West African societies appeared self-contained because they produced their basic necessities. But, even in this early period, they were tied together by trade with distant markets.
At the west end, one trade route ran from Senegal through southern Mauritania to Sijilmasa in present-day Morocco. Meanwhile, seafaring groups along the Atlantic ferried goods to the mouths of navigable rivers. A central route went from Kwakaw up to Tahart in Algeria.
Footnote: Coquery-Vidrovitch, 1978, pp. 271, 276; Brooks, 1985, p. 5.
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