Day 2: Merchants Exchange

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Today, I met a couple of merchants from North East Africa in Timbuktu. I was exchanging my salt and ivory for their horse and swords. Trade has been a lot easier these days because of the camels that have been helping merchants carry goods. I do these type of exchanges a lot, as I am living in the northwest of the Trans-Saharan Trade. I am very thankful for this trade network, for it earns me all the money I have. Especially since Mansa Musa started to put a tax on all the goods that come through Mali. Mansa Musa, the king, has all the power, while I, am sort of in the middle. The great, Mansa Musa wears clothing of gold and silk. I am only respected because I have knowledge on the trade, but that is fine with me as long as I am not at the bottom of the social hierarchy like the slaves. Anyway, four of the merchants I met today were Muslim, and one of them was going to keep traveling South to bring Islam into other cities. He is very tolerant of other religions, but he is supposed to teach people about Islam and hopefully they were convert. Three of the merchants were not Islamic but Timbuktu is a center of education, so they decided to take advantage of their location and learn about Islam in a religiously tolerant area. After we exchanged our goods, the merchants went about on their journey and I continued upon mine.

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