Document 3
… One of the chief trade centers for salt in the ancient world was the fabled city of Timbuktu.
Located on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the city thrived on profits from the salt
trade.…
The salt trade made the city prosperous; in Africa, salt ranked with gold and slaves in value.
For merchants to risk camels over hundreds of miles of burning sand, the profits must have
been enormous. Nor did the city squander [waste] its wealth. Timbuktu’s salt trade supported
schools and libraries; merchants lived in fine houses; the king paid handsome salaries to
judges, doctors, and clerics—all from profits on the three-hundred-pound salt cargo that each
camel carried.…
Source: Robert Kraske, Crystals of Life: The Story of Salt, Doubleday & Company
According to Robert Kraske, what are two ways the profits of the salt trade affected the city of Timbuktu? [2]