Early Trade Routes. By the year 500, the kingdom of Ghana relied on trading iron and gold to buy salt mined in the Sahara Desert and merchandise from north of the desert. Camel caravans traveled the trade routes with their cargo. The nomadic Berbers of North Africa called the part of the continent south of the Sahara Bilad at-Sudan (Land of the Black Peoples), and the entire region of West Africa became known as the Sudan. One of the earliest trade routes followed by the northern traders linked the salt mines of Taghaza (an oasis in the Sahara), to Walata on the southern edge of the Sahara, and to other points in West Africa, including the important trading center of Djenne and the goldfields further south. During the latter part of the ninth century a route developed further west, linking the Moroccan...