Gold-Salt Trade

After the Mongols had conquered most of Asia, they turned their attention to Europe

However, Europe was very poor at this time and didn't offer much in wealth or tradeable goods

Gold could be found somewhere else, AFRICA!

For Decades, Northern African had mined Gold in the Atlas mountains.

The exact location of these gold mines are still not known.

This gold would be a welcome prize to the Mongolians, but there was also something even more valuable.

Another NATURAL RESOURCE found and traded in Northern Africa was SALT.

Salt was very important at this time because it was used to preserve food.

The process of using salt to preserve food is known as CURING.

The SALT would draw out the moisture of the food and slow its decay.

Timbuktu was the center of the Gold Salt Trade

Gold Miners from the North met with Salt Traders of the East and South to exchange goods.

This made Timbuktu very, very wealthy

The Gold-Salt Trade brought huge amounts of wealth to the Kingdom of Mali

Their King - Mansa Musa soon became one of the wealthiest individuals to ever live.

He was also very generous and his work helped the spread of Islam.

Islam would soon spread throughout Africa

Mansa Musa spread the Islamic faith and his wealth as he traveled across North Africa

He built several mosques and funded many schools

Much of what he accomplished was recorded by historians

IBN Battuta was one of the most famous historians of his time

He recorded everything he saw throughout the Islamic World.