Trade Flashcards
What is trade?
Trade is the buying, selling and exchanging of resources according to their supply and demand.
What is a traders aim?
A traders aim is to make a profit on a transaction.
(In general) What kind of things are traded?
Resources, services and skills are traded for money, goods or other services.
Types of service providers?
Teachers, office workers and politicians.
When and where was the main market town/trading centre?
In Mali between the 1200s and 1500s, it was Timbuktu.
How did the merchant princes’ journeys to Mecca affect trade?
Their journeys to Mecca put them in touch with many merchants, vastly increasing the import/export market.
What did the north western regions of Mali consist of?
A high supply of salt and demand for gold.
How as salt transported?
By camels, servants and slaves to Timbuktu.
South of the empire consisted of?
High supply of gold
How was the gold transported?
By canoes along the Niger River to Timbuktu.
What was so special about Timbuktu?
Though it had no resources of its own, it was halfway between the salt mines and the gold mines making it an ideal location for administrating trade. It was also a centre of religion and learning, bringing many scholars and knowledge to Mali.
How were imports and exports controlled?
From Timbuktu, the emperor controlled exports to other parts of Africa, Europe or the East, as well as the importation of guns, swords, horses and luxury silks, as well as the slave trade.
How did the emperor’s control over trade benefit him?
It was used to enrich the emperor and grow his empire.
Where and with whom did Mali trade?
Mali traded across the Sahara Desert and became wealthy through trade with NA and the ME. It was control of this trans-Saharan trade that made Mali rich.
What things were traded in the international trade?
Goods brought from Europe and North Africa as well as swords, iron, copper, cloth, silk and horses brought from NA and ME into Mali were traded for gold, slaves, ivory and ostrich feathers.
