Take a look at your salt shaker the next time you sit down at the dinner table. Or the canister of Morton’s Salt in your cupboard.
Now take a gander at whatever gold you or someone else may be wearing on his or her wrist, ring, or neck.
Any particular reason to think that these two substances would have any equal value at all? Even in your wildest imagination?
There was a time, during the Middle Ages in West Africa, that salt was valued every bit as much as gold. And it was as simple as, and due to, the age-old economic theory of supply and demand.
In the medieval West African kingdoms of Ghana and Mali, there was so much gold that it could be said they did not even know what to do with it all. Go to some of the most stunning and beautiful churches, cathedrals, and palaces in Europe and look around. Chances are the gold in those places came from West Africa. Just to give an idea of the abundance of gold that existed there, the ruler of the Mali Empire, Mansa Musa, brought along with him up to 3300 pounds of gold along with him on his famous early fourteenth-century pilgramage to Mecca. He gave away as much as 1250 pounds of it to the poor along the way. A mere pittance.
There were gold mines in the kingdoms of Ghana and Mali that, if not underground, probably would have registered as large hills had they been they visible. But what essential mineral did the Ghanaians not have?
Salt.
We in our modern society tend to overlook the importance of salt in our daily lives. It’s great to put on a dish if you like.
However, salt has forever been imperative for use in man’s daily life throughout history for several reasons.
First, it has always been used as a favorite for diners to flavor their food. (And, they say, one should always try their dish first without salt or other spices so as to not to insult the chef). West Africans, Europeans, Asians, and people all over the world also used salt on their dishes.
Secondly, salt is extremely important for the human body. It is significant to have for the body’s hydration and helps keep the right balance of fluid in tissues, cells, and muscles.
Third, salt has forever been used used as an active ingredient in preserving meats. Whether it be used on venison, pork, beef, or fowl, salt keeps meats from spoiling, especially in extremely hot climates such as West Africa.
The important thing to understand now is that West Africans did not have salt, and other places in the Mediterranean and Europe did not have a source of gold. At least not to the extent that medieval kingdoms in West Africa did.
So then where was there an abundant supply of salt? The answer is an area north of West Africa in the Sahara Desert: Taghaza. Taghaza was an ancient city known for its salt mines, and traders from the Mediterranean region and elsewhere would stop by there to pick up very large quantities of salt and continue southward..
Herein is where the concept of supply and demand come in to play. Salt for gold and gold for salt. What one party has, the other one needs. And what one party needs, the other one has.
That theory one can grasp.
But how did the actual exchange of the gold and the salt take place? In a market place with stalls? Walls and ceilings covered in cloth to shield one from the scorching sun? Traders waving their arms and hands, screaming at the top of their lungs in their native tongue to hock their wares?
Not hardly. That image we can envision from the movies and even real markets of trade.
No. You see, there were several reasons why this typical marketplace did not take place.
First, the traders in this Trans-Saharan trade typically did not speak the same language. That barrier, even with modern-day travelers using language-translation applications, can be trying in any scenario.
Secondly, the West African traders along the Wangara and in Bure wanted and had do their best to keep the location of their gold mines secret. It was imperative. If not, what was to keep bandits if not whole armies from coming and looting all the gold they could?
Here is where an atmosphere of exchange comes into play that one does not normally, if ever, associate with trade or barter.
Silence. Or at least the kind of quietude that comes with no sound of the spoken word. None.
How could this be? Well, they had a system. One that worked despite the aforementioned barriers that existed and could very well have kept trade from succeeding at all.
The salt traders were those Trans-Saharan traders who packed up their camel trains and made the long, long trek south through the desert and the Sahel to the banks of the Wangara River in West Africa. The gold traders were native West Africans, such as the Bure, of the kingdom of Ghana and empire of Ghana, who lived close by the gold mines.
There was a set system in place that was tried and true. Certainly there may have been some hiccups along the way, but overall the silent barter system of trade worked, and worked well.
The process was as follows:
First, one group of traders would bring their goods (salt) to the banks of the Wangara River and lay down the quantity which they brought to exchange. They would beat a drum or gong to signal to the West Africans that they had arrived and leave their goods to be surveyed and hopefully traded. Then they would disappear out of sight and far enough away to not see the next steps of trade but still be within earshot. It was a given to both parties that the initial party needed to go far enough away so that they could not see from where the gold traders were coming. Hence, the secrecy of the gold mines’ location.
Secondly, the gold traders, upon hearing the beat of the drums, would leave their location and trek to the banks of the river to survey what had been left behind. They would then leave the amount of gold that they deemed equal in value to the salt left behind. They would beat the drums to signal to the salt traders that they had taken care of their end of the exchange, and then amscray back to their base.
Third, upon hearing the drums signifying that the gold traders had surveyed their salt and in turn left what they considered an equitable amount, the salt traders would leave their location and go back to the site on the river to see what amount of gold has been left and deemed equal. If they liked what they saw and considered the amount fair trade, the salt traders would beat the drums, take the gold, turn around, and be on their way back north from whence they came. If they did not, they would beat the drums, leave all the goods, and go back, as they had initially, and wait for the sound of drums to signify the continuation of the trade.
This went on (sometimes for as long as it took for both parties to be satisfied) until the trade was concluded.
Note: This process has seldom been explained or described without this obvious question being asked: What would keep the salt traders, for instance, from taking every bit of the gold, as well as the salt they had brought, and essentially stealing it? Answer: Because if that happened, the trade would be jeopardized and even halted for a long period of time, if not forever. And the goods were way, way too valuable for either party to take such a chance.
This is an intriguing and successful way for which to trade goods. It suited trade purposes of the time and was highly successful. It is probably not to be found anywhere today as a way to trade.
The sources for this information are all contained in world history textbooks from which I taught years ago, and they are gathering dust somewhere.