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Last Updated: 28-Mar-2003

Ancient Trade Routes

Superficially, Ancient Egypt seems isolated and distinct from the rest of the world, isolated by the deserts that hem in the narrow valley of the Nile. Yet the Egyptians were in constant contact with other countries.

The needs of a civilized society, such as the Ancient Egyptians, are not fully satisfied with the produce of its homeland. Thus, trade routes were developed to faraway places. The Nile was navigable throughout the length of Egypt. The Red Sea gave access to Africa and the Far East. The Mediterranean Sea gave them access to countries in Europe and, dare we say, even to northern Europe and the Americas. Travel in ancient days was much more extensive and common than is generally imagined.

In Africa, caravans of merchants guarded by soldiers introduced Egyptian products and techniques to distant traders. They carried these goods and innovations westward along the savannah, toward Lake Chad and further westward, southward to the highlands of Ethiopia and Equatorial Africa.

The trade routes of this region are the oldest in Africa. Many of them were already in existence at the beginning of the Common Era (CE), and some can be traced back to the third millennium BCE.

Egypt was connected with the lands to the south by three main routes:

1. Darb el-Arbeen

   The Forty Days’ Road links Asyut in the Nile Valley to El Fasher in the Dar-Fur Province of Sudan, a journey of 1,082 miles (1,721 km). It was the shortest and safest distance to travel into western Africa. The route was strung along several green and lush oases such as El Kharga. Dozens of towns, forts, and way stations spread over the depression floor.

   From El Fasher, another route led west through Dar-Fur, toward Lake Chad, ending in the area of Kano (northern Nigeria), at the upper reaches of the Niger River Basin.

   
   
   
2. Sunt (Elephantine) Road

   It began at Sunt (Aswan), and went to El Fasher in Dar-Fur, by way of the oases of Selima and Bir Natrum. Sunt (Elephantine) Road also branched off to Semna West, where the caravans and expeditions transferred to ships in order to continue the journey to beyond the trading post established at Kerma, above the Third Cataract. In the same way, protective escorts and merchandise bound for Egypt from the south disembarked at Semna, where the fortress of Semna South was built (during the Middle Kingdom) to protect the travelers.

   During the time of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BCE), this highway was in continuous use all the way throughout the Roman Era, as many inscriptions on the Rock of Offerings at Sunt(Elephantine) testify.

   
   
   
3. Nile Valley to The Red Sea

   There were also several trade routes to the Red Sea from the Nile Valley, which allowed trade with Asian countries. Some of these ports along the Red Sea were: Suakin, Massawa, and Zeila.

Other routes led south from the Nile Valley towns of Asyut, Qus, Sunt (Aswan), and Dongola, via the oases of Kharga, Dakhla, and Dunqul, to Kufra, Dar-Fur (western Sudan), and Kordofan.

Another route led from the western oases of Egypt to Bilma and Gao, but this seems to have fallen out of use by the 10th century.

In Sudan, the main transversal route, running from east to west, started from Suakin, to Sennar or Qerri, and continued across Kordofan to Darfur and on to the countries in West and Central Africa.

The whole African continent was known to the people of Egypt, as confirmed by Herodotus, who reported that Necho, King of Egypt, c. 600 BCE, sent an Egyptian ship with Phoenician sailors to circumnavigate Africa, and that they returned safely and reported of their endeavor.

Items of Trade with Interior Africa

The cast of the scene from the temple of Ramesses II at Beit el-Wali in Kush, shows clearly what the Egyptians were accustomed to importing from interior Africa. They brought leopards, leopard-skins, giraffe-tails, giraffes, monkeys, cattle, antelopes, gazelles, lions, ebony, ivory, ostrich-feathers and eggs, fans, bows, and shields made of fine hides.

The other African products that Egypt bought included: wood, gum, incense, carnelian (a stone prized both as jewelry and for arrowheads), haematite (red ochre), amazon stone, perfumes, oils, selected cattle, and dogs.

How deep and far inside Africa did they travel? Many of the names of places, in the Ancient Egyptian records, are not recognizable, but the time it took to travel, along with the list of exports, indicate regions at least as far as the Niger River and the Ethiopian highlands. Prince Herkhuf, one of the greatest of the caravan masters, spent 7-8 months on each of his three recorded trade missions, during the reign of King Merenra (2255-2246 BCE).

Moustafa Gadalla