Traders, Nomades and Slaves

Since ancient times, goods have been transported from Africa’s interior to the Mediterranean ports. For centuries, the economic life of the Mediterranean coast, from the Sahara to Sudan, was determined by a network of trade relations, which consisted of traditional trans-Saharan caravan trading.


Jacqueline Passon
Up to the end of the eighteenth century, Africa's interior was still considered a terra incognita for Europe. The descriptions of ancient historians and geographers as well as reports from Arabian travellers lay the groundwork for that which was known in Europe about this region. The motivation of the systematic collection of this region was primarily trade policy interests, next to the scientific exploration by the Europeans over the course of their travels. With the independence of North America and the increasing industrialisation in the second half of the nineteenth century, Europe's interest in Africa grew as did its resources. The African back country was largely unoccupied up until 1880. The continent was the primary objective of the new imperialistic expansion of European powers. In particular, explorers from Europe embarked on expeditions over the course of the nineteenth century. These led them into the interior of the continent. Many explorers travelled on behalf of so-called African societies. The African Association in London, which was Features identified on the map include dunes, dry valleys as well as Arab caravan routes, and towns and oases. Hundreds of researchers have attempted to explore the landscapes as well as the different cultures that are found within this part of the world. Many of them lost their lives (Furlong 1909, 174) absorbed in 1831 by the Royal Geographical Society, is worth mentioning as a driving force in this process. Apart from a geographical thirst for knowledge, there were primarily political and commercial interests among the members. 2 Sir John Sinclair, member of the committee of the Association, said about the legendary city of Timbuktu: "… gold is there so plentiful as to adorn even the slaves … If we could get our manufactures into that country we should soon have gold enough". 3 So next to travellers being dispatched, the African Association also tried to win over the British government in order to facilitate the development of the continent. As a result, European travellers consciously or subconsciously became the forerunners of the colonial annexation.
The era of the European scientific exploration was initiated by the German Friedrich Hornemann, who travelled on behalf of the British African Association. He succeeded in laying down the first paths according to an itinerary through the deserts. The starting point of his journey was Cairo. In order not to stick out or come under the suspicion of being a spy, he took on the identity of a Mameluke. He then established contact with caravan traders and pilgrims so that he could join a caravan on 5 September 1798 that used the north-south route, a significant pilgrimage route between Cairo and Timbuktu. The route he took ran from Cairo via the famous oases of Siwa and Audjila. He then crossed the basalt volcanic area of Harudj al Aswad via Tmissah into the trading metropolis of Murzuq. From there, he travelled southwards and reached Bornu and Nupe, where he presumably died. The findings of his journey from Cairo to Murzuq are recorded in a diary, in which Hornemann described the geographical location of the Fazzan as well as the environmental conditions. In his diary, he also included a historical overview of the political situation of the Fazzan at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century as well as a description of the population in this area. 4 Despite the tragic end of the first travellers of the African Association-next to Hornemann, the Englishman John Ledyard and Major Houghton, and the Scotsman Mungo Park also paid with their lives-the British government decided to make a new attempt and sent the Britons George Francis Lyon and Joseph Ritchie to Tripoli in 1818. They had the task of making a new attempt to penetrate Africa's interior. In the process, both men chose the classic caravan route from Tripolitania into Sudan and first travelled from Tripoli via Suknah to Murzuq, where they met on 4 May 1819 and where Ritchie died a few months later. Lyon made a journey through the oases in Fezzan and arrived at Tajahri via Zawilah and al Qatrun (see From Murzuq to al Qatrun). Lyon's recordings about Murzuq rank among the most detailed ones of the early nineteenth century. His journey provided new insights into the cartography of North Africa. 5 With the detailed recordings from Hornemann and Lyon, which not only described travel routes, Murzuq and Fezzan, but also recorded all information about Sudan that was available at the time, the British travellers Walter Oudney, Hugh Clapperton and Dixon Denham embarked on their journey. The travellers also chose Tripoli as a starting point and set out to Murzuq in February 1822. Clapperton and Oudney made an attempt to reach the oasis of Ghat, which had not yet been accessed by any Europeans.
In winter 1822, all three explorers set out on the difficult march southwards with a stately caravan of over 100 men. They reached the Tummo springs via the oases of al Qatrun, Tajarhi and the Musciuru wells. They made their way via Bilma and Agadem to Lake Chad, upon the banks of which Oudney died in June 1824. Denham travelled on to the Sultanate Bagirmi alone. After the death of his companion Oudney, Clapperton moved on westwards to the Sokoto Caliphate. He returned to England in 1825 with Denham. Thus, Sudan had been reached through crossing the desert, and Lake Chad had been discovered. 6 The secret of Timbuktu, however, where still no European had set foot, continued. The zeitgeist of romanticism offered a fertile ground for the writings of Ibn Battuta or Leo Africanus. In Europeans' minds an idealised vision of a rich and mysterious city, that could easily have emerged from the tales of the "Arabian Nights", was born. That is why the British government sent out a subsequent explorer, Alexander Gordon Laing. As with his predecessors, the young man also chose to begin his journey through the Sahara at Tripoli. In August 1826, he entered Timbuktu, where he was murdered near the city, two months later.
Timbuktu was undoubtedly a focal point of the caravan traffic and a centre of Arab culture. However, the existence of magnificent palaces with gold-covered roofs belonged to the realm of myth. It is easy to imagine that there was a great disappointment when Réné Caillié, the first European to return alive from Timbuktu in 1828, reported of a rather decrepit town of mud brick, which was located in a sandy desert. The French explorer was accused by the critics of having never even been in Timbuktu. Finally, all doubts were swept away only decades later when Heinrich Barth, a German historian, visited the town. He finally was able to verify the account that Caillié had sent back. This anecdote shows the high expectations on the part of national governments, and incidentally, it illustrates how much the explorers were tied to colonial ideas. 7 Due to its topographical location, Tripoli seemed to be the best entry point to the Sahara. An important milestone for the explorers on the way to Africa's interior was the oasis of Murzuq, the capital of Fezzan. However, often months went by before a good opportunity arose to continue the journey. Many explorers utilised this involuntary waiting period for an in-depth exploration of the landscape. In 1850, one of the most famous research groups was stuck in Murzuq too. James Richardson, who had already travelled in 1845 from Ghadamis to Ghat and had brought valuable news regarding trans-Saharan trading, was sent out again by the British government to explore the caravan routes of the Sahara. At the same time, people in London hoped that Richardson may be able to acquire potential trade associations for Great Britain. On this expedition, Richardson was accompanied by the German explorers Heinrich Barth and Adolf Overweg. The first milestone of the journey was Murzuq. But the travellers used a different route than the one that Richardson had used four years earlier on his way back to Tripoli. They decided against taking the easier way via Suknah and chose to cross the Hamadah al Hamra, a barren stone desert instead. They were the first Europeans to travel this route, which was shorter but much more difficult. After a very difficult one-week march via Mizdah and al Qaryah al-Gharbiya (see From Tripoli to Mizdah), the travellers reached Murzuq, where they immediately began preparations for their journey to Ghat and into the still unknown Aïr massif, which was approximately one thousand kilometres south of Ghat as the crow flies. The negotiations with the Tuareg for a safe escort on their journey progressed slowly. It was not until four months after their departure from Tripoli that the explorers reached Ghat and continued their journey into the Aïr massif. But only Barth returned home; both of his colleagues died on the way. 8 At first, Barth's fate in Europe was unknown. For this reason, the German astronomer Eduard Vogel was commissioned with the clarification of the matter. Via Murzuq, al Gatrun, Bir Tummo and Bilma, he reached Lake Chad at the beginning of 1854. This was his third time crossing the central Sahara. On his journey, the young scholar performed numerous astronomical localisations, which were of great benefit for cartography. He also made meteorological, magnetic and geological observations. Finally, at the end of 1854, he met up with Heinrich Barth. Then they parted their ways forever. Vogel was murdered in Wadai in 1856.
Heinrich Barth returned to Germany, where he published a comprehensive work consisting of 3500 pages. He had gathered such an enormous amount of information about North Africa that his sponsor and promoter Alexander von Humboldt stated that Barth opened up a new continent to the European scientific community. His meticulous descriptions of the journey from Tripoli via Murzuq and Ghat into the Aïr Mountains were pioneering in the field of research of African cultures, and he was the first European to characterise them, extensively and mostly without prejudice. He delivered a comprehensive history of the region, detailed descriptions of the social structure of the Tuareg and completed his descriptions with sketches and regional maps. In his last few years of life, the German acted as the advisor for the young generation of explorers such as Gerhard Rohlfs or Henri Duveyrier, who were to continue his initiated scientific exploitation of the black continent. 9 The Frenchman Henri Duveyrier built on Barth's research of the northern Tuareg and collected a great amount of ethnographical and historical data. Since 1859, Duveyrier had undertaken many trips to Algeria, Tunis and the Libyan Fezzan. He succeeded in making friends with the leaders of the Tuareg in the Tassili n'Ajjer (southern Libya), namely with their political leader Ikhenukhen and the religious leader Sidi Uthman (see From Ghadamis to Inazar and Adiri). Together with them, he moved from Ghadamis to Ghat, reached Murzuq in 1861 and then travelled in small segments to Tripoli. In doing so, he followed a route that no explorer had yet travelled before, but which also proved to be a long and difficult one. 10 Barth and Duveyrier's journeys received a huge response in Europe. The Fezzan, the great axis of Tripoli to Chad, and the legendary Timbuktu oasis were now known and described. Between 1864 and 1880, new researchers emerged, especially including the Germans Moritz von Beurmann, Gerhard Rohlfs and Gustav Nachtigal. In 1862, Moritz von Beurmann travelled from Benghazi to Murzuq via Audjila and Zillah, where he was the first European to set foot (see From Zillah to Murzuq). In Murzuq, endless negotiations hindered the continuation of his journey. He used the waiting period to design a map of this caravan melting pot and became the first white man to enter the mysterious oasis of Wau al-Kebir. A year later, he was murdered in Wadai. 11 Gerhard Rohlfs has the merit of having walked the greatest width of the desert from the Atlantic Ocean to Egypt and the greatest length from Tripoli to Lake Chad. His travels in the region of present-day Libya led him from Tripoli to Murzuq via Ghadamis in 1865. He used his five-month-long stay to thoroughly study the political and economic situation of the Fezzan region. Upon continuing his journey, he reached Sokoto via Kuka, the capital of the Bornu Empire. Finally, in May 1867, he reached Lagos on the Atlantic coast. In 1869, he began his journey from Cyrenaika and travelled through the Libyan Desert to Egypt. The Libyan Desert, which makes up the eastern region of the Sahara between Fezzan and the Nile Valley, belongs to the hyper-arid regions of the earth. There are no nomads here. Human life can only be found in the few oases. In the heart of this desert, there is a group of oases, the most significant of which is al Kufrah. For a long time, the unfavourable climatic conditions constituted an insurmountable obstacle for European researchers. The caravans that travelled through this region had to go without water for up to ten days on some routes. In 1878, Rohlfs embarked on another expedition on behalf of the African Association. This time he succeeded in actually becoming the first European to reach al Kufrah. With that, another white spot on the map was filled. 12 Another important person in researching the Sahara is Gustav Nachtigal, who travelled through the Sahara between 1869 and 1874. He had set himself the goal of reaching Wadai. First, his travels led him from Tripoli to Murzuq. There, he, like many of his researcher colleagues, used the waiting period and took a trip into the mountainous country of Tibesti, which had never before been travelled by a European. He gathered countless amounts of data, described the city of Murzuq, the geographical nature of the Fezzan region, its history and demographic structure, climate and diseases, etc. 13 On his journey, Nachtigal continuously ran into an extraordinary woman. Alexandrine Tinné, a rich Dutch woman, who had made travelling her life's fulfilment and who was dreaming of exploring the sources of the River Nile. Her first expedition (1862-1864) started in Cairo and ended tragically and without the discovery of any sources. On that expedition, her mother died as did her aunt, one scientist and two servants. At the beginning of 1869, she arranged a new expedition in order to become the first female European to cross the Sahara. Together with two Dutch seamen, a few released slaves, Algerian women and a young German, Adolf Krause, she left Tripoli with the goal of reaching Lake Chad. Next, Tinné and her travelling companions reached Murzuq, where she waited for a caravan with which she could travel through the Sahara. Krause left the group and returned to Tripoli, which was a stroke of luck for him. As a result, the young German was able to create a detailed historical evaluation of the Fezzan region. He also described the city of Ghat as well as its inhabitants and history. The meticulous descriptions of the Tuareg tribes and the drawings, illustrating the trade situation in the nineteenth century, are attributed to him. Tinné's second expedition was not very lucky either. On her journey towards Ghat, she took the same route that Heinrich Barth had taken before her. But only a few days after departure, Tinné was murdered (see from Murzuq to Ghat) ( Fig. 3.2). 14 Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the time of great discoveries by individual pioneers was over. The Sahara entered a political phase. The era of mavericks, who usually had a scientific goal, was now replaced by "state expeditions", which were systematically organised and equipped with a substantial amount of resources.

Jacqueline Passon
By analysing maps and descriptions of Arab as well as of European historians, geographers and travellers of the Middle Ages and the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, two routes would be ranked among the most important connections through the desert, both of which started in Tripoli: the western route led from Tripoli via Ghadamis, Ghat, Agadez and Zinder to Kano, a province of the Sokoto Caliphate (northern Nigeria). The other more eastern route ran from Tripoli directly southwards via Murzuq and Kuwar into the Bornu Empire and Kanem (Lake Chad). Numerous back roads and connecting paths run through present-day Libya. 15 The "Bornu route", as the great trans-Saharan caravan route between Murzuq and the Lake Chad region was called in the nineteenth century, played an extraordinarily significant role in the transport network. In the middle of the second century AD, Ptolemies had already provided the first reference to this route in his report about an army of the king of the Garamantes in the sub-Saharan country of Agisymba. According to the records of the ancient chroniclers, between 83 and 92 AD, the king attempted to bring the black African inhabitants of the country under his rule again, who he regarded as his subjects. Punic slave hunters from Carthage had probably set up one or more bases in the Chad Lake region long before this, from which Agisymba eventually arose. Due to its relatively short and comparably easy access, the Bornu route developed into the most durable and most actively used trade route between the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa.
According to current research activities, it can be assumed that trading had already developed between the Mediterranean and central Africa in ancient times. 16 From the early Middle Ages, a series of powerful empires arose in the sub-Saharan area, which is called Sudan. Trade brought Sudanic rulers the means of consolidating and extending their powers. Existing trade relations had been intensified. A consequence of this development was a dense network of connections between the Mediterranean world and Sudan by the end of the eleventh century. Traffic along the different routes continued then over the centuries. It always depended on the security of the Fezzan and the central desert. Until the end of the medieval Islamic period, trade was under the control of Kanem and then switched to Bornu, of which Kanem became a province. 17 After the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the rising power of Bornu needed to ensure the security and continuity of the trans-Saharan trade on which the prosperity of the state and the prestige of its rulers depended. Intensive contacts with Tripoli were established. 18 During the nineteenth century, when wars raged among Bornu and Wadai, many merchants were forced to shift their operations to other routes across the Sahara. Consequently, part of the traffic along the Bornu Road was diverted into a new route which ran between Wadai, al Kufrah and Benghazi. Trade flowed also along the route between Kano.
The European explorers went directly on the trade or pilgrim routes. They did not explore any new routes, but rather stuck to the already established routes, primarily used by traders and caravans but also used by pilgrims and herdsmen. This was mostly due to the fact that the travellers were dependent on guides. The routes understandably followed the topographically most appropriate conditions, led from well to well and connected the most important oases (see Navigating the white spot).

Ibadi Trade
The transport of goods across the Sahara has been organised thoroughly. Between the ports of the Mediterranean Sea, the oases of Fezzan, so-called inland ports, and the political and economic centres of Sudan an intense network of relations had emerged. According to the writings of early Arab geographers, trans-Saharan trade in the Middle Ages was operated by trading enterprises of Ibadi Berbers from Fezzan. Their main entrepôt was situated at the oasis of Zawilah. Its favourable situation on the main road northwards to Tripolitania, which here crossed the important pilgrim route from Cairo to Timbuktu, made the market site develop soon. It became the centre of trade activities from the eighth until the twelfth centuries. The Ibadi Berbers of Fezzan created a trading network that was firmly linked with Ibadi communities of the Jabal al Nafusah as well as with centres of Ibadi communities in central Sudan. 19 Al Yaqubi provides in his Book of the Countries (Kitab al Buldan), which he completed in 889-890, the earliest insight into the political history of Sudan. For Zawilah, he reveals that various people from Khurasan, Basra and Kufa were living there. 20 The book conveys the image of a vibrant oasis gathering people from different parts of the Islamic world. Those people might be Ibadi traders from the east, who sought refuge among the Ibadi communities of the Maghrib. 21 This Ibadi fusion has in turn provided the basis for a successful long-distance trade network and thus for the rapid economic expansion. Ibadi commercial expertise was combined with the indigenous tribesmen's knowledge. This resulted in a monopoly of the eastern and central Saharan routes, which obviously crossed Ibadi towns. This ensured the economic underpinnings of the Ibadi community. 22 Apart from the Berbers, the Jewish community were relevant players in trans-Saharan trading. From a widely extended network of far-flung trading posts such as Tripoli, Misratah, Sirte, Ajdabiya, Darna, Tolmeta, Ghadamis and the Jabal al Nafusah, they coordinated their commercial activities. 23 As members of a trans-territorial diasporic society, Jews played an important role, both as traders and intercultural mediators, since antiquity.
The thirteenth century proved to be a time of enormous political and economic change. With Kanem's expansion into Fezzan, the Africans took control over the central Saharan caravan routes. This domination gave control of the north-south trade and the east-west trade between Egypt and the west Sudanic empires. In the fifteenth century, Bornu, situated west of Lake Chad, became a leading power. To ensure security and continuity of the trans-Saharan trade, the Bornu kings maintained cordial relations with Tripoli, which controlled the northern trade routes. 24 As Wright points out, the Sudanic empires relied on the Saharan nomads for the organisation, guidance and protection of the trading caravans. The economies of the nomads, the oasis dwellers and settled communities north and south of the desert are largely complementary. This is because each group was able to supply necessities the others lacked. In the central Sahara, the nomadic Tubu families, who have long maintained complex trading relationships, provided the essential contact between these different markets and demands. In the northern Sahara, trade activities were controlled and protected in particular by the Tuareg. By the Arab Middle Ages, patterns of international trade had evolved across the central Sahara. It was based on nomadic knowledge, practices and contacts extending from Sudan to Fezzan and to the Mediterranean coast. 25 Looking back in history, it can be said that since the times of antiquity, a dense network of trade and pilgrim routes had formed in the central Sahara, on which trading stations were strung together one after the other. Trans-Saharan trade was a guarantee for the well-being of these places. If trade disappeared, these commercial centres would suffer a decline, as was the fate of the important centres of Garama (Jarmah) and Zawilah. Goods from central Africa were accumulated in Garama (Jarmah), located in the Wadi al Ajal and were then brought to the ports in the north, where first the Phoenicians, and later the Romans, carried on trading the goods. The Arabic invasion in the seventh century probably spelled the end for Garama (Jarmah). At this time, another location, Zawilah, rose to become one of the most important inland ports of the central Sahara. Zawilah advanced to become a multicultural centre of the medieval Fezzan. The merchants of Zawilah, Ibadite Berbers (Ibadis) from the Nafusah Mountains and from Khurasan, Basra or al Kufah, had a monopoly over trade in the central Sahara between the eighth and thirteenth centuries. Due to close contacts-and family ties as well-with the Jabal al Nafusah, Ghadamis and the Levant, as well as the cooperation with the Jewish merchants who, on their part, had widely ramified contacts in the entire Mediterranean area, it became possible to control the import-export business.
This changed after the kingdom of Kanem put Fezzan under its control and made Taraghin its capital. Zawilah gradually lost its position and finally sank into insignificance in the sixteenth century with the rise of the Awlad Muhammad dynasty. Murzuq now grew into a trading hub in Fezzan. Into the early twentieth century, the inland ports of Ghadamis, Murzuq and Ghat remained the distribution centres. Goods from Africa's interior were stockpiled here and later transported to the ports of the north, above all to Tripoli, where they were traded further in the Ottoman Empire or in Europe. In doing so, the traders acted as mediators between different worlds. 26 The basic conditions throughout the Sahara were characterised by a lack of political stability and regional security. For ages, the Sahara has been portrayed as a more or less unstable area where economic activity was based on trans-Saharan or regional caravans. These caravans have been described as an ephemeral entity, formed on an ad hoc basis, by a group of travellers, merchants and others in response to seasonal trading opportunities. 27 It is often thought that little, if any, technological change has occurred in the organisation of camel caravans across the centuries.
What are the transitional questions that arise in this context? Hence, it is interesting to ask who were the traders and how could long-distance trade be conducted successfully when political stability and regional security could not be guaranteed?

