Salt and Gold Road: Trans-Saharan Caravan Simulator
By Micah's Learning Resources
Lead a salt and gold caravan across the Sahara in the age of Mansa Musa. Students buy salt cheap at the desert mines, cross 25 days of open desert on wells they have to plan for, and sell in the markets of Mali where the same slab of salt is worth four times what it cost. Water, camels, guides and the goodwill of the desert peoples decide whether the caravan comes home. What's Included: - The simulation: one file that opens in any web browser, for the projector or student laptops - A real satellite map of the trans-Saharan routes with 13 towns and wells and 16 roads between them, each road showing its travel days, its wells and its raid risk before they commit - A working market in 7 goods (salt, copper, cloth, books, kola nuts, ivory and horses) where prices move as they trade: sell too much in one place and the price falls - 41 events and decisions on the road and in the markets, including sandstorms, a choked well, lame camels, a lost guide, veiled riders, cracked salt slabs, killing heat, a dead merchant and a caravan going the other way - The pilgrimage of Mansa Musa running in the background on its real dates: the gold levy, the Mansa crossing the Nile in July 1324, Cairo's gold price falling from 25 to 22 silver dirhams, and scholars coming south afterwards - A period image library of 27 public domain pictures with a written explanation on each, plus the full text of the four primary sources the game's prices and taxes come from - An end-of-venture review that sets the
Find it on: Gumroad, Etsy, Kitchen Table Curriculum, Classful