UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Saharan trade
The Carthaginian period
The problem of Carthaginian contacts with Saharan peoples, and people
living even farther south, is obscure. If communications or contacts existed
they must have been based on Leptis Magna and Sabratha, since it is
in this region that there are the fewest natural obstacles. Carthaginian
concern to keep Greeks from the area has been cited as evidence that trade
of some substance with the interior existed, since suitable agricultural land
for settlement is scarce. In the fifth century Herodotus knew of two tribal
groups, the Garamantes and Nasamones, in the regions south of the Syrtic
gulf; he also said that it took thirty days to get from the coast to the
region of the former tribe, presumably the population of Garama (Germa).
It was via the Garamantes that the Romans obtained more knowledge of
the interior of Africa centuries later. A late story says that a Carthaginian
named Mago crossed the desert three times. Unfortunately, up to the
present such trade as existed has left no archaeological trace whatever,
and in literature only carbuncles are mentioned as an article of desert
commerce. Slaves were perhaps traded - the Garamantes are said to have
pursued Ethiopians (i.e. Negro peoples) in four-horse chariots; ivory and
skins are suggested, though these were readily available in the Maghreb;
and gold from the Sudan is still more problematical, though not impossible.
Recent archaeological evidence from Germa indicates that the earliest
population growth is from the fifth or fourth century and that over
succeeding centuries a considerable sedentary population based on agriculture
grew up. This may be due to cultural influences extending from the
Carthaginian sites on the coast. After the destruction of Carthage the
Romans penetrated both to Germa and Ghadames and occasionally farther
south, and there are some archaeological traces of imports from the
Mediterranean world into the interior, but on a modest scale. The lack
at this time of camels in North Africa explains the difficulty and irregularity
of trans-Saharan travel. Even if Saharan conditions were not so severe
in ancient as they have been in more recent times, this absence would
make trade on any large scale extremely difficult. The integration of the
Sahara and trans-Saharan regions into a wider cultural environment must
therefore be dated to the early Arab period.
The city of Carthage
Although Carthage had the reputation of possessing enormous wealth this
is not manifested for us in the archaeology, even allowing for the complete
destruction of the city by the Romans. This is not to say that there were
no important buildings as in other ancient cities of similar size. Carthage
had an elaborate double artificial harbour, the outer for the use of merchant
ships — how many could use it at one time is not known — and the inner
which had quays and sheds for 220 warships, together with a control
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