The Ghadamis "Trade Diaspora"
Since the Middle Ages, the Ghadamis traders had established themselves not only in Timbuktu, but also in other strongholds along the important caravan route to Kano, with branches and secondary residences and had created a so-called trade diaspora. This can be defined as dispersed communities of traders living as minorities in a foreign culture. Their purpose was to facilitate cross-cultural trade. 28 Duveyrier noted that Ghadamis firms "have branches at Kano and Katsina in the Sudan, in Timbuktu on the Niger, in Ghat and in Sallah in the central Sahara, and in Tripoli and Tunis on the Mediterranean shore". 29 Al Hachaichi, an Arab traveller, who had visited Ghadamis in the 1890s, adds to his descriptions a detailed list with residences of the Ghadamis traders, 30 who lived and worked in a "trade diaspora" outside of Ghadamis. The advantage of a "trade diaspora", which was also open to other North African traders, consisted of the creation of a common trading culture in areas where the traders were strangers. This made access to new source and target markets considerably easier. 31 To finance desert trade, the Ghadamis traders, who, according to Barth, had invested their entire capital in trading companies, 32 cooperated with merchants from Tripoli. The wholesale merchants based in Tripoli, which were represented mainly by Jews of Italian origin and had been established for centuries in the Medina of Tripoli, managed the goods of the large trading firms from Europe. 33 According to the British consul Fraser, Christian and Jewish agents in Tripoli imported trade goods and sold them on to "the Moorish merchants of Tripoli who transported them In Land". 34 The wholesalers from Tripoli as well as their colleagues from Ghadamis as middlemen closed the gaps between two different worlds. The merchants from Tripoli advanced the goods they received from European companies to the Ghadamis traders on a credit basis. They, in turn, had to repay their debts with products from Sudan. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the merchants from Tripoli and Ghadamis controlled a considerable part of the import-export business between western Sudan and the North African coast. In doing so, they had established a system similar to that of a bank, which permitted financial transactions between the coast and the African interior on the basis of checks and letters of credit. 35 Major Alexander Laing reported: "They calculate with profound nicety the expense of carriage to distant countries, duties or customs risks, trouble and the percentage that their goods will bear, and even do business by Bills or written agreements or promises". 36 When one specifically looks at the route between Tripoli and Kano, on which the traders from Ghadamis controlled the trade, the settlements of Ghadamis, Ghat and Agadez served as so-called inland ports. At the seasonal markets that took place there, goods were either sold, exchanged, or the freight was unpacked and repacked and transported further to the south or to the north, respectively, by newly formed caravans. The task of the Ghadamis traders consisted first in arranging the transportation of the goods from Europe to Ghat. 37 Richardson reports in 1845 that a large caravan departed in November from Ghadamis in order to trade goods from Kano. For this purpose, the Ghadamis traders went to Ghat, where they met the caravans travelling from Kano to the north, which primarily transported slaves, senna leaves and ivory. At the market in Ghat, there was always a colourful hustle and bustle. 38 Besides the caravans from Kano, there were also other caravans arriving in Ghat from all the different cardinal points, as Richardson wrote in the winter of 1845: "Caravans from Soudan, including all the large cities, but especially from Kanou, from Bornou, from the Tibboo country, from Touat, from Fezzan, from Souf, from Ghadames, and from Tripoli, Tunis, and the North coast, visited the Ghat Souk of this winter. The number of merchants, traders, and camel-drivers was about 500, the slaves imported from Soudan to Bornou about 1000, and the camels employed in the caravans about 1050. Provision caravans from Fezzan also were constantly coming to Ghat during the Souk. The main commerce of these caravans consisted of the staple exports, of slaves, elephants' teeth, and senna, the united value of which, at the market this year, was estimated at about 60,000 lb, which value would be doubled, on arriving at the European markets". 39 Ghat was, compared to the other centres in the Sahara, a relatively small settlement. It had a population of a few thousands. However, during the market times, the population of the oasis increased several times over. The market flourished in the nineteenth century because Ghat was an ideal trans-shipment point. This can be seen not only in relation to the good connections, which were maintained with the trade source markets and the Tuaregs, but also due to the fact that the oasis, until its occupation by the Turks in 1875, was not subservient to any foreign power and as a result thereof not subject to taxes.
In Ghat, there were two forms of a market. The seasonal markets, which usually took place twice a year, namely in the winter and in the summer, were held in front of the gates to the oasis and lasted for three months each. The inside of the oasis did not have sufficient space for the traders and their goods, and this is why the seasonal markets were held in front of the eastern door of the oasis. Ghat was one of those inland ports where the caravans exchanged their goods, stocked up their supplies and took a rest for a while before continuing on. As a rule, the caravans were divided here. Part of the caravans continued further to the north towards Tripoli or Murzuq, and the other part went back to the respective areas of origin after the goods had been exchanged with the numerous traders from the north. The Ghadamis traders now operated from here in two ways: they either transferred the goods on a credit basis to employed persons or agents, so that they could transport them farther to the south, or they exchanged or sold the goods in order to return to Tripoli and settle their debts there. The procedure depended on the liquidity of the traders. Since the travel to and from Ghat to the source markets in Sudan and back to Tripoli could last from one-and-a-half to three years, the Ghadamis traders themselves had to possess sufficient financial resources if they wanted to send the goods to Sudan. 40 It is clear from the descriptions as well as from interviews with elders that the market in Ghat became a place where intensive processes of negotiation took place. It was necessary to negotiate the formation of new caravans and consider the conditions for the onward journey. The oasis was a meeting place for the tribes that had settled in the area. The Tuareg rented or sold the camels they did not need and offered camel herders and guides. The price for these services, as well as the amount of the "protective duty" that had to be paid, was negotiated in Ghat. An important part of the success of the traders from Ghadamis is based on the close cooperation with the Tuareg, in particular with the Adjer Tuaregs or the Kel Ewey. 41 Geographical proximity, and the acting within eyesight, led to the formation of common business practices and trust. For the negotiations, this meant that they could take place more smoothly and also more quickly. Over time, it became evident that the Adjer Tuareg were responsible primarily for the route segments between Ghadamis, Ghat and Iferwan in the northern Aïr Mountains. Contracts with Kel Ewey were then negotiated in Iferwan. Based on them, they ultimately accompanied the caravans to Kano or to other towns of the Hausa countries-predominantly Hausa-speaking communities were scattered throughout West Africa. Overall, the Tuaregs mainly worked in the services sector of the caravan trade. However, there are also indications that some of them had been engaged as traders and in the micro-financing business of the trade, especially between Zinder and Ghat. They received credits for these ventures on the market in Ghat.
The middlemen in Tripoli tended to be a thorn in the side of some European wholesalers. With the expansion of trade since the 1870s, it appeared that there were attempts on the part of some European companies to bypass the wholesalers from Tripoli and to establish their own branches there. Some companies established themselves directly in Tripoli in order to be able to control the import-export business. Generally, it should be emphasised that nothing had changed in the trading network, which had been established for centuries, and had spread from Europe through the stations of Tripoli, Ghadamis, Ghat and the target and source areas in western Sudan (Bilad as-Sudan). 42

Murzuq-Diversified Market in "Blad
Elhemah", Country of Fever Murzuq functioned both as an entrepôt and also as the terminus of the trans-Saharan trade. However, unlike Ghadamis, there was no layer of traders domiciled here who called Murzuq home. Traders from different ethnicities came together here, in the oasis, in order to trade, but not to invest their money: in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were Arab merchants from Tripoli, Suknah, Jalu, Aguila and Egypt, traders from Bornu and the Hausa countries, as well as Europeans. 43 The traders from Suknah represented the largest group. They managed the trade traffic between Tripoli and Murzuq. Just like the other traders, they had established secondary residences here, but their capital was elsewhere. 44 It is not surprising when, in the 1850s, Heinrich Barth reported that Murzuq was "rather the thoroughfare than the seat of a considerable commerce, the whole annual value of imports and exports amounting, in a round sum, to 100,000 Spanish dollars; and the place, therefore, is usually in great want of money, the foreign merchants, when they have sold their merchandise carrying away its price in specie, the Mejabera to Jalu, the Tebu to Bilma and Bornu, the people of Tawat (Tuat) to their respective homes". He then added, "[…] few of the principal merchants of the place are natives". 45 Between 1550 and 1812, Fezzan was under the supreme authority of the Awlad Muhammad dynasty, which had established its capital in Murzuq. From the sixteenth century on, Murzuq served as a hub for the trans-Saharan trade on the Bornu route between Lake Chad and Tripoli. According to the description of Ibn Ghalbun, a local historian, as well as the German traveller Friedrich Hornemann, a large part of the economic foundation of the Fezzanian state was to collect taxes from the caravans which crossed Fezzan. As compensation, it offered a secure market and accommodation for the night. In addition, the traders could get new camels or hire a new guide in Murzuq. The tribe of Awlad Sulayman made one more attempt to participate in this successful domination between 1830 and 1842, but it was only of short duration. After the chief of the clan was murdered in 1842 by the Ottomans, this domination over Fezzan ended and the Turkish Pasha in Tripoli took control over Fezzan. 46 The caravan season ran in the same way as in Ghat or in the other oases: every winter, one large caravan from Bornu reached the seasonal market of Murzuq. The arrival of the winter caravans from the south coincided with the pilgrim caravans, who had come via the Tuat oasis from western Maghreb, and marked the beginning of the winter market which, as a rule, took place between October and February. During this time, large caravans from Tripoli, Benghazi, Cairo, Ghadamis and Sudan arrived. The smaller entrepreneurs travelled in the desert for the entire year. As has already been indicated, the north-south traffic between Tripoli and Murzuq was primarily in the hands of the traders from Suknah, while the connection to Bornu was controlled mainly by the Tibus from Bilma. The Tibus themselves were also active as traders, and they financed their own ventures between Zinder and Bilma or between Zinder and Fezzan. 47 Hornemann, who reached Murzuq in November 1798, reports on the diversity of the trade. Besides slaves, there was a wide palette of goods being traded in Murzuq: "From Bornou copper is imported in great quantity. Cairo send silks, melays (striped blue and white calicoes), woollen cloths, glass, imitations of coral, beads of bracelets, and likewise and assortment of East India goods. The merchants of Bengasi, who, usually join the caravan from Cairo at Augila, import tobacco manufactured for chewing, or snuff, and sundry wares fabricated in Turkey. The caravan from Tripoly, chiefly deals in paper, false corals, fire-arms, sabres, knives, and the clothes called abbes, and in red worsted caps. Those trading from Ghadames, bring nearly the same articles. The smaller caravans of Tuaricks and Arabs, import butter, oil, fat, and corn; and those coming from the more southern districts, bring senna, ostrich feathers, and camels for the slaughter-house". 48 Hornemann also writes about the sum a caravan has to pay in Murzuq, whereby the amount of the sum to be paid could vary: "The sultan derives further income from duties on foreign trade, paid by the several caravans. That from Cairo pays from six to eight dollars for each camel load. The caravans from Bornou and Soudan pay two matkals, for each slave on sale". 49 However, it was not only the traders who had to make payments; the rulers in Murzuq were also obliged, on their part, to pay a tribute to the Ottomans and later to the Karamanlis in Tripoli. Depending on the stability of the rulers in Tripoli, this task was performed once per year by a senior official from Tripoli who arrived personally in Murzuq in November. He collected the sum either in monetary form (Hornemann mentions 6000 dollars, which was later reduced to 4000 dollars) or the corresponding value in the form of gold, senna or slaves. 50 During the nineteenth century, the security situation on the Bornu route worsened considerably. In addition, after the official abolishment of the slave trade, it became increasingly more difficult to ship slaves at the port of Tripoli. As a result, the trade moved farther to the east on the so-called Benghazi-Wadai route. At the port of Benghazi, the shipping of slaves could continue to take place in a relatively undisturbed manner.

