Myth and Metrology

The Early Trans-Saharan Gold Trade

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8976336
AutoresTimothy F Garrard (University of California, Los Angeles, autor de correspondencia)
Año1982
Volumen23
Número4
Páginas443-461
Fecha de publicación1982-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853700021290
OpenAlexW2089041290
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas45
Referencias citadas32

Coins and weights provide evidence which can throw light on the origins of the trans-Saharan gold trade. Such a trade does not seem to have existed before the end of the third century a.d., but from 296 to 311 an irregular gold coinage was issued at Carthage, and by the end of the fourth century there were significant changes in the North African tax system to enable more gold to be collected. The solidus , a coin first issued in 312, provided the standard used for weighing gold-dust in the trans-Saharan trade, while copper, a major item of merchandise in that trade, was being imported to Jenne-Jeno by a.d. 400. This strongly suggests that the gold trade first assumed significance in the fourth century. The trade was evidently flourishing before the Arab conquest, for the Byzantine mint of Carthage produced a copious output of gold between 534 and 695. For weighing gold-dust, the standard based on the Roman ounce and the solidus was retained by the Arabs, and survived until the nineteenth century in the Western Sudan. It was also adopted by the Akan of Ghana and Ivory Coast, who made it the basis of their weight-system from about 1400 to 1900

Ancient history · Archaeology · Economic history · Fluid ounce (US · Geography · Gold coast · Gold standard (test · Political science · African Studies and Geopolitics · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History