The wealth and prosperity of Mali and Songhai were dependent on controlling the trade in gold and salt.
Trans-Saharan trade was a trade across the Sahara the relied heavily upon gold and salt , the empires relied much on the trans-Saharan trade; as their wealth and prosperity depended more on the gold and salt traded in the trans-Saharan trade. Mali empire was started by Sundiata at around 1200AD. he set up laws and took control of Gold trade. During the early 1400's Mali rulers lost control of the Mali empire and the Songhai Empire. Ali Ber became the Songhai ruler, which was the largest among the three Western empires
