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Songhai Empire's Dyula Traders: The Merchants Who Bound the Sahel
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the vital role of the Dyula — the professional merchants who crisscrossed the Songhai Empire and beyond, trading gold, salt, kola nuts, and slaves. Drawing on the Tarikh al-Sudan and accounts by Leo Africanus, they discuss how Dyula networks connected Gao, Timbuktu, and Djenne to North Africa and the Hausa states. They examine the Dyula's unique blend of commerce and Islamic scholarship, their use of cowrie shells and manillas as currency, and how their trade routes survived the empire's collapse. The episode also touches on the Dyula's…
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