| OCR Text |
Show JEWISH TRADERS IN AFRICA Are Known to Have Had Depots for , Commerce There in the Fifteenth Fif-teenth Century. Jews of the fifteenth century had trading posts in northwest Africa ami carried on a vast commerce with the natives from the Sahara to the Atlantic, Atlan-tic, and from Algeria to the Niger, according ac-cording to letters recently discovered by Charles de la Rouclere, librarian of the national library in France, nntl published by the National Geographic society. Hitherto Africa has not toured to-ured at all in medieval history. It was called the "Dark continent" when Stanley and Livingstone penetrated It about a century ago. The letters recently discovered were written in 1447 by Antonia Malfante, a Genoese citizen, believed to be the only Christian the Jews allowed to penetrate their trade region. They were written from Timbuktu anil Touat. Timbuktu was the Chicago ol the West African plains, and Teiiat the center of camel caravan traffic that exchanged the wheat and barley of Egypt for the powdered gold of Timbuktu and the precious salt from Teghazza. Touat was an oasis containing con-taining from 150 to 200 villages, and each village had a chief. The civilization of that date was advanced enough for the residents to tRke a census of their populations. This was done when the people ot Timbuktu and a rival city, Gao, were numbered to decide a wager. Business Busi-ness ivas done on a large scale. |
