An estimated two-thirds of the world’s gold in the late Middle Ages may have come from West Africa.

While the external demand for West African gold is well documented, far less is known about its internal demand within the continent. As a result, it is often erroneously assumed that the metal held little value for the communities that produced it.

Many pre-colonial states built their wealth on the gold trade, but control over the gold fields remained in the hands of small-scale communities on the periphery.

This arrangement created an internal market for gold. The metal circulated widely enough to support the use of gold currency, the creation of state treasuries that regulated its distribution, and, in some cases, the minting of gold coinage.

This article examines the historical significance of gold within West African monetary and cultural systems from the medieval period