we've talked silk road we've talked indian ocean trade we've even talked about the mongols during the networks of exchange we've got one left the trans-saharan trade route today's trade route has the most value for you why well 1.5 was all about africa and state building there but without the transparent trade route africa would have remained on the outside of the global tapestry like the americas but because of the trans-saharan trade route africa fully joins the networks of exchange and that value for you is by knowing a couple people a couple places and a couple things traded and you'll know everything you need to know about the trans-saharan trader let's go to the map you gotta start looking at the sahara like an ocean it's tough to cross and it serves as a barrier to everything you see there in the northeast you may remember the mamluks from daryl islam and mali and ethiopia from 1.5 state building in africa the trade routes across the sahara broke into these patterns now notice the trade routes also lead to large trade cities just like the other trade routes plus you have some new tech to help out the trade just like the other trade routes camel saddles allow for more volume of trade camel caravans provide safety and became the way stuff was traded across the sahara desert remember caravans rise they have those too why cross the desert easy gold and salt two of the most valuable trading commodities on the planet at the time just like the other trade routes it wasn't just salt and gold and camels there were other things most importantly islam so the big sub-saharan state that they want you to know in this period is mali it's mentioned a couple times and so the big thing religiously that happens for them is they are an islamic state you may recall matsumusa and his pilgrimage to mecca and all the gold but that's it that's the trans-erin route those are kind of the big ideas i told you it's a good investment in your time if you know the people the places and what was traded and how it connected sub-saharan africa to the greater daryl islam and the rest of the global tapestry and networks of exchange that's it all right tomorrow one more two a days we'll look at the cultural and environmental effects of all this stuff and then we're done with unit two all right i'll see you tomorrow