and

3078-418: The transitional zone between the forest and the savanna; examples include Begho and Bono Manso (in present-day Ghana) and Bondoukou (in present-day Côte d'Ivoire ). Western trade routes continued to be important, with Ouadane , Oualata and Chinguetti being the major trade centres in what is now Mauritania, while the Tuareg towns of Assodé and later Agadez grew around a more easterly route in what

3135-506: Was linked to trans-Saharan trade. Islam spread via trade routes, and Africans converting to Islam increased trade and commerce which increased the trade's population. Historians give many reasons for the spread of Islam facilitating trade. Islam established common values and rules upon which trade was conducted. It created a network of believers who trust each other and therefore trade with each other even if they do not personally know each other. Such trade networks existed before Islam but on

3192-667: Was the easternmost of the central routes. The westernmost of the three central routes was the Ghadames Road , which ran from the Niger River at Gao north to Ghat and Ghadames before terminating at Tripoli . Next was the easiest of the three routes: the Garamantean Road, named after the former rulers of the land it passed through and also called the Bilma Trail . The Garamantean Road passed south of

3249-554: Was the furthermost extent of the Ottoman Empire on the African continent until the 19th century, before being occupied by the French colonial empire , though this claim has not been verified by historians. The city was ruled by the French from 1906. A rebellion by Kaocen Ag Mohammed occurred in 1916, but was defeated by French forces. The French, unable to effectively administer this remote region, ruled semi-indirectly via

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