The Trans-Saharan Trade played an important role in the rise of states in the Senegambia region and the Western Sudan, in general. This trade was conducted between the North African traders and their counterparts in West Africa.

The motives which brought the people of West Africa into contact with the peoples of North Africa were primarily economic in origin. Trade between these two regions was a natural consequence of the different environments and way of life enjoyed by the Berbers and the West African peoples who inhabited the two regions.

Out of the contacts between the West African pastoralists with the Berber neighbours to the north whose nomadic life moved them seasonally towards and away from the zone of Mediterranean agriculture and civilisation, grew a long distance trade across the desert that linked the subsequent histories of these two regions of Africa.

Although there were relatively few necessities of life which the early West African descent groups could not provide for themselves in their own environment, a significant exception was salt which could not easily be obtained except by the peoples living near the sea. Since it was not possible with the technology of this time to transport sea salt in any quantity for long distances through the forest, the peoples of West Africa, north of the forest, secured the bulk of their salt from the deposits of rock salt in the Sahara. The Saharan salt mines, however, have been controlled by the Berbers of North Africa who were willing to trade salt for West Africa’s gold which was in high demand in the Maghred.

This early trade in salt and gold was to serve as the foundation for a more elaborate and flourishing trade between the two regions that was to have far reaching effects on the political and social histories of the peoples who inhabited the two regions.

Origins of the Trade

Trade across the Sahara between North Africa and West Africa was of very remote antiqity. In deed the Sahara, as modern research convincingly indicate, was not a complete barrier between tropical Africa and Mediterranean Africa.

The story of the Sahara over thousands of years has been interpreted, from rock paintings and engravings showing that at least up to the fourth millennium BC the Sahara was humid and well watered with rivers and lakes. It is confirmed that a neolithic civilisation flourished in the Sahara during this early period but with the areas later desiccation, the cultivators were forced to move to the Southern and Northern fringes.

The drying up of the Sahara, however, far from separating the two regions of Africa, was to bind them in new forms of contact and trade based on the changing ecology of the area.

Trans-Saharan trade between West and North Africa began as early as 1000 BC. Again research have convincingly shown that as early as this period chariots were being drawn across the Sahara along two main routes: a western route from Morocco through Zemmour and Adrar to the banks of the Senegal and the Niger and a central route from Tripoli through Ghadames, Ghat and Hoggar to Gao on the Niger. By the fifth century BC this desert traffic mainly in animals such as monkeys, lions, panthers and elephants, in carbuncles, emeralds and other precious stones and in slaves had become so important that the Carthaginians began their, great Sahara expeditions in an effort to cut out all middle men in the trade and to get into direct contact with the sources of the riches in which they traded. In deed this Saharan trade constituted one of the main sources of the riches of Carthage.

Trans-Saharan commerce, however, was to reach its optimum point of organisational efficiency only after the introduction of the camel into the area. The camel was introduced into North Africa by the Romans probably in the first century AD. The rapid spread of the camel, however, through Barbary and into the Sahara and beyond was begun by the Arabs and Berbers - a process that was said to gather momentum and reached its climax in the eleventh century. Trade across the Sahara, noted Walter Rodney, “was as great an achievement as crossing an ocean”.

At best the journey was a difficult one with special characteristics. This had made some scholars speak of the camel as the ship of the Sahara and the towns which the camel caravan entered on either side of the desert as ‘ports’.

As a consequence of the use of this singularly endowed beast of burden, an intricate and complicated network of caravan routes has come into existence by the eleventh century by means of which not only commercial but religious, as well as cultural contacts were established and maintained between the people of North and West Africa. Trading between the Berbers and the peoples of West Africa along the “camel routes” reached their height in the period 1490 - 1590 when the Songhai Empire under the Askias and the Bornu Empire under the Sefuwas dominated the Sahara and the Sudan and maintained, according to Adu Boahen, “such political stability and order as have probably not been known in these areas since that time.”

VIEWPOINT

The concept of Gender and Gender Equality revisited (Part 1)

Emblematic figure of the feminist movement, Dr Isatou Touray continues to play a prominent role in the fight for the eradication of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Gambia. On the occasion of the celebration of the of International Women’s Day, which coincided with the launching of GAMCOTRAP website, she delivered a vibrant statement centred on this year’s theme “The Struggle for Gender Equality Continues”. We reproduce below the full of her speech:

Over the years, GAMCOTRAP has been engaged in intensive advocacy work towards improving the status of women and children in The Gambia. Through this process, the organisation has accumulated a lot of relevant data which it plans to share with its partners, donors and the general public; through the use of modern technology, by launching and hosting its own website.

The launching has been scheduled to coincide with this years’ International Women’s Day, which is an internationally recognised day to reflect on the concerns and strategic interests of women all over the world. It is a day when women around the globe celebrate their successes while renewing their determination to defeat the challenges they still face with the support of each other. It is also a day when we reflect on the promises made by our governments and donor agencies to ensure that women’s rights are put at the centre of development.

The Gambia like all other countries contributes towards the global energy in celebrating this day in various forms. Women’s rights organisations in particular will be celebrating today. I salute all of you women and men who care. The struggle continues as we rekindle our commitment and determination and spell out the visions we have for women’s empowerment.

We recognise that women are not a homogenous group. We have both similarities and differences. This diversity enriches our experiences.

Despite many difficulties we have made some achievements to which GAMCOTRAP has contributed for instance,

• The ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, without reservations, as well as The African protocol on Human Rights on the Rights of Women and The Convention on the Rights of the Child,

• Achieving a landmark success by the public declaration of 18 circumcisers and 63 communities to stop Female Genital Mutilation

The Launching of our website

The theme for this year’s celebration is “The Struggle for Gender Equality Continues…”. As the feminist movement is progressing all over the world there are dynamics unfolding in the journey towards achieving gender equality. Here I would like to highlight some of the factors that impede the realisation of this journey concerning over 50% of the world’s population “Women”.

I start with the concept of Gender Equality which seems to raise a lot of intellectual and political debates particularly among the episteme community as well as among men, women and highly placed decision makers who tend to politicise the issue and thereby unfortunately miss its essence.

What is Gender and Gender Equality?

The concept of gender was developed in Women Studies/Gender Studies with the aim of understanding the relations between women and men, especially as concern the division of power in society. It also aimed at considering how concepts introduced and developed by feminist scholarship are used for particularly, educational but also research purposes in different contexts especially within the episteme community.

It must be realised that all subject matters develop their own concepts in order to promote the philosophy and epistemological viewpoints arising from the praxis of the work they do. Gender concepts and issues are part of the feminist epistemological processes which constitute a particular knowledge production. Thus any field that touches on gender/women studies must use this terminology to gain a common framework of knowledge and ideas just like in any subject matter. In this sense, feminist scholarship is no different from other subject matters or discourses of development.

However, the meanings and interpretations attached to feminist praxis meet more resistance than others. In the Gambia, the debate on the concept of gender, gender analysis, gender perspectives and gender mainstreaming, feminism and women’s rights have evoked a lot of debates among intellectuals and this has resulted in sidetracking the essence of the subject matter which is the necessity of addressing the inequalities and imbalances between the sexes.

How can we strategically address development without knowing the real situation of both women and men? Do we take it for granted that all people are the same or do we make in-depth analyses of the situation to come up with knowledge that will enable us to make the right decisions and allocate the resources needed for positive change for all?

Gender analysis will give us results which will help us to focus correctly on improving the situation for both women and men. Therefore gender analysis is critical. It is the results of such analysis that lead development practitioners and feminist academicians to focus on women as a target for change.

The issues to take note of in gender analysis are what they tell us about the context in which they are being used. We furthermore need to ask how policy makers and development agents are responding to the findings, both as individuals and as representatives of their institutions. Are the results of gender analysis used to make strategic shifts? Sometimes I hear people in very high positions of decision making, who are supposed to uphold the principle of gender equality, say ‘but gender is about both men and women’ why are you harping on women and children alone? These are the decision makers who should facilitate the processes of change needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2020. I doubt if MDG 3 will be achieved with such misogynistic statements.

There is a need to put both men and women with the right competence in the right positions if things are going to change for the poor, marginalised and powerless.