Kadetia

Compare and Contrast There are many similarities and changes between the Trans Saharan Trade and the Silk Roads Trade. Some of these similarities are in goods that were traded; there were also many differences. Most similarities and differences were in culture and customs that were inter-traded. This cultural diffusion included such things as religion and ways to deal with travelers and how they treated their slaves. There were many similarities in goods that were traded in both the Silk Roads and the Trans Saharan Trade. Some goods that were extremely popular but hard to retrieve in both were silk for its beautiful texture and the necessity it brought to nobles and any personage with money or wealth or social standing, ivory because it was so rare and hard to come by, and gold because in those days it was such a commodity and it was considered a beautiful show of how high standing you were on the social totem pole. However these trade systems were still very different and the merchants varied between the two selling different items as well. For example in Silk Road Trade there was bronze and jade which were relatively common but still very beautiful items. On the other hand, in Trans Saharan Trade there were more natural items sold such as animal skins, ostrich feathers, and horses. Then there were similarities and differences between Trans Saharan Trade and Silk Roads Trade in cultural diffusion. Africa was transformed due to the Trans Saharan Trade. Because of it, Timbuktu was founded, Islamic religion prospered, internal trade arose, and the northern and southern areas of the Sahara became significant for the goods they produced. Similarly, the Islamic religion and Buddhism was an easy religion for many to convert to, and due to this, many traders passing through would convert themselves and begin to live their lives in a Buddhist lifestyle. The Silk Roads Trade was always more culturally diverse because of the span of veteran merchants and where they decided to gather their wares. In both the Silk Roads Trade and Trans Saharan there has been slave trade but there have been differences that separate them. For instance, in the Trans Saharan Trade was not as bad as the Trans Atlantic Trade because they were treated better. That is, if you can call it being treated better. Although the Trans Atlantic Trade was brutal the Trans Saharan Trade packed as many slaves as they could like sardines in bulk into small confined spaces. On the other hand, the Silk Roads Trade bought slaves individually and the slaves were sold for cash to the slaving ships which pay regular visits to the Cape Verde Islands. The similarity in both was that they both always traded and sold slaves. So in conclusion, both the Trans Saharan Trade and Silk Roads Trade are similar in the major popular goods that were traded, religion being present in cultural diffusion, and slave trade being present. However, there were also multiple differences between them such as certain goods that only their section of history sold and traded, the Silk Roads Trade having a bigger chunk of map to gather goods from, and the differences between styles of slave trade.