The Salt Road to Kumasi: Asante Trade Empire

Long before the transatlantic slave trade, the Asante Empire built its wealth on salt, gold, and kola nuts, trading across West Africa's Sahel. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the caravan routes that connected Kumasi to the Sahara, where Berber merchants swapped Saharan salt for Akan gold. Learn about the role of the Zongo communities, the currency of cowrie shells, and how a single salt block could buy a slave's release. Discover how this trade shaped Asante's diplomatic power, financing its army and its architecture, and why the British sought to control it. This is the story of an inland empire that looked north, not to the coast, and the commodities that built its wealth. #AsanteTrade #SaltRoutes #Kumasi #SaharaCaravans #KolaNuts #AkanGold #WestAfricanCommerce #Zongo #CowrieShells #SahelTrade #Asanteconomy #GhanaHistory #PrecolonialTrade #18thCentury #AtlanticTrade #History #FexingoHistory #AfricanEmpires Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo