Paper short abstract:

Challenging the dichotomous view between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper examines human mobility via “intra”-Saharan trade, focusing on the Suwāfa living in and around the Sūf region located in the central Sahara (today’s Eastern Algeria).

Paper long abstract:

Challenging the dichotomous view between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper examines human mobility via “intra”-Saharan trade, focusing on the Suwāfa living in and around the Sūf region located in the central Sahara (today’s eastern Algeria). It has been widely accepted that the “trans”-Saharan trade had long been connecting two Africa-s. According to this narrative, as France conquered Alger in 1830 and expanded her territory into the Desert, caravans departing from the Sahel avoided passing through Algeria. Thus, this colony has mostly been left off the historiography of the trans-Saharan trade. Recent Saharan studies, however, point out the limitedness of traditional frameworks and call for constructing the Saharan history by capturing the internal dynamics of the Desert. Drawing upon the colonial archives, travelogues, and commercial letters, this paper investigates the Suwāfa’s intra-Saharan trade in colonial situation, and thereby sheds light on their position in the social dynamics of the mid-nineteenth century central Sahara. The Suwāfa have exported their local manufactures to major Saharan entrepôts Ghadāmis and Ghāt (today’s western Libya) and purchased there Sahelian goods such as slaves and ostrich feathers, some of which have been transported to Mediterranean markets. By contrast, the French expansion of territory resulted in the annexation of Sūf in 1854. Finally, this paper reveals how the Suwāfa transformed their trade routes and trading items vis-à-vis the French colonial authorities, with an aim to locate their case in a broader context of the Saharan history.