During the thirteenth century, the five Maqqari brothers developed a successful business in communication and transportation along a trans-Saharan trade route. The brothers from Tlemcen (in northwest Algeria, near the Moroccan border) created ways to ease the strenuous, dangerous journey across the Sahara Desert from Sijilmasa in southeast Morocco through the.oasis of Taghaza to the West African market town of Walata on the southern edge of the desert. The Maqqari brothers dug and maintained wells along the route and also provided caravan guides. Two brothers stayed in Tlemcen and received goods from European traders. Another brother lived in Sijilmasa, where he gathered information about markets and prices in North Africa and the Sudan. With this information, he could maximize profits by shipping particular goods when they were most in demand. The other two brothers lived in Walata, where they distributed...