Gold Salt Trade in West Africa Camille Carpenter

Why Trade Gold for Salt? In the 1300's, Africa had plenty of Gold, and

Where Did the Gold Come From? There were many gold mines in the forests

What Did They Need Salt For? To replace the salt lost in their bodies.

Where Did the Salt Come From? In the Sahara desert, they dug blocks of

How Did the Trade in Gold and Salt Happen? Caravans would come through and

Silent Barter The Arab traders and the Wangarans did not speak the same language.

The Arab traders would come back, see how much gold dust they left, and

Advantages of This Trade It allowed people who spoke different languages to conduct trades.

Sources http: //www. smithsonianeducation. org/educato rs/lesson_plans/currency/essay 2. html http: //africanhistory. about. com/od/kingdoms/s s/Sahara. Trade.

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Gold & Salt Trade in West Africa Camille Carpenter, Leevi Dunaway, Dalton Perkins, Emily Toombs

Why Trade Gold for Salt? In the 1300's, Africa had plenty of Gold, and had no use for it. They needed salt badly, and had none.

Where Did the Gold Come From? There were many gold mines in the forests south of Ghana in a place called Wangara. The Wangarans kept their gold mines a secret. No one today knows the location of the mines. Gold had little use other than for trade.

What Did They Need Salt For? To replace the salt lost in their bodies. To preserve foods. To feed their cattle. To flavor their food.

Where Did the Salt Come From? In the Sahara desert, they dug blocks of salt out of the ground

How Did the Trade in Gold and Salt Happen? Caravans would come through and pick up salt. They would travel through Ghana, and on to Wangara. Whenever the caravans passes through Ghana, they had to pay a fee in order to go over the borders. This is how the Kingdom of Ghana made most of its money.

Silent Barter The Arab traders and the Wangarans did not speak the same language. They used a system called “silent barter. ” The Arab traders came to a river in Wangara and spread their items out. Then they beat a drum to show that they had items ready to trade, and walked away from the area. Then the Wangarans would come and see what the traders left. They put some gold dust near the items, then beat a drum and left.

The Arab traders would come back, see how much gold dust they left, and decide if that was enough. If it was, the traders would take it and leave. If it wasn't, they would go away again and wait for the Wangarans to return and leave more gold.

Advantages of This Trade It allowed people who spoke different languages to conduct trades. It also let the Wangarans keep the secret of where their gold mines were located.

Sources http: //www. smithsonianeducation. org/educato rs/lesson_plans/currency/essay 2. html http: //africanhistory. about. com/od/kingdoms/s s/Sahara. Trade. Routes. htm http: //africa. mrdonn. org/goldandsalt. html