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Salt from the Sahara Desert was one of the major trade goods of ancient West Africa where very little naturally occurring deposits of the mineral could be found. Transported via camel caravans and by boat along such rivers as the Niger and Senegal, salt found its way to trading centres like Koumbi Saleh, Niani, and Timbuktu, where it was either passed further south or exchanged for other goods such as ivory, hides, copper, iron, and cereals. The most common exchange was salt for gold dust that came from the mines of southern West Africa. Indeed, salt was such a precious commodity that it was quite literally worth its weight in gold in some parts of West Africa.

? ? ? ? ? ?撒哈拉大沙漠的鹽是古代西非主要的貿(mào)易商品之一，在那里，人們幾乎找不到自然形成的礦藏。鹽通過駱駝商隊和沿尼日爾河與塞內(nèi)加爾河的船只，被運輸?shù)嚼ケ人_利赫、尼亞尼和廷巴克圖等貿(mào)易中心。這些貿(mào)易點會將鹽輸送給南方地區(qū)，或與其他貨物交換，如象牙、皮革、銅、鐵和谷物。最常見的交換是用鹽換取來自西非南部礦區(qū)的金粉。事實上，鹽在古代西非是很珍貴的貨物，以至于在一些地方，它的價值堪比黃金。

撒哈拉地區(qū)的鹽礦

The necessity for salt in ancient West Africa is here summarised in an extract from the UNESCO General History of Africa:

? ? ? ? ? Salt is a mineral that was in great demand particularly with the beginning of an agricultural mode of life. Hunters and food-gatherers probably obtained a large amount of their salt intake from the animals they hunted and from fresh plant food. Salt only becomes an essential additive where fresh foods are unobtainable in vey dry areas, where body perspiration is also normally excessive. It becomes extremely desirable, however, amongst societies with relatively restricted diets, as was the case with arable agriculturalists. (Vol II, 384-5)

? ? ? ? ? 聯(lián)合國教科文組織的《非洲通史》摘錄了古代西非對鹽的需求，在此作一概述：

? ? ? ? ? 鹽是一種礦物質(zhì)，特別是隨著農(nóng)業(yè)生活方式的開始，鹽的需求量逐漸增加。獵人和食物采集者可能從他們獵取的動物或摘取的新鮮植物中獲得大量的鹽份。只有在非常干燥的地區(qū)無法獲得新鮮食物的情況下，鹽才會成為一種必要的調(diào)味品，因為那里的人體出汗量通常也很大。然而，在飲食相對受限的社會中，鹽變得很受歡迎，就像農(nóng)民渴望獲得土地一般。(第二卷，384-5）。

In addition, salt was always in great demand in order to better preserve dried meat and to give added taste to food. The savannah region south of the western Sahara Desert (known as the Sudan region) and the forests of southern West Africa were poor in salt. Those areas near the Atlantic coast could obtain the mineral from evaporation pans or boiling sea water, but sea salt did not travel or keep well. A third alternative was salt derived from the ashes of burnt plants like millet and palms, but again these were not so rich in sodium chloride. Consequently, for most of the Sudan region, salt had to come from the north. The inhospitable Sahara Desert was the chief natural source of rock salt, either acquired from surface deposits caused by the desiccation process such as found in old lake beds or extracted from relatively shallow mines where the salt is naturally formed into slabs. This salt, which was a creamy-grey colour, was far superior to the other sources of salt from the sea or certain plants.

? ? ? ? ? 此外，為了更好地保存肉干和給食物增加口感，鹽的需求量一直很大。撒哈拉沙漠西部以南的大草原地區(qū)（被稱為蘇丹地區(qū)）和西非南部的森林都缺乏鹽。那些靠近大西洋海岸的地區(qū)可以從蒸發(fā)鍋或煮沸的海水中獲得這種礦物質(zhì)，但海鹽不容易運輸或保存。第三種選擇是從小米和棕櫚等燒焦的植物灰燼中提取的鹽，但這些鹽的氯化鈉含量也不是很高。因此，對于蘇丹的大部分地區(qū)，鹽必須從北方買進(jìn)?；臎龅娜龉衬缓烊坏膸r鹽，要么從地表沉積物中獲得，如古老的湖床；要么從相對較淺的礦井中提取，那里的鹽自然形成板狀。這種鹽是乳灰色的，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)優(yōu)于來自海洋或某些植物的鹽源。

When exactly salt became a trade commodity is unknown, but the exchange of salt for cereals dates back to prehistory when desert and savannah peoples each looked to gain what they could not produce themselves. On a larger scale, camel caravans were likely crossing the Sahara from at least the first centuries of the 1st millennium CE. These caravans would be run by the Berbers who acted as middle-men between the North African states and West Africa. Salt was their major trade good but they also brought luxury items like glassware, fine cloth, and manufactured goods. In addition, with these trade goods came the Islamic religion, ideas in art and architecture, and cultural practices.

? ? ? ? ? 鹽究竟何時成為一種貿(mào)易商品尚不清楚，但用鹽換取谷物的行為可以追溯到史前時期，當(dāng)時沙漠和草原民族都希望獲得他們自己無法生產(chǎn)的東西。在更大的范圍內(nèi)，至少從公元一千年的頭幾個世紀(jì)開始，駱駝商隊可能就開始穿越撒哈拉進(jìn)行貿(mào)易。這些商隊由柏柏爾人經(jīng)營，他們在北非國家和西非之間充當(dāng)中介。鹽是他們的主要貿(mào)易品，但他們也帶來了奢侈品，如玻璃器皿、精美的布匹和制成品。此外，隨著這些貿(mào)易品的出現(xiàn)，伊斯蘭宗教、藝術(shù)和建筑理念以及文化習(xí)俗也隨之傳播。

Salt, both its production and trade, would dominate West African economies throughout the 2nd millennium CE, with sources and trade centres constantly changing hands as empires rose and fell. The salt mines of Idjil in the Sahara were a famous source of the precious commodity for the Ghana Empire (6-13th century CE) and were still going strong in the 15th century CE. In the 10th century CE the Sanhaja Berbers, who controlled the salt mines at Awlil and Taghaza and transportation through trade cities like Audaghost, began to challenge the Ghana Empire's monopoly of the trade. In the 11th century CE the Awlil mines were in the hands of Takrur, but it would be the Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE), with its capital at Niani, that dominated the sub-Saharan salt trade following the collapse of the Ghana Empire. However, semi-independent river 'ports' like Timbuktu began to steal trade opportunities from the Mali kings further west. The next kingdom to dominate the region and the movement of salt was the Songhai Empire (15-16th century CE) with its great trading capital at Gao.

? ? ? ? ? ?鹽，包括其生產(chǎn)和貿(mào)易，將在二千年內(nèi)主導(dǎo)西非經(jīng)濟(jì)。隨著各個帝國的興衰，鹽源和貿(mào)易中心不斷易手。撒哈拉的Idjil鹽礦是加納帝國（公元6-13世紀(jì)）著名的巖鹽來源，在公元15世紀(jì)仍在繼續(xù)開采。公元10世紀(jì)，控制了阿維爾和塔加扎鹽礦并通過奧達(dá)戈斯等貿(mào)易城市進(jìn)行運輸?shù)纳９Z柏柏爾人，開始挑戰(zhàn)加納帝國對鹽的壟斷。在公元11世紀(jì)，Awlil鹽礦在塔克魯爾王國手中，但在加納帝國崩潰后，以尼亞尼為首都的馬里帝國（公元1240-1645年）將主導(dǎo)撒哈拉以南的鹽業(yè)貿(mào)易。然而，像廷巴克圖這樣半獨立的河流“港口”開始從馬里國王手中搶奪更西邊的貿(mào)易權(quán)。下一個主宰該地區(qū)和鹽流動的王國是桑海帝國（公元15-16世紀(jì)），其貿(mào)易中心在加奧。

Salt may have been a rarity in the savannah but at desert mining towns like Taghaza (the main Sudan source of salt up to the 16th century CE) and Taoudenni, the commodity was still so abundant slabs of rock salt were used to build homes. Naturally, such a valuable money-spinner as a salt mine attracted competition for ownership, as when the Moroccan leader Muhammad al-Mahdi attempted to muscle in on the market by arranging for several prominent Tuareg salt traders to be murdered at Taghaza in the mid-16th century CE. Quite literally, whoever controlled the salt trade also controlled the gold trade, and both were the principal economic pillars of the various empires of West Africa's history.

? ? ? ? ? 在大草原上，鹽是一種稀罕物，但在塔加扎（直到公元16世紀(jì)都是蘇丹的主要鹽源）和塔烏登尼這樣的沙漠采礦城鎮(zhèn)，鹽非常豐富，巖鹽的板塊被人們用來建造房屋。當(dāng)然，像鹽礦這樣有價值的搖錢樹，自然會引來爭奪者，如摩洛哥領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人穆罕默德·馬赫迪·蒙塔扎爾（Muhammad al-Mahdi）在公元16世紀(jì)中期安排了幾個著名的圖阿雷格鹽商在塔加扎有預(yù)謀地被謀殺，他們試圖在市場上大干一場。確切地說，誰控制了鹽業(yè)貿(mào)易，誰就控制了黃金貿(mào)易，兩者都是西非歷史上各個帝國的主要經(jīng)濟(jì)支柱。

The 14th-century CE Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta, who visited West Africa c. 1352 CE, gives a lengthy description of life in the salt mine settlement of Taoudenni:

It is a village with no attractions. A strange thing about it is that its houses and mosques are built of blocks of salt and roofed with camel skins. There are no trees, only sand in which there is a salt mine. They dig the ground and thick slabs are found in it, lying on each other as if they had been cut and stacked under the ground. A camel carries two slabs. The only people living there are the slaves of the Massufa, who dig for the salt. (Quoted in de Villiers, 121-122)

? ? ? ? ? 公元14世紀(jì)的穆斯林旅行家伊本·白圖泰（Ibn Battuta），約在公元1352年訪問了西非，他對陶代尼的鹽礦定居點的生活進(jìn)行了長篇描述：

? ? ? ? ? 這是一個沒有景點的村莊。它的一個奇怪之處在于，它的房屋和清真寺是用鹽塊建造的，當(dāng)?shù)厝擞民橊勂ぷ鑫蓓敗＿@里沒有樹木，只有沙子，還有一個鹽礦。他們挖開地面，發(fā)現(xiàn)里面有厚厚的石板，相互躺在一起，就像在地底下被切割和堆放一樣。商隊的每只駱駝都馱著兩塊石板。而住在那里的唯一的人是Massufa的奴隸，他們負(fù)責(zé)挖鹽。 (引自de Villiers, 121-122)

運? ? ?輸

The salt slabs, relatively durable but unwieldy, were loaded onto camels, each animal carrying two blocks that weighed up to 90 kilos (200 lbs) each. A camel caravan could be composed of anywhere from 500 to several thousands of camels in their heyday. The first caravans likely crossed the western Sahara in the 3rd century CE, if not earlier, but the practice really took off from the 9th to 12th century CE. When the caravans arrived at a trading centre or major settlement in the Sudan region, the salt was exchanged for goods to carry back across the desert on the return journey; typically, such loads included gold, leather, animal skins, and ivory. The salt could be used in the communities around the trading centres or simply transported on by boat along such rivers as the Niger, the Senegal, and their tributaries. Finally, the salt was cut up into smaller pieces and porters carried it on their heads to its final destination - the villages of West Africa's interior.

? ? ? ? ? 鹽塊相對耐用但不容易搬運，它們被裝在駱駝身上，每頭駱駝攜帶兩塊，每塊重達(dá)90公斤（200磅）。在貿(mào)易全盛時期，一支駱駝隊可以由500到幾千只駱駝組成。第一批商隊可能在公元3世紀(jì)（如果不是更早的話）穿越西撒哈拉，但這種做法真正興起于公元9至12世紀(jì)。當(dāng)商隊到達(dá)蘇丹地區(qū)的貿(mào)易中心或主要定居點時，鹽用來換成貨物，以便在回程時攜帶；通常，貨物包括黃金、皮革、動物皮毛和象牙。這些鹽可以在貿(mào)易中心周圍的社區(qū)使用，或者干脆沿尼日爾河、塞內(nèi)加爾河及其支流用船運走。最后，鹽被切成小塊，搬運工人將其抬到最終目的地——西非內(nèi)陸的村莊。

價值連城

Salt was a highly valued commodity not only because it was unobtainable in the sub-Saharan region but because it was constantly consumed and supply never quite met the total demand. There was also the problem that such a bulky item cost more to transport in significant quantities, which only added to its high price. Consequently, salt was very often exchanged for gold dust, sometimes even pound for pound in remote areas, with merchants specialising in one of the commodities. Indeed, such was the stability of the mineral's value, in some rural areas small pieces of salt were used as a currency in trade transactions and the kings of Ghana kept stockpiles of salt alongside the gold nuggets that filled their impressive royal treasury. The passage of such a valuable item from one trader to another provided ample opportunity to increase its value the further it went from its source in the Sahara.

? ? ? ? ? 鹽在當(dāng)時是一種價值很高的商品，不僅因為它在撒哈拉以南地區(qū)很難獲得，而且因其不斷被消耗，供應(yīng)量從來沒有完全滿足總需求。還有一個問題是，這種笨重的物品在大量運輸時成本較高，只會增加其價值。因此，鹽經(jīng)常被用來交換金粉，有時在偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)甚至是一磅一磅地交換，商人們專門從事其中一種商品的交易。事實上，由于這種礦物的價值非常穩(wěn)定，在一些農(nóng)村地區(qū)，小塊的鹽被用作交易的貨幣，加納的國王把鹽和金塊一起儲存起來，這些金塊填滿了他們令人印象深刻的皇家?guī)旆?。這樣一個有價值的物品從一個商人手中流轉(zhuǎn)到另一個商人手中，使其在離開撒哈拉沙漠的源頭越遠(yuǎn)的地方價值越高。

An anonymous Arab traveller of the 10th century CE recorded the delicate operation of bulk trading between salt and gold merchants, sometimes called 'the silent trade' where neither party actually met face to face:

? ? ? ? ? ?Great people of the Sudan lived in Ghana. They had traced a boundary which no one who sets out to them ever crosses. When the merchants reach this boundary, they place their wares and cloth on the ground and then depart, and so the people of the Sudan come bearing gold which they leave beside the merchandise and then depart. The owners of the merchandise then return, and if they were satisfied with what they had found, they take it. If not, they go away again, and the people of the Sudan return and add to the price until the bargain is concluded. (Quoted in Spielvogel, 229)

? ? ? ? ? 一位公元10世紀(jì)的匿名阿拉伯旅行者記錄了鹽商與金商之間大宗交易的微妙操作，這些操作有時被稱為“無聲的交易”，雙方實際上都沒有面對面地交流：

? ? ? ? ? 蘇丹的人民生活在加納。他們描畫了一條邊界，任何向他們出發(fā)的人都不會越過這條邊界。當(dāng)商人到達(dá)這條邊界時，他們把商品和布放在地上，然后離開；于是蘇丹人帶著黃金前來，他們把黃金放在商品旁邊，然后離開。商品的主人隨后返回，如果他們對找到的東西感到滿意，他們就拿走。如果不滿意，他們又走了，蘇丹人又回來，增加籌碼，直到討價還價結(jié)束。(引自Spielvogel, 229）。

Even the passage through of salt could be a lucrative source of income for rulers. For example, the Arab traveller Al-Bakri, visiting the Sudan region in 1076 CE, describes the duties on salt in the Ghana Empire which were, unlike with other goods like copper, taxed twice: "On every donkey-load of salt the King of Ghana levys one golden dinar when it is brought into his country and two dinars when it is sent out" (quoted in Fage, 670). In another example, Timbuktu operated as the middle-trader in this exchange of northern and West African resources. A 90-kilo block of salt, transported by river from Timbuktu to Djenne (aka Jenne) in the south could double its value and be worth around 450 grams of gold. As the Tarikh al-Sudan chronicle, compiled c. 1656 CE, notes:

? ? ? ? ? ?Jenne is one of the greatest Muslim markets, where traders carrying salt from the mines of Taghaza meet traders with the gold of Bitou…It is because of this blessed town that caravans come to Timbuktu from all points of the horizon. (Quoted in Oliver, 374)

? ? ? ? ? 鹽稅甚至也可以成為統(tǒng)治者有利可圖的收入來源。例如，阿拉伯旅行家阿布·阿卜杜拉·阿巴克里在公元1076年訪問蘇丹地區(qū)時，描述了加納帝國的鹽稅。與銅等其他商品不同，當(dāng)?shù)佧}稅要征收兩次：“每一驢子裝的鹽，加納國王在運進(jìn)本國時征收一個金第納爾，運出時征收兩個第納爾”（引自Fage, 670）。在另一個例子中，廷巴克圖在這種北部和西部非洲資源的交換中充當(dāng)了中介市場的角色。一塊90公斤的鹽，從廷巴克圖經(jīng)河道運到南部的杰內(nèi)（又名Jenne），其價值可以翻倍，大約值450克黃金。正如約在公元1656年編纂的Tarikh al-Sudan編年史所指出的：

? ? ? ? ? Jenne是最大的穆斯林市場之一，從塔加扎礦區(qū)運鹽的商人在這里與攜帶Bitou黃金的商人相遇......正是因為這個受祝福的城鎮(zhèn)，商隊從地平線的各個方向來到廷巴克圖。(引自奧利弗，374）。

Even today, the salt trade continues, although the deposits are running out and the salt merchants can no longer command gold dust in exchange. Saharan salt from Taoudenni is still transported by Tuareg camel caravans, the still-90-kilo slabs now ultimately destined for the refineries of Bamako in Mali.

? ? ? ? ? 即使在今天，鹽業(yè)貿(mào)易仍在繼續(xù)，盡管礦藏正在耗盡，鹽商也無法再以金粉作為交換。來自陶代尼的撒哈拉鹽仍然由圖阿雷格駱駝隊運輸，這些仍然是每塊90公斤重的鹽塊現(xiàn)在最終被運往馬里的巴馬科煉油廠。

參考書目：

Curtin, P. African History. Pearson, 1995.

de Villiers, M. Timbuktu. Walker Books, 2007.

Fage, J.D. (ed). The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Hrbek, I. (ed). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. III, Abridged Edition. University of California Press, 1992.

Ki-Zerbo, J. (ed). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition. University of California Press, 1998.

McDougall, E.A. "Salts of the Western Sahara: Myths, Mysteries, and Historical Significance." The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (1990), pp. 231-257.

McDougall, E.A. "The Sahara Reconsidered: Pastoralism, Politics and Salt from the Ninth through the Twelfth Centuries." African Economic History, No. 12, Business Empires in Equatorial Africa (1983), pp. 263-286.

McEvedy, C. The Penguin Atlas of African History. Penguin Books, 1996.

Mokhtar, G. (ed). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition. University of California Press, 1990.

Oliver, R. (ed). The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Oliver, R.A. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa. Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Spielvoegel, J.J. (ed). Glencoe World History. McGraw-Hill Education, 2009.

原文作者：Mark Cartwright

????????? 駐意大利的歷史作家。他的主要興趣包括陶瓷、建筑、世界神話和發(fā)現(xiàn)所有文明的共同思想。他擁有政治哲學(xué)碩士學(xué)位，是《世界歷史百科全書》的出版總監(jiān)。

原文網(wǎng)址：https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1342/the-salt-trade-of-ancient-west-africa/