Trans-Saharan Slave Trade across the Sahel and Maghreb (c. 7th–19th centuries)

1. Baqt treaty formalizes slave tribute to Egypt

   May 1, 652Labels: Baqt treaty, Makuria, Egypt

   • Medieval Nubia
   • Baqt

2. Sijilmasa founded as a northern Saharan entrepôt

   Jan 1, 757Labels: Sijilmasa, Morocco, Saharan entrep

   • Sijilmasa

3. Awdaghust documented as key Sahel trade town

   Jan 1, 890Labels: Awdaghust, Sahel, caravan town

   • Aoudaghost

4. Almoravids seize Saharan route endpoints

   Jan 1, 1054Labels: Almoravids, Awdaghust, Sijilmasa

   • Almoravid dinar
   • Almoravids Kumbi

5. Almoravid attack pressures Ghana’s trade system

   Jan 1, 1076Labels: Almoravids, Ghana Empire, Kumbi Saleh

   • Almoravids Kumbi

6. Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage spotlights Mali’s wealth

   Jan 1, 1324Labels: Mansa Musa, Mali, pilgrimage

   • OpenStax

7. Songhai consolidates Niger trade cities

   Jan 1, 1468Labels: Songhai Empire, Gao, Timbuktu

   • Britannica
   • Songhai Empire

8. Kanem-Bornu scales up captive exports northward

   Jan 1, 1490Labels: Kanem-Bornu, Bornu, slave exports

   • OpenStax

9. Mai Idris Aloma militarizes Bornu’s slave-raiding frontier

   Jan 1, 1570Labels: Mai Idris, Bornu, militarization

   • OpenStax
   • Kanem Bornu

10. Moroccan victory at Tondibi collapses Songhai

    Mar 13, 1591Labels: Battle of, Morocco, Songhai

    • Tondibi
    • Timbuktu Pashalik

11. Bornu–Fezzan–Tripoli route intensifies in the 1700s

    Jan 1, 1750Labels: Bornu Road, Fezzan, Tripoli

    • Springer

12. Sokoto jihad creates a new slave-raiding state system

    Feb 21, 1804Labels: Sokoto Caliphate, Usman dan, jihad

    • Dan Fodio Jihad
    • Sokoto

13. Tunisia issues decree abolishing slavery

    Jan 1, 1846Labels: Tunisia, Ahmad Bey, abolition decree

    • UNESCO

14. Brussels Conference Act targets African slave trading

    Jul 2, 1890Labels: Brussels Act, international conference, anti-slavery

    • Brussels Act
    • Brussels Conf