Moorish economic history

From roughly the eighth century onward, caravan routes across the Sahara connected West African trading cities with North African ports. Gold moved north; salt, cloth, copper and manuscripts moved south.

These routes carried more than goods. They carried accounting practice, contract conventions, and networks of trust that allowed merchants to extend credit across enormous distances.

The economic lesson is structural: durable wealth in these networks came from controlling routes, information and reputation — not from single transactions.