Throughout most of recorded history, North Africa has been an integral part of the Old World. It was only after the Arab conquest of North Africa, however, that Mediterranean traders began to cross the Sahara on a regular basis. The traders bore European and Arab goods south, returning with slaves, dates, olives, cotton, copper, and gold from the African interior.

Merchants moved their goods along the network of trans-Saharan trade routes by camel, donkey, and human porter. Donkey trains from the northern coast converged at inland centres on the Sahara's northern periphery, returning to the Mediterranean with African goods. The cargoes of European and Arab items, laden onto camels, continued southward across the desert to the northern edge of the Sahel. Here donkey trains again took up the burden. In the humid tropical rainforests of West Africa, human porters provided the final link in the transport chain.

The increasing volume and variety of items funnelled through Africa's Mediterranean ports enhanced the status of the ancient North African cities as trade centres. Commercial contacts across the Sahara also altered cultural adaptations in the west African hinterland, stimulating the growth of powerful chiefdoms like Mali.

Along with trade goods, the Islamic faith travelled south. A string of inland ports at the juncture of the Sahara and the Sahel gradually evolved into major trade exchange depots and centres of Islamic culture. In 1500, Mali’s capital boasted 6,000 dwellings, an Islamic school, and a number of mosques. According to Spanish explorer Hassan Ibn Mohammed, its numerous merchants were not only industrious, but also witty and refined. By the 1500s, the Songhai empire had usurped much of Mali's power and influence. Songhai's capital, Gao, bustled with commercial activity in the 1400s and Timbuktu enjoyed a reputation throughout the Muslim world as a centre of both scholarship and trade.

The Songhai Empire in the 15th century
© The Applied History Research Group

Hassan Ibn Mohammed's Description of Gao - late 15th century

The Old World also encompassed a string of urban centres along the continent’s east coast. In the 15th century, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Kilwa and Sofala, whose local cultures were a unique blend of Islamic Arab and indigenous African influences, were all important trade nodes in the ecumenical trading zone stretching across the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea into China. Along with Arabs, Persians, and Indians, traders and soldiers from Christian Ethiopia (Abyssinia) plied the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean with trade goods.

Map of Major African Trade Routes in the 15th Century

For the most part, the rich history of Africa’s vast southern hinterland unfolded somewhat independently of what was happening in the Old World. That is not to say, however, that the people of Africa’s southern interior and the Old World had no contact. The trade networks of the two regions intersected, and the goods and ideas that filtered across them affected cultures in both areas. During the 15th century, the Mwene Mutabe people of what is now Zimbabwe, for example, participated indirectly in the Indian Ocean trading sphere.