Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Bilad As-Sudan: Trade Relations During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century (North Africa).

Abstract

This study of trade relations between Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Bilad as-Sudan shows that during the second half of the nineteenth century Saharan trade continued to play an important role in Tripolitanian and Cyrenaican commercial life. Merch and ise from Bilad as-Sudan even in the last decade of the nineteenth century made up a high proportion of Tripoli's exports. Libyan-Saharan routes flourished as a result of various economic, political, and religious circumstances. The decline in trade in the first decade of the twentieth century was not the result of competition from the West African Coast, but rather of economic conditions in European and American markets and political developments in North Africa and Bilad as-Sudan. There was, further, an inherent fragility in the institution of the Saharan trade itself. Portions of the study are devoted to the important role played by North African merchants from Ghadames and the Majabra in Bilad as-Sudan. Their influence, positive and negative, on the economic, political, and social life of that area is emphasized. The study relies mainly on documents hitherto unused in the Libyan National Archives, the American archives, and the private collections of some merchants of Ghadames. The European archives are also exploited.