The Benghazi-Wadai Trade
The Benghazi-Wadai route (see From Benghazi to al Kufra via Jalo) was initially controlled by two tribes: the Majabra from the Jalu oasis and the Zuwaya from the al Kufrah oasis. They worked as guides or as porters and rented their camels to the traders. 51 Due to the nomads' close connections with the Sanussi brotherhood, which had established itself with the opening of its first monastery (zawiya) in al Bayda, situated in the eastern part of today's Libya, in 1843, this order was soon able to play a major role in trade, promoting also sedentary behaviour, and education. In 1856, the brotherhood built the new centre of the order in the remote oasis of al-Jaghbub, about 500 km south-east of al Bayda. The town was fortified, and an Islamic university and a new mosque were built. In the following years, a state was established by the order which, at the apogee of its might, dominated not only the Libyan Desert, but also the entire eastern Sahara. Control over the important caravan route from Benghazi via al Kufrah to Wadai, which was the only important trans-Saharan route that was completely outside the field of vision of the European powers, was of great importance. Hence, this route was used primarily for bringing slaves to the Mediterranean Sea, mainly in return for older European firearms, which were traded in the South. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the order was also represented in Fezzan, Tripolitania (Fig. 3.3) and Egypt, as well as in the western region of Sudan and even in India. 52 The approach was always the same: zawaya were created along the trade routes and at important crossroads, in particular along the Benghazi-Wadai route. Traders found not only safe accommodation in the monasteries in the desert, but it was also a place where news was exchanged, since the monasteries were connected to each other by a postal system. In addition, the brotherhood took care of the maintenance of the wells along the trade routes, which made travel through the desert much easier. 53 However, the Sanussi brotherhood was also able to build up its discipleship in another way. In a region where there was no strong central authority, and the right of the stronger reigned, the brotherhood tried to mediate disputes and maintain calm. Arbitration courts were established for this purpose. In addition, they offered education and religious instruction to the local population in their monasteries. In some monasteries, they added arbitration courts, in which law scholars prepared guidelines for the creation and the successful maintenance of business relationships, rules for granting credit or general commercial contracts. For these reasons alone, it was advisable for the traders to associate themselves with the monastery; it was the only way they could use the full scope of the services, and it made them exempt from paying customs dues. In return, they gave tea, sugar or other goods to the order. The integration of the different groups in the brotherhood fundamentally simplified trade. 54 The outlook on the world shared by the members led to a kind of cooperative identity which enhanced solidarity and on whose basis possible problems could be solved more easily. As a result, the spreading of the common doctrine became an essential guarantee for the safety on the route between Benghazi and Wadai. In this way, the Sanussiya created trust between the traders, the agents and the other groups participating in the trade and established a new culture of social interaction.
With the opening of a zawiya in Ghadamis, the brotherhood tried to operate on the Tripoli-Kano route, which they achieved successfully. However, the Sanussiya could not play the dominant role here as they had in the East.

Summary
The forming of a caravan was an expensive venture which, was not financed by European creditors alone. The most influential agents and traders included, besides the wholesale merchants from Tripoli in the form of Jewish family companies, primarily the trader dynasties from Ghadamis or Suknah. While these groups of traders were responsible for the transport inside the country, the Jewish entrepreneurs organised the import and export of the goods. In addition, they took care of the preparation of the Sudanese products for export-ostrich feathers, for example, had to be processed extensively. For this purpose, these traders received special protection from the European consulates and enjoyed a special legal position on the part of the Ottoman Empire. Both the Jewish merchants and the traders from Ghadamis and Suknah acted with far-reaching relationships in the commercial network and used their close relationships in central Sudan, in the Levant or to Europe, which they had formed from time to time since the sixteenth century. So, for example, some Jewish families maintained family connections in Great Britain, which considerably facilitated the processing of transactions with the local suppliers and merchants there. The strong capital-related connections with the influential trading enterprises in Europe and in the Ottoman Empire allowed the traders to financially cover risky ventures. In the final analysis, the European and Ottoman trade enterprises, with their global networks, ensured that the local exchange of goods was connected with the world trade ( Fig. 3.4). 55 Along with commercial companies in Europe, Ottoman investors also participated in the caravan trade. In addition, sources contain many documents showing the involvement of Turkish officials, particularly in the slave trade. The posts in Tripoli were considered unattractive, and so the officials tried to make as much money as possible during their term of service. In this respect, the British Consul Crowe reported in 1847 to London that a shipment with 60 slaves on board was on its way from Tripoli to Constantinople. Half of the slaves, according to the consul, would have belonged to the director of customs, Mehment Sherif said. "The official position by this person afforded him great facilities for carrying on the detestable traffic with peculiar advantage and profit. There can be little hope of the cessation of the trade while those most deeply engaged in it are appointed to important stations", relayed Crowe. 56 In addition, he reports that, in June 1848, two ships belonging to the governor of Tripoli were on their way to Smyrna and Constantinople with 288 slaves onboard. 57 Until the early nineteenth century, most goods, including slaves, were transported over the Mediterranean Sea with European ships, in particular French ships. The situation in the Mediterranean Sea had changed since the 1830s because the Ottomans now had a merchant fleet with the respective ships. Ship owners from Tripoli, Benghazi, Misuratha and Derna were active in the shipping business from this time on and chiefly brought slaves to the markets in the Aegean Sea and the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. 58

Jacqueline Passon
Ibn Khaldun, who was the first to systematically analyse the functioning of an economy in his book Muqaddimah, stated with regard to the long-distance trade that "(…), it is more advantageous and more profitable for the merchant's enterprise, and a better guarantee (that he will be able to take advantage of) market fluctuations, if he brings goods from a country that is far away and where there is danger on the road. (…) Therefore, the merchants who dare to enter the Sudan country are the most prosperous and wealthy of all people. The distance and the difficulty of the road they travel are great. They have to cross a difficult desert which is made (almost) inaccessible by fear (of danger) and beset by (the danger of) thirst. Water is found there only in a few well known spots to which caravan guides lead the way. The distance of this road is braved only by a very few people. Therefore, the goods of the Sudan country are found only in small quantities among us, and they are particularly expensive. The same applies to our goods among them". 59 To operate successfully in this business the Arabian scholar provides advice: "In the attempt to earn the increase (of capital) that constitutes profit, it is unavoidable that one's capital gets into the hands of traders, in the process of buying and selling and waiting for payment. Now, honest traders are few. It is unavoidable that there should be cheating, tampering with the merchandise which may ruin it, and delay in payment which may ruin the profit, since (such delay) while it lasts prevents any activity that could bring profit. There will also be non-acknowledgement or denial of obligations, which may prove destructive of one's capital unless (the obligation) has been stated in writing and properly witnessed. The judiciary is of little use in this connection, since the law requires clear evidence". 60 Khaldun advised commercial entrepreneurs to document their economic activities in writing already in the fourteenth century. That was the theory, but what did that mean in practice?
The preparation for a caravan season required careful planning. Before the start of the enterprise, the organisers of caravans first had to think about what kind of goods they would need to transport to which target markets. Then, they had to decide upon which routes the goods would be transported. Initially, this required building networks with trading partners. Afterwards, the different parties had to agree among themselves on how many participants and camels the caravan should have and on the financial means they would have to contribute. Ghislaine Lydon, who has made important contributions to our understanding of the caravan trade in Western Sahara, has pointed out that in the nineteenth century, the most widely spread form of cooperation in long-distance trade was the contractually sealed partnership (commenda type). The following aspects were regulated: • The specific capabilities, as well as the work performance, of one of the contracting parties were settled with the financial resources of the other party. • The locations and the objects of the trade were defined.
• The shares, into which the profits and the losses were to be distributed, were defined. • Precise liability provisions, as well as protection measures, were included for the partners, which had been indebted during the cooperation.
In addition, there were contractually regulated forms of cooperation. 61 Further planning required thinking about who was to guide the caravan. After an agreement had been reached, the caravan guide (saykh) was now tasked with hiring local and loyal companions (khabir, taksif) who knew the places well. He also had to make contacts with the various groups, through whose area the caravan would pass. Travelling into Africa's interior consisted, as has already been mentioned, of stops at different stations, at which the passage always had to be negotiated anew. Not only did one have to rely again and again on new rulers, tribal chiefs or companions at these locations, but the composition of the agents, traders, camel owners and helpers could also change. Although the size and the composition of the caravan could change during a journey, the preparation and execution of the trip were always subject to careful planning. 62 In this way, it also becomes apparent that a commodity, which has not yet been considered in the previous deliberations, namely mutual trust, always had to be negotiated anew, both outside and inside the caravan. "Like long-distance trade throughout the early modern world, organizing camel caravans involved resources and above all trust in people". 63 Trust is a phenomenon which appears in insecure situations or in the case of a risky outcome: those who are sure about something do not need to trust. However, trust is also seen more as belief or hope; it always needs a foundation, the so-called basis of trust. To what sort of trust could the travellers in the Sahara refer to?
The basis of trust was, on the one hand, guaranteed on the basis of kinship relationships, and on the other hand, it was created on the basis of common belief, as well as by contracts. Ghislaine Lydon illustrated this for the trade in Western Sahara: "The access to literacy and faith-based institutions provided support, laws, and incentives that structured the organisation of early modern trade. The practice of Islam structured both the organisation of longdistance caravan trade and the operation of trade networks.
Muslim merchants and traders used their Arabic literacy and access to writing paper to draw contractual agreements and dispatch commercial correspondence, while depending on their mutual trust in God. At the same time, they relied on an Islamic institutional framework defined by local scholars versed in legal doctrine and local customs". Several artesian wells provide the only source of water for drinking and irrigation. Like in other oases, farming had been essential for the residents. The date palm is the main cash crop of the oasis, hence dates acted as the primary source of food supply. The palm tree provides fibres, leaves, trunks, agricultural tools, furniture, baskets, mats, sandals and numerous other items. From its wood and leaves, the oasis dwellers prepared most of their household items. It had been a culture based on and supported by the date palm. Some vegetables were cultivated for local consumption, as well as grasses for fodder for the livestock. Chickens and livestock, especially goats, sheep and camels, were raised. In addition, the residents from al Qatrun were engaged in trade as the oasis was a meeting point on a major caravan route that crossed the central Sahara; the north-south one was called Bornu road that linked the Mediterranean shores and the heart of Africa via Zawilah and later Murzuq. Several other paths ran, for example, between al Qatrun and Ghat. 65 In this area, the population concentrated around the few available water sources, connected by trade routes. A number of unsurveyed sites punctuated the portion of the Bornu

Other Documents
Tax Farming

Folk Medicine Prescriptions
Family Genealogy Codicology Tented Quran with Remarks X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Fig. 3.5 With regard to their quantity, the sources accessed in the al Qatrun region cannot be compared with the sources accessed by Lydon in Morocco road between Tajahri, respectively, al Qatrun and Murzuq as well. These desert castles appear to have been outposts guarding the route, providing water and taking tolls. Others may have been also trading centres or still await an interpretation (see from Murzuq to al Qatrun).
Data on social life is very limited. For that reason, the following excerpts, derived from family archives in the al Qatrun area, offer a vibrant insight into the daily life of traders and the population in this area. They help us to make a next step towards understanding life and trade in a Fezzan oasis. They also illustrate the use of written documents such as business letters, contracts or accounting books which allowed for a certain commercial transparency.

Chronological Dating and Type of Sources
Chronological dating has determined that the majority of the texts originate from the second half of the nineteenth century. The other documents date back to the first half of the twentieth century. The sources show that written documents, undoubtedly, formed part of life in this region of the world. They were used to govern daily business as well as private life.
The range of content featured in the texts includes numerous legal texts, which, predominantly, outline sales contracts or provide information on private inheritance arrangements. One text describes the correct distribution of inheritance, similarly to a religious manuscript which also exists for this purpose. Furthermore, excerpts from an accounting book exist that recorded, for example, commercial transactions and financial services that were provided in the form of loans. Several letters related to trade and a document written by someone presumed to be a tax farmer offer insights into the world of trade too. Another more extensive series of documents comprise various religious manuscripts which were circulated in the area studied. Other texts refer to endowments (waqf) and reveal personal correspondence between people from the area studied. Private letters were exchanged, discussing information on different people and networks, relaying messages of gratitude for gifts received or contacting relatives to request the sending of a certain commodity from the north. Finally, some of the texts are associated with traditional medicine (see below). 66

Written Correspondence
Letter writing was an opportunity to conduct business transactions and the most efficient way to coordinate information flows, as Lydon has already pointed out. 67 Like in the Western Sahara, there was a need to communicate business across distance. And it was the only way to maintain business relations in international commerce in the nineteenth century. In business communication, private letters also formed an element in the organisation of long-distance trade by helping to understand current events and developments and to identify reliable business partners. It is not surprising that letters were filled with a variety of gossip. For example, information about agent misbehaviour was conveyed to family members. This kind of information helped to update the reputation and reliability of distant counterparts. As Trivellato pointed out, letters were not only valuable for circulating commercial and financial information, but they were also a crucial instrument in maintaining informal cross-cultural networks. 68 To coordinate their activities, traders from the al Qatrun area engaged in letter writing with family members and network partners, requesting and supplying information about business partners, market trends and prices or current developments on routes. 69 Since the Sanussiya monasteries were connected to each other by a postal system, they provided merchants with a postal service.

Legal and Commercial Documents
As mentioned above, a selection of documents shed light on the type of legal transactions conducted in the area studied. To this effect, a series of sales contracts exist, which certify the sale of land and/or date palms. The documents generally record the location of the object of purchase, details of the seller and buyer, the price of the transaction and also all witnesses present.
Example text: Sale of a group of date palms Like all the letters, it begins with warm salutations and religious invocations before proceeding to business: Grace and thanks to Allah and peace upon our prophet Mohammed, his family and his followers. With Allahs help and power al-Haj named son al-Murabit al-Haj Ibrahim al-Gatrouni bought from named son of Abd al-Qadir Colcot a group of trees in the area of Aiyat al-Ajaais originally bought from Ghazala daughter of al Tuarggi and the daughter of her sister Mabarkah. These groups of trees are situated to the east and north of sheik Muhamed Ben Omar Wishka's group of palms and also to the east of Ajaaiz al-Brawnah which is in the Maghmag area. This group of palm trees is sold with all the produce and its surroundings. The sale is final and immediate which is worth 150 Turkish Girsh. 70 The whole amount was paid and received complying with the Islamic Sharia. The witness certified that the sale took place last year. The witness of this sale knows both parties who are both mentally fit. They have both given him the permission to witness this sale. With regard to the settled areas of Tripolitania and the urban areas of Cyrenaica, 72 it seems that private ownership and registration in landholding were introduced in the al Qatrun area during the second half of the nineteenth century too. It appears that tribal lands were divided and ownership was assigned to individuals. Several sources also indicate that residents from al Qatrun or smaller villages nearby owned trees or animals, whose care they contracted out to other residents or shepherds.
The Quran is considered to be the most important base of coexistence in the Islamic sphere. Sura 2, verse 282 (surat l-baqarah) instructs believers how to write down their contracts. It also emphasises that all transactions require testamentary evidence. 73 It is important to note that the before-mentioned contract only was witnessed by one person and that happens to be a member of the Sanussi monastery in al Qatrun. Other documents frequently refer to members of the Sanussiya too. This suggests that towards the end of the nineteenth century, the order had also become highly influential in this area of the Sahara.
The sources further indicate that parts of the privately owned land had been converted by the end of the nineteenth century into waqf (plural awqaf). Some of the palm groves in the outskirts of al Qatrun were awqaf, dedicated to funding mosques.

Excerpts from an Accounting Book
During the nineteenth century, it appears that more people used paper to record their business transactions. The documents at hand (Fig. 3.6) are excerpts from an accounting book belonging to two people, presumed to have been traders working in various markets (aswaq, sg. suq) around al Qatrun. The documents list an assortment of traded goods as well as the prices paid for them, and transactions exacted in lending businesses. Money lending in the form of credit was a common practice at the market, and this remains the case today. The suq was and still is the centre of commerce and selling, as well as a hub for financial activities and money lending. It spread out along the city streets, typically in a linear pattern, and the location of the different markets was determined by the type of goods sold in them. The same commodity or craft was grouped together, and the most profitable and prestigious crafts or traders were situated close to the political and religious hub.
The documents record the name of the person and the amount lent, together with a note that the sum comes in the form of a letter of credit. The documents are each marked with a stamp which lends them validity and legal force. It is not impossible that the excerpts refer to a document which has been looked at by a tax farmer. 74 Tax farming, known as "malikane", was introduced in the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century. The right to collect a certain tax was sold at auction, where the winning bid was given directly to the fiscal authorities. Of course, the tax farmers, the mültezims, tried to squeeze considerably more tax out of the area allocated to them than they had paid for it in the auction. 75 This form of taxation was also practised in the area studied, together with a second form of taxation, where 10% went directly from the people to the central authorities. This was possible in monetary form as well as in natural produce (though money was preferred). One document in the collection of sources which was signed and stamped by a man named Mamour Shakir, likely to have been a tax farmer, becomes relevant in this context. The document contains the names of people who own date palms. There are also entries regarding the number of date palms belonging to any individual person. 76 Fig. 3.6 The documents seem to be excerpts from an accounting book belonging to two people, presumed to have been traders working in various markets around al Qatrun. The documents list an assortment of traded goods as well as the prices paid for them, and transactions exacted in lending businesses The excerpts from the accounting book list the goods and lending businesses in what is probably the order of sales transacted or money lent. The price demanded or the credit sum lent is specified in the row beneath the transaction. The first document conserved contains a list of leather skins produced in varying sizes which were used, for example, for manufacturing shoes. The second document features a diverse range of products including camels, sheep or goats which were sold and also two books or nails. Alongside this, records of money lent to people who are listed by name are kept: Mohammed Tahir bin al-Haj, for example, took out a loan of 700 Girsh. There is also a note indicating that an original document was issued for this transaction. The third document also lists disparate products in entries featuring copper products, items of clothing, leather skins and also a book. In addition, there are also entries for animals (camels, goats, sheep) which were sold either as a whole or in pieces. The fourth document predominantly details lending businesses but also includes earnings made from the date harvest. A wide variety of products are listed again in the final document, including items of clothing, combs, weapons and animals which have been sold. 77

Excerpts from a Manuscript on Traditional Medicine
As they do today, illnesses, injuries or psychological ailments formed part of everyday life of people in Europe and Africa and elsewhere in the nineteenth century or even earlier. They constituted a real threat and people were eager to improve their physical and psychological welfare, so they sought ways to rid themselves of suffering. Islam, just like Christianity, did not provide people with adequate resources for this. The majority of the population did not have recourse to "scholarly medicine", so traditional medicine developed in this region as well. This is confirmed by manuscripts discussing traditional medicine which were circulated in the area studied and in other areas. They describe curative medical knowledge passed down from generation to generation.
The texts indicate that popular beliefs and superstitions, as well as the belief in the effects of magic, were widespread in the population. The handbook of superstitions defines magic as the art of exercising power over nature and people with the aid of incantations, sorcery and rites. According to Richard Kieckhefer, the defining difference between religion and magic is that in the case of the religion, people supplicate God or the gods, while magic coerces spiritual beings or forces. Belief in magic is also at least in the early modern period a point of intersection where the common people's culture collides with the scholarly world. Magic was therefore a part of people's reality, and they were not indisposed to trust in healers and magic in the case of illness. Magic is a major aspect of certain fields of traditional medicine which probably have their origins in pre-Islamic traditions and customs. Magical fields of medicine would have included natural magic or herbal healing methods. 78 The text at hand, written in the form of a handbook, is part of a more comprehensive manuscript. The curative methods described were used in a religious Islamic context. It describes various rituals performed by healers to drive the genies out of the bodies of the sick and strengthen them against new attacks. This manuscript includes a detailed description of a ritual to be employed by women who suffer from headaches or heart problems: Firstly, surahs from the Quran were written on a piece of paper, and the names of genies were then added to them. The paper was then folded and burned together with essences and inhaled. The protecting or burning healing power was then breathed in together with the smoke of the burning words. 79 People learned in the Quran, teachers of the Quran or Islamic religious leaders who were knowledgeable in the holy writings, were able to become religious healers. They were mostly active within an Islamic community and, additionally, worked as non-medical healers. There were, however, healers who were not taught in the Quran and had not received any particular training and mainly engaged in practices that combined magic and religion. The boundaries between healers using magic and people with acquired knowledge of the holy texts were fluid.
It was accepted that the healers had armies of genies on their side which would take action against the "evil spirits". Genies are a central part of Islamic beliefs; however, Islam rejects belief in magic and sorcery in accordance with the Quran. Magic and theurgy are considered to be bringers of bad omens and are strongly connected to anxieties. Psychiatric illnesses, in particular, are often attributed to possession by an evil genie or the influence of the "evil eye". People are also discouraged from interfering with such things so as to avoid nurturing the superstition. However, the traditional Islamic beliefs have held a special place for the existence of genies. Lucky charms are also rejected, as the supernatural power attributed to them is held to function in an automatic manner. According to Islam, God is omnipotent and the single creator of all things. 80

Summary
The picture that slowly emerges from these sources as well as from interviews highlights the importance of literacy among the people living in the al Qatrun area-not only in terms of trade but also life in general. With respect to the functioning of the trade, it underlines the thesis provided by Lydon that both the regional and the transnational caravan trade were based on organised networks. It appears that the organisational framework of the trade was based on oral, as well as written, agreements for processing the trade transactions. The trading business was based on Islamic law. It has to be assumed that, as a result, in particular, of the spread of the Sanussi monasteries, which functioned both as centres of trade, as well as education, the ability to read and write in the desert (Fezzan) increased. The Sanussi order spread through Mizdah, where a monastery was founded in 1845, to Tripolitania, and it spread through the monasteries in the backcountry of the Great Sirte to Fezzan. 81 Through the monasteries, access to education and other trade-relevant knowledge was facilitated. By means of Islamic education, the trans-Saharan traders could acquire key competencies, which they used in the processing of their business transactions.
The oasis of al Qatrun cannot be regarded in isolation from the other villages along the al Qatrun depression as well as the desert castles. From a strategic point of view, the installation of a chain of fortified settlements along a major caravan route of the central Sahara appears to represent a large-scale effort to control trade and travels in this area. In this respect, al Qatrun retains its role as a part of the Bornu road. It is far from being an isolated spot on the map.
To sum up the above, it can be said that the success or the failure of a given trade activity in the central Sahara depended upon various aspects: Negotiation processes: Whether a given venture ran successfully depended on the practice and dexterity with which the traders and other staff in the organisation of a given caravan could facilitate communication and negotiation processes among different groups and stakeholders. Faith/trust: The Islamic religious practice had a conjoining and trust-forming effect. Faith provided a structure to the trade and had a stabilising effect on the functionality of the trade networks. The Sanussi brotherhood unified many tribal, regional and ethnic loyalties. This religious ideology integrated these ethnic groups under the banner of trade and Islam. 82 Paper industry: For the success of the trade, the possession and the exchange of written documents were decisive. As Lydon shows, trans-Saharan trade could only be successfully organised in a paper economy favouring reliable information flows, contractual accountability and proper accounting methods. 83 Dealing with dangers en route: Conflicts and turmoil between different ethnic groups, tribes or clans of the desert could easily break out at any time. Consequently, the organisers of a given caravan needed the ability to respond to unforeseen crises by either negotiating with those groups or by identifying alternative trails to move on. Furthermore, the merchants, who fitted out a caravan, had to be capable to compensate for the potential losses.

Build-up and Social Structure of the Caravan
Both, large trans-Saharan caravans and smaller interregional caravans crossed the Sahara. The trans-Saharan caravans were not only large economic enterprises, but they were also travelling social communities. In their social composition, they were a collection of different cultures and identities. In them, hundreds of people from different regions, from the coast and from all parts of the Sahara, including sub-Saharan regions, could meet with each other. They spent weeks and months together, sometimes under extreme conditions. While doing so, they had to cooperate in various matters related to everyday life, to share their knowledge and to negotiate their positions. However, they also had to deal with dangerous situations in unity in order to be able to defend themselves against the outside world.
Within the caravan, a strict hierarchical order reigned. The composition of the caravan depended upon its size. No matter, whether it was large or small, the caravan always needed a leader who made the decisions. That is why the caravan was led by a so-called saykh who was supported by his assistants. The saykh, who possessed great authority, also had, in addition to the practical guiding of the caravan, the task of making the decisions on any legal issues. For that, he had disciplinary powers. Guiding the caravan also included the saykh determining the route. Furthermore, he established the first contacts with the tribes when he planned to pass through their areas. In doing so, the saykh had to act as a skilled negotiator in order to be able to negotiate the security issues of the crossing as well as the road tolls. For the protection of the caravan, he could recruit an armed escort. In this respect, the saykh also needed to understand human nature. On the one hand, the armed escort served to protect the caravan participants and had to ensure that the valuable goods were not looted. On the other hand, the escort was employed to discipline the "employees" in case they deserted or became mutinous. In fact, there were often disputes in the caravans when the porters wanted better pay, better supplies or reduction of their loads.
In order to satisfy these diverse requirements, the saykh had to have profound geographic knowledge. In addition, a certain knowledge about the political and cultural structures of the societies in the desert, as well as in the sub-Saharan areas, was necessary. As a rule, the saykh was advised by a khabir and/or a taksif. They were hired for certain sections of the route which they knew particularly well. Along these sections, they were the navigation experts (see Navigating the Desert). 84 A trans-Saharan caravan could be viewed as a "moving city", in which people from different social fabrics and cultures coexisted. Along with the personnel for the navigation, it also included, above all, porters, cooks and kitchen personnel. In addition, there was also a muezzin or an imam and, for the entertainment of the travellers, there were musicians or prostitutes. The porters, which could be hired through agencies in the more important caravan towns, travelled back and forth, with only seasonal interruptions. These were mostly young men originating from inland or from the coast; they could be free people, but also slaves. The slaves were partially rented by the owners and had relative freedom, or they acted by themselves and gave part of their salary to their owner. Women always travelled with the caravans too. Besides the prostitutes, they could be relatives, wives, slaves or concubines of the caravan participants. In any case, they were also a supporting workforce. They helped in carrying the loads whereby they transported the personal belongings of the porters or the military personnel and served the food during the breaks. 85 A camel caravan could comprise on average around a thousand camels, although the historian Ibn Khaldun mentions caravans of up to 12,000 loaded camels travelling between Egypt and Sudan. He writes in his universal history Book of Lessons, Record of Beginnings and Events in the history of the Arabs and Berbers and their Powerful Contemporaries (Kitab al Ibar), which was completed during the last decade of the fourteenth century that an informant had told him that: This year there passed through our city on the way to Mali a caravan of merchants from the east containing 12,000 camels. Another [informant] has told me that this is a yearly event". 86 The Arabian geographer al Idrisi gives an insight into how a caravan worked. The trans-Saharan caravans normally crossed the desert in autumn and winter. Usually, the camels were loaded at sunrise, and the caravan started to move along the route. Normally, they walked until the heat became unbearable. Then the camels were unloaded and their feet were tied together, so they could not run away. At the same time, the tents were set up and everybody tried to find protection from the sun. Early in the evening, the caravan started again and travelled until night came. On average, the caravan travelled nine hours per day. Sometimes, however, the caravan had to travel for 12 hours per day; this happened when a long section of the route between two wells had to be covered. 87

Goods Traded Across the Sahara
The goods traded across the Sahara had to be of an intrinsic value justifying the costs of the desert crossing. Sudan's main exports by value over the centuries, gold and slaves, met these conditions (Fig. 3.10). 88 Next to the trading of gold and slaves, leather, ivory and ostrich feathers from inner Africa were also traded; they ranked among the modest according to their market value. At the same time, Europe supplied mainly industrial products such as arms, glassware, perfume, tea, spices, paper and later textiles (Fig. 3.7). 89 The trans-Saharan trade in slaves and ivory dates from Roman times, while the trade in ostrich feathers began in the twelfth century. Due to the lack of adequate data trade cannot be quantified for that period. Based both on consular reports from Tripoli and the Arabic and European explorers' observations on the trade, it is possible to generate statistical information for the nineteenth century. The data on ivory, ostrich feathers and tanned skins are relatively complete for the last decades of the nineteenth century.
In the 1860s, commodities other than slaves began to become statistically important. As Lovejoy pointed out, gradually at first and then dramatically three of these other goods ivory, ostrich feathers and tanned skins became very important. A comparison of the estimates for the slave trade with those for ivory, ostrich feathers and skins shows that in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, ostrich feathers, ivory and tanned skins did surpass slaves in value (Fig. 3.8). The trade of slaves appears to have dropped off dramatically in the 1870s (Figs. 3.8 and 3.9). At that time, British-Ottoman agreements to fight the slave trade were better coordinated, so that the trade had fallen off considerably. Less can be said about the value of many other commodities, particularly African textiles, leather goods or kola nuts which were distributed in the northern Sahara and along the North African coast. These imports are assumed to have been relatively constant. 90 If one considers the flow of goods that were transported on the Bornu route, for example, it is apparent that in contrast to gold trading, the West African slaves were the most significant "commodity" on this route. Next to them, the consular reports from Tripoli also registered small amounts of gold, senna leaves, animal products and woven fabrics. From the north, mainly horses, materials, cowry shells and weapons were imported. 91 The Kanem Empire and later, the successing Bornu Empire had the ruling power over this important trade connection in the Middle Ages as well as later on. In succession of the occupation of the Central Saharan oases in the north by the Ottomans in 1574, Bornu lost its outpost in the Fezzan region. At the time of the travellers of the nineteenth century, Bornu had degenerated to a regional power and trade on the Bornu route was less common than in earlier centuries.
The desert traffic is closely tied to the camel (Fig. 3.13). Much has been written about the introduction of that beast of burden into North Africa. Most scholars assume that the camel was introduced into Tripolitania by the Romans probably around the first century AD. But there seems to be some evidence to suggest that this assumption is just in agreement with the common opinion that trans-Saharan trade, even if already existing in the first millennium BC, became important only in Islamic times. New historical and archaeological data allow to assume that the trans-Saharan trade could have been a relatively substantial and organised affair as early as around 500 BC. Trade was in the hands of Libyan (mainly Garamantian) chiefdoms clustered in the Fezzan area. It seems unbelievable that the distance from the upper Nile valley to Niger could have been traversed without the use of camels. Archeozoological evidence is needed. It can be taken for granted that other itineraries than the Bornu route were in existence. During the sixth century BC, the coastal emporia in Tripolitania were built and simultaneously the Greek colonies in Cyrenaica underwent a notable growth. The coastal area offered substantial markets and trading posts not only for the Garamantian. Caravan roads, presumably, were leading to the coast of Tripolitania. 92

Lost Tracks in the Sand: Slave Trade
Across the Sahara

Jacqueline Passon
The very earliest external slave trade was the trans-Saharan slave trade. Although there had long been some trading with the Roman Empire, the transportation of large numbers of slaves did not become viable until the Muslims arrived in North Africa in the seventh century. During the Middle Ages and the early modern period, Africa has been a politically fragmented continent which was marked by recurrent instability and tensions. The most obvious feature was the lack of political or military leaders to consolidate large areas into centralised states, apart from Bornu or Songhay. Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of the African continent. It was already fundamental to the political, social and economic pattern of African societies in the northern Savanna. Consequently, enslavement was an organised activity, sanctioned by law and custom. 93 Following the ancient tradition, slaves were in demand throughout pagan and Islamic Africa as well as the wider Islamic world. 94 The major external markets for slaves were North Africa and the Middle East. For the North African merchants, it was therefore not difficult to get males and females in response to the strong market demand. Throughout the Islamic conquest of North Africa, slaves were prisoners captured in the holy wars. After the early caliphates were established, slaves then came from the frontier areas. This practice was mainly based on the justification of enslavement and on the basis of religion; hence, a non-Muslim could be enslaved legally. Due to the given social context, a Muslim could not be enslaved. However, this commandment was often violated in practice. Furthermore, slavery was perceived as a means of converting non-Muslims. Although conversion did not automatically lead to emancipation, it was normally some guarantee for better treatment. The German traveller Nachtigal could bring himself to remark that Islam generally brings with it a mild administration of the institution of slavery. Although this perception is insufficient, one aspect of the Islamic tradition was that emancipation of slaves was clearly defined (Fig. 3.11). 95 Within the Islamic cultural sphere, slaves did not come necessarily from Inner Africa. Although a great proportion of the slave population were black Africans, they also came from Europe and southern Russia. 96 Unlike in the Americas, in the Arab world enslaved people were mainly deployed as army recruits since the end of the ninth century. So-called Mamluks were slave soldiers who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Egyptian Ayyubid sultans during the Middle Ages. In the markets of the central Islamic  lands, slaves were sold as eunuchs for harems and government service, and as concubines and domestics. Despite the lack of comprehensive sources and the literature, it is also to assume that slaves were used as agricultural labour. Berbers, who in the days of the Arab conquest had been a licit booty, too, eventually became the masters of trade during the Islamic Middle Ages. Towards the middle of the eighth century, they were gaining control of the black slave trade along the eastern and central Saharan routes. According to the writings of early Arab historians and geographers, it is common to assume that the Ibadi merchants made the slave trade a predominantly Ibadi monopoly from the mid-eighth century onwards. Al Yaqubi and al Bakri described the slave trade as an important source of revenue for the Ibadi economic system. The entrepôt of this economy lays in the heart of Fezzan, in Zawilah. The marked place soon developed into a bustling economic centre and was well connected with Ibadi branches in the Jabal al Nefusah in the north and Kawar in the south. From al Yaqubi's writings, it becomes apparent that slaves were captured from people of Sudan, who lived close to Zawilah, as well as bought from the kings of Sudan. 97 By the tenth century, most of the black slaves sold in Muslim countries were imported via Zawilah. The town was particularly noted for the re-export of eunuchs taken mainly from the area west of Lake Chad (see Ibadi Berbers of Zawila masters of trade in: From Zillah to Murzuq). From Zawilah, the slaves went north to the ports of the Mediterranean Sea like Tripoli, Benghazi or Cairo. 98 All the important towns in the Islamic countries had their own slave markets, where the majority of slaves were sold. The specially trained ones were purchased at private houses like the famous Berber female singers, qayna, who entertained the caliphs. While Berber women were also highly regarded for housework, sexual relations and childbearing, black women had a reputation for being obedient, robust and excellent wet nurses. Male slaves worked domestically as cooks, storekeepers, porters, boatmen or keepers of private libraries. 99 Overall, there was a strong demand for women and children. Indeed, they were wanted in greater numbers than men. This certainly has to do with the fact that women and children were more likely incorporated into Muslim society. Throughout the Islamic cultural sphere, slavery was not a self-perpetuating institution. Those born into slavery formed a relatively small proportion of the slave population. Most children of slaves were assimilated into Muslim society, only to be replaced by new imports. The institution of slavery was not called into question. As already noted, this was a common practice and belonged to the political, social and economic fabric of African as well as Muslim societies. 100 Different patterns of slave supply can be observed. Slavery was not always a result of violence, including wars or kidnapping. Although a large proportion of people were captured and enslaved during armed conflicts or large-scale slave raidings, sale by relatives or superiors, sale to repay debts and punishment for legal offenses were reasons for losing one's freedom. Estimates of the number of slaves taken across the Sahara vary greatly, particularly for the period prior to the nineteenth century. During the Middle Ages, it is assumed that between 3000 and 8000 slaves were taken through the Sahara every year by six main trade routes. According to Wright, exports perhaps reached a peak annual average of 8700 in the tenth and eleventh centuries falling thereafter to between 4000 and 5500 a year down to 1600. 101 In view of profound power shifts during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, trans-Saharan trade was subjected to a structural and spatial transformation. The European seafaring powers landed on West African soil to make the treasures of the continent their own. As a result, the nature of trade was changing. Trade became a global phenomenon: beyond the great seafaring nations of Europe, Spain, Portugal, England, France and Holland, the whole European continent was, through a far-reaching network of commercial and financial links, integrated into the triangular trade between Europe, Africa and America. At the same time, the Ottomans gained control over the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. With regard to politics, there were also changes in sub-Saharan Africa where Bornu became a leading power. 102 Together, these developments firmly grounded the eastward shift of trans-Saharan trade. The trade of Western Sahara was directed towards the west coast. This contributed to the decline of the west Saharan routes and to the rising prosperity of the central and eastern roads. The slave trade continued to provide the main bond of the different powers of Tripoli with the Bornu Empire and also with the Hausa states, the main centres of slave collection and distribution on the Niger. Most slaves primarily followed the Bornu-Murzuq-Tripoli road (so-called Bornu Road), with the rest coming from Niger via Ghat and Ghadamis. On both routes, the traffic varied considerably from year to year. In the early 1700s, slaves were imported into Tripoli at an average rate of 500-600 per annum, increasing to 2000 by the 1750s and falling to an average of around 1500 a year by the end of the century. 103 In the first half of the nineteenth century, the trade volumes of the Bornu-Tripoli route consisted of roughly 5000-8000 slaves per year who passed through the Fezzan region. After the wars within the Sokoto Caliphate (1800-1830), the revolutions in Tripoli (1830-1842) and the increasing caravan robberies after 1830 between Bornu and Murzuq, trade fell to a third of the volume around 1869. 104 As the robberies surmounted, many traders resorted to using other routes. Similarly, trade on the Kano-Ghat-Ghadamis route (and further on to Tripoli or Tunis) increased considerably at this time to 2500 slaves per year (around 1850). 105 Despite the manifold dangers that lurked over the slave caravans, the traders expected their "victims" to bear the extremely difficult journey through the Saharan region. The result of the week-long marches was a high death rate among the slaves, who had to suffer throughout the journey from heat, hunger, thirst and stress. On the 2700-km-long stretches between Lake Chad (Bornu) and Tripoli, a 50% loss of slaves was expected. On all of the Sahara routes, it is estimated that the average death rate is still very high, over 20%. 106 But despite the immense losses of human life, this business was still considered to be very lucrative for the traders, which was evident in the profits drawn after they successfully crossed the Sahara. On both routes, enormous price increases for slaves were achieved. In 1850, between Kano and Murzuq, the price for young women increased by 160%, further along Tripoli it increased by 210%, and in Constantinople, the price was up to 300% in comparison to the starting price in Kano (Fig. 3.12).
What is mostly ignored is that the trans-Saharan slave trade had a strong impact on Europe, too. There, black slaves were quite common. Slaves were sold for agriculture and private household use, especially in Catalonia, Sicily, Naples, Venice, Genoa and parts of France. For example, documents from the Catalonian slaves indicate their Cyrenaican origin. A Sicilian census from 1565 alone confirms the presence of 117 black slaves around Palermo who were from the Bornu Empire. 107 It was not until the transatlantic slave trade gained in importance that this part of the European trans-Saharan slave trade diminished. Other European regions, which were then under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, were still receiving significant quantities of slaves. As a result, black slaves also found their way into Turkey (Izmir) to Cyprus, to the Balkans (Albania) and to the Aegean region (Crete). 108 The European powers also participated in the trans-Saharan slave trade in other ways. On the one hand, European traders acted as financiers. It was in this way that the English traveller James Richardson found out the following information during his stay in the Sahara in 1845/1846: "Three-fourths of the slave-traffic of The Great Desert and Central Africa are supported by the money and goods of European merchants, resident in Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Egypt". 109 On the other hand, the European powers offered themselves as transportation service providers for the transport of slaves between the North African coast and the Ottoman territories. 110 Up until and in the early nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was lacking in suitable transport vessels. European powers such as France, but also states of maritime towns such as Venice, Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi, took over the transport in exchange for money. It was only in the middle of the nineteenth century that the central powers of the Ottoman Empire had their own appropriate merchant ships. 111

Jacqueline Passon
Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the decline of the caravan trade was initiated by two fundamental changes in the general conditions. To begin with, the West African coast increasingly became the target of trade. Portuguese ships had already been travelling within these regions since the twelfth century. In addition, there was competition between the Spaniards, the French and the English to secure the trading posts on the Mauritanian and Senegal coasts as well as in the Gulf of Guinea. The land route that led there from southern Sudan was considerably shorter than the one on the Mediterranean coast, and so, particularly the slave and gold trade was relocated to this route in the direction of the Atlantic coast. In contrast, goods from North Sudan and the Sahel were still transported northwards through the Sahara. 112 In the 1850s, European colonial powers largely restricted the slave trade. These developments slowly contributed to the eventual offside position forced upon the trade centres of Ghadamis and Murzuq. This carried serious consequences for Murzuq because seven-eighths of the city was financed by the slave trade. 113 Up until the beginning of the twentieth century, the trans-Sahara trade was a significant impetus for the Fezzan region (Fig. 3.14). The region formed an intersecting point between inner Africa and the Mediterranean and Europe. 114 Nevertheless, Libya was able to continue with transnational trade for much longer than was previously thought, until well into the twentieth century, despite the colonial demarcation, the change in transportation and the political upheavals in modern times. At the beginning of the 1960s, goods were still transported by caravan. Here, one speaks of transnational caravans. The camels were eventually replaced by the car during the 1960s of the previous century. In the 1970s, the restructuring of trade by the state brought the caravan trade to a complete standstill. The geographical position of the Fezzan between two such different physio-geographical regions as the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Savannah region in the south determined its strategic importance for many centuries. Due to its location, it played a commercial intermediary role between the two regions, which ensured a solid livelihood for the Fezzan oases participating in the trade. It even brought prosperity to some of them.
Leaving the historical perspective and considering only the interrelationships of the Fezzan oases at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it can be said that the trade in goods has never come to a standstill. A strong revival of the Fezzan as a transit and trade area occurred at the end of 1980s until 2011. Since the southern borders of Libya have become more permeable for the transport of goods in this period of time, the region had once again developed into a trans-regional transport route and trading region. The result of these developments was a lively trade relationship with Chad, for example, which had been established from the 1990s until 2011. Libya supplied clothing, automotive spare parts, Libyan cigarettes, as well as food (oil, rice, flour) and petrol, while the goods being supplied from Chad to Libya included mainly camels or goats. 115 Due to the deteriorating security situation and the lack of adequate border control after the 2011 revolution, the Fezzan faces, once again, tremendous difficulties. Today, the Fezzan is linking southern Libya to the Sahel and sub-Saharan migrant routes to northern Libya and onto Europe. Incentives for smuggling of all types of people, oil, gold, weapons, drugs far outstrip those for making money through legal means. 116 Like in the nineteenth century, regional powers, different ethnic groups and transnational actors are joining local conflicts or using the south as a transit zone.
Generally, until 2011, there were two types of transport: trade that can be compared to the traditional caravan type with camels and trade on a motorised basis. Camel caravans crossed the Sahara in a south to north direction. An essential difference, compared to the traditional caravan trade, was that during this period the camels were not loaded with goods but were themselves the commodity. In the past, the Tuareg traded primarily in meat; several times per year, camel farmers from Niger or Chad crossed the Sahara with several hundreds or even thousands of camels to Murzuq or al Kufrah, in order to sell the animals on the local camel markets. The reason that these difficult trips were still worth making was, that in the sub-Saharan region, there are wide grassland areas covered with vegetation where the camels can be kept during the rainy season. The meat of animals coming from Niger or Chad continued to be more cost-effective than the meat from Libya, despite the long transport. At the same time, large motorised caravans, comprising 35 cars on average, carried goods and people to Libya (Fig. 3.15). 117 If the transport patterns are considered, it has to be pointed out that from the densely interwoven web of trading routes, three former caravan trails were formed as main caravan routes: A section of the old Bornu trail connected the al Gatrun oasis with markets in the northern part of Niger, as well as in the northern part of Chad. Another, less frequented route started from Ghat and connected it with oases in Algeria and Niger. The third route in south-western Libya linked the al Kufrah oasis with the markets in eastern Chad. 118 The route sections of the more recent business activities do not exactly correspond to the flourishing trade routes of the previous centuries, but run more directly. In modern times, they do not necessarily need to run along the water holes which were once essential for survival in the desert. Technical innovations changed the logistics of the desert crossing at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Satellite communication made the use of "mobile oases" possible. The water, food and wood supply via trucks enabled herdsmen to bring their camels to Libya using more direct, shorter routes. In this way, the truck had become an important station during the crossing of the desert; it functioned as a "mobile oasis". As such, it had the same function and relevance as the natural oases for the caravans on their way across the desert. 119 Camel herds move north on these routes between the months of September and May, whereby al Kufrah in particular is the most important trans-shipment point for camels in Libya. Until 2011, about 60,000 camels reached the southern Libyan oasis per year. 120 In contrast, two or three times a year, caravans from Niger or Chad, with up to 400 camels, reached the market in Fungul which is located 30 km to the east of Murzuq.
On the other hand, these routes are used by transport vehicles that deliver migrants, and naturally also smugglers. In the middle of the last decade, scientists from the Geographical Department of Sebha University tried to observe and quantify the traffic, which was not an easy task. According to a study conducted in this context, the number of trucks that left al Gatrun, in the direction of Niger, during an eleven-month period (reporting period: 11 January 2005 to 31 September 2006) was at 806. Exactly the same number of trucks has crossed the frontier in the opposite direction.
The number of the counted passengers was at 4896, although it was difficult for the researchers to determine the exact number of passengers because many of them were crossing the border illegally. Therefore, it must be assumed that the actual number of the passengers was much higher. According to the interviewed shippers, the phasing-out of trade on this route was due to the overloading of Africa's Atlantic ports. 121

Camel Markets in Fungul and al Kufrah
In the south of Libya, two camel markets were established to process trade in camels. One of them is situated in the south-west of Libya immediately adjacent to Murzuq. At the market in Fungul, animals brought from Niger and Chad to Libya were primarily traded. Here, they were sold to local farmers and butchers. How long the animals remained at the market before they were sold depended on the market situation, as well as on the supply and demand. Usually, the animals were kept here for several days up to one month. Ultimately, the traders remained at the market in Fungul until the last animal was sold.
The camel market in Fungul (Figs. 3.16 and 3.17) was small compared to the market in al Kufrah in the south-east of Libya, which is the largest in the country at 45 ha. The structure of the markets, however, is the same. The markets consist of a large open area. Most of the herds can move around freely, which means that the herdsmen have to keep their animals together by day. At night, the animals have their legs tied together, so that they are not able to run away. In several fenced corrals, a handful of camel herds are accommodated, where they can remain unattended. The herdsmen stay in small, simply built straw huts. In the area of the market, the camels are provided with sufficient straw and are regularly given water to drink. 122 The camel trade in al Kufrah (Fig. 3.17) was one of the most important economic pillars in the economy of the oases and was dominated by the Zuwaya, a local tribe. The cattle market in al Kufrah lies on the southern edge of the settlement. The camels are either sold there or are traded on. Many of the animals continued their trip to the second largest camel market of the country on the Mediterranean coast. It is located in Misratah, a town about 200 km to the east of Tripoli. From Misratah, some of the animals were sent to Tripoli and to the Libyan centres of consumption. The camels were also traded in Egypt, Tunisia or Italy. Usually, the camels were fattened in Misratah, which increased their value so that a price between €480 and €600 (800-1000 LYD) for a young camel and between €600 and €780 (1000-1300 LYD) for a fully grown camel had to be paid. While the Libyans prefer young and fat camels, the fully grown camels are often traded in Egypt, where they are preferred. Camel meat does not play an important role in the preparation of daily meals, but during religious celebrations and at weddings, camels are needed in considerable numbers. For example, at a wedding in al Kufrah, which continues for several days, the hosts need, between 40 and 50 camels for the catering of the guests. 123 However, there are still camel caravans arriving in Libya today. Given the current uncertainties facing the Fezzan and its oases, however, it is very difficult to estimate the number.

Recurring Persistent Patterns in Trade
Libya's south-west has been a transit zone between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean coast over centuries. Cross-border trade remains prominent nowadays.
However, smuggling has surpassed licit trade. Since 2011, smuggling has grown exponentially and dominates the local economy today. According to the International Crisis Group human trafficking, fuel and gold smuggling is widespread and highly visible, though drugs and weapons also pass through the region surreptitiously. The breakdown of government authority and sustained political and legal uncertainty led to competition over smuggling routes. At the same time, the easy access to the enormous stockpiles of weapons left in Qadhafi-era arms depots led to fighting conflicts among local groups.
The majority of the illegal migrants enter Libya from Niger or Chad; smaller numbers cross the border from Algeria. What is interesting to remark about the smuggling routes is that they are divided into segments controlled by different groups. As in the nineteenth century, the Tubu control the southernmost portion, used by the majority of migrants, from the border with Niger to Sebha. In contrast, the Tuareg dominate the route from the Algerian border to Sebha. The next station of the trip, from Sebha to Shweref, is in the hands of Magarha and the Warfalla traffickers. Beyond that, other tribes take over. As a synthesis of the existing material in this book shows, a long-term analysis reveals  recurring persistent patterns. Already in the nineteenth century, trade, particularly in slaves, proved to be highly lucrative. As in the past, trade generates high profits and many people benefit from it. The tribes involved are unlikely to give it up. As a result, many young Tubu students, for example, give up their studies, because the promise of immediate cash is so attractive. Lack of education, fluid and shifting loyalties within tribes and ethnic groups contribute to a partially fragmented society (Fig. 3.18). 124 The Fezzan has preserved its long traditions that are not only reflected by its trading practices but also by the mentality of the local people.