7. The Songhai Empire - Africa's Age of Gold
Fall of Civilizations Podcast
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The Desert Trails
There were three main routes across the central sahara through most of its history, and they zigzagged between oases in the desert. An oasis was a spot where an aquafer or an underground river, often coupled with a layer of impermeable rock below the sand, caused fresh water to appear on the surface of the desert. These oases formed crucial stopping points along the trade routes over the desert. To day, travelling at high speed in a modern car, these trade routes would represent a non stop drive of over 70 hours. But for travellers in the middle ages, with their vast herds of camels, it took roughly two months to cross the desert.
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