The Sahara was once crossed by numerous caravan routes, used for trade, which united Sub-Saharan Africa with the Mediterranean coast, and the great cities and kingdoms of West Africa with
the cities of eastern Africa, from which the faithful and the pilgrims went on to Mecca. Among
the many caravan routes, one of the most interesting, the most popular, was the one that brought
travelers and caravans from Algiers to Sijilmassa and from there, ordering destinations from east
to west, to Agadez, Tadekka, Timbuktu, Walata and Awdaghost. Some of these routes are described in detail by El Bekri in his Description de l’Afrique Septentrionale (1965) that for each portion of each caravan route indicates the duration, availability of drinking water, as well as various other features of the landscape.

The progressive desertification, the dangers associated with crossing the Sahara, the discovery of trans-oceanic routes and of the Americas, contributed to the decline of the region and the
trans-Saharan routes. These days, however, there seems to be a revival of such routes for various, more or less legitimate, purposes.