One rare artifact on display that exemplifies the scope of this network was a small, celadon-glazed porcelain fragment. On return routes to Africa, goods like cowrie shells moved south from the Indian Ocean and glass beads came from the Mediterranean. They reached as far as the Mediterranean Sea and Levantine routes, ultimately connecting with the ancient Silk Road. With demand for the precious material coming from distant lands, these complex crisscrosses fueled a global economy. These trans-Saharan routes were largely driven by the value of pure gold from deposits in the historic region of Western Sudan-encompassing the empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Merchants passed through busy trading centers like Gao and Tadmekka in Mali and Sijilmasa in Morocco they also filled up boats that were sent along the Niger River.
Camel caravans traveled great miles while carrying goods like glass, copper, brass, and pottery, enduring sandstorms and water shortages along the way. Far from desolate, the world’s largest subtropical desert was rife with movement during the medieval era, with different ethnic groups communicating through the common tongue of Arabic. It’s an unfortunate and pervasive stereotype that the Sahara is an empty expanse, too harsh for life to thrive. The exhibition later traveled to Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. Many objects illustrated the high technical skills of African artisans, such as a cast bronze elephant from Nigeria and rare pieces of gold jewelry excavated from across the Sahara. The exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa represented the first major museum exhibition of its kind, bringing together material remnants of this influential trade and medieval artworks from three continents. That the medieval period is European history, or that Africa was isolated and disconnected from global economies and trends before European contact-those are really resilient but misguided ideas.”īerzock has spent the last seven years organizing a monumental show highlighting West Africa’s medieval cultural past, specifically between the eighth and 16th centuries. This notion, according to Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Block Museum of Art, is “a revelation to people. This small image is a trace of a vital pre-colonial narrative that’s largely been forgotten overtime-that medieval West Africa had a global reputation as a region of considerable wealth and played a significant role in shaping economies and cultural production overseas for centuries.
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