Trade routes of the Western Sahara c. 1000-1500. Goldfields are indicated by light brown shading.
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Map">Map</span></h2>
<p>Map data from: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.naturalearthdata.com/">http://www.naturalearthdata.com/</a> 1:50m data
Projection: Equirectangular - Lat/Long - plate carrée
</p><p>Map limits:
</p>
<ul><li>N: 38N</li>
<li>S: 3N</li>
<li>E: 12E</li>
<li>W: 18W</li></ul><p>Software:
</p>
<ul><li>Grass GIS 6.4.1</li>
<li>Inkscape 0.48.1</li></ul><p>Scaled x30 in Inkscape to give 30 pixels per degree.
</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Routes">Routes</span></h2>
<p>The routes shown are based those given by Mauny 1961. Mauny gives maps for three periods: 8th-10th centuries on page 429, 11th-13th on page 430 and after the 14th century on page 434. The position of the goldfields is based on Mauny 1961 page 295.
</p><p>Levtzion has published a map of the trade routes both in Levtzion 1973 and in Levtzion &amp; Hopkins 1981. The map shows Tahert (modern Tiaret in Algeria) to the south of Tlemcen. In fact Tahert should be to the East and slightly to the North of Tlemcen. The map also shows Tamentit on the Draa River. In fact Tamentit is one of the oases of Tuat – and instead the town of Tamdoult (Tamdult) lay near Akka to the north of the Draa.
</p><p>A map showing trade routes (10th to 16th centuries) is given in Cuoq 1975 on page 11. This map repeats the error made by Levtzion 1973 in placing Tahert to the south of Tlemcen.
</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Toponyms">Toponyms</span></h2>
<p>Assumptions:
</p>
<ul><li>the capital of Ghana was at Koumbi Saleh</li>
<li>Takedda was at Azelik</li>
<li>Aoudaghost was at Tegdaoust</li></ul><p>The Malian capital has not been included - there is no consensus on the location.
</p><p>Orthography:
</p>
<ul><li>Aoudaghost - Awdaghost - Awdaghust</li>
<li>Araouane   - Araouane - Arawan</li>
<li>Ouadane    - Ouadane - Wadan</li>
<li>Oualata    - Oualata - Walata</li>
<li>Ouargla    - Wargla - Wargala</li>
<li>Sijilmasa  - Sidjilmassa - Sijilmasa</li></ul><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span></h2>
<ul><li><cite class="book" style="font-style:normal" id="Reference-Cuoq-1975">Cuoq, Joseph M., translator and editor (1975)    (in french)  <i> Recueil des sources arabes concernant l'Afrique occidentale du VIIIe au XVIe siècle (Bilād al-Sūdān)</i>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Paris" class="extiw" title="w:en:Paris"><span title="capital and most populous city of France">Paris</span></a>:  Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, p. 11  <small></small></cite>. Reprinted in 1985 with corrections and additional texts, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/2222017181" title="Special:BookSources/2222017181">ISBN 2222017181</a>.</li>
<li><cite class="book" style="font-style:normal" id="Reference-Levtzion-1973">Levtzion, Nehemia (1973)      <i> Ancient Ghana and Mali</i>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:London" class="extiw" title="w:en:London"><span title="capital and largest city of the United Kingdom">London</span></a>:  Methuen, pp. 138−139  <small><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" class="extiw" title="en:International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a>:  <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0841904316" title="Special:BookSources/0841904316">0841904316</a>. </small></cite>. Reprinted 1980.</li>
<li><cite class="book" style="font-style:normal">(2000) <i> Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West Africa</i>, Marcus Weiner, p. xxii  <small><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" class="extiw" title="en:International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a>:  <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-55876-241-8" title="Special:BookSources/1-55876-241-8">1-55876-241-8</a>. </small></cite>. First published in 1981 by Cambridge University Press, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0521224225" title="Special:BookSources/0521224225">ISBN 0521224225</a>.</li>
<li><cite class="book" style="font-style:normal" id="Reference-Mauny-1961">Mauny, Raymond (1961)    (in french)  <i> Tableau géographique de l'ouest africain au moyen age, d’après les sources écrites, la tradition et l'archéologie</i>, Institut français d'Afrique Noire, pp. 426−432  <small></small></cite>.</li></ul><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Further_reading">Further reading</span></h2>
<ul><li><cite class="book" style="font-style:normal" id="Reference-Devisse-1988">Devisse, J. (1988)   el Fasi,  M. , ed.   <i> General History of Africa Volume 3: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century</i>, University of California Press, pp. 367−435  <small><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" class="extiw" title="en:International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a>:  <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0520039149" title="Special:BookSources/0520039149">0520039149</a>. </small></cite>. Includes a map of the Sahara showing isohytes and schematic diagrams of the trade routes with the number of stages specified by Ibn Hawkal, al-Bakri and al-Idrisi.</li></ul>
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Aa77zz&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="User:Aa77zz (page does not exist)">Aa77zz</a>
2011-08-05
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>