ABSTRACT
The spread of Islam along Berber-controlled routes across the Sahara after the ninth century might have been a factor in the southward expansion of tribes involved in the caravan trade. To appreciate the impact of caravans upon Moorish nomads, we must recall that there were several major netrworks of north-south trade routes that crossed the western and central Sahara before the fifteenth century. The social hierarchy in contemporary Moorish society is thought to have been formed when it came at that time under the domination of Arab tribes. The converging interests between hassan chiefs, who opposed the reform, and the French at Saint Louis, and the de facto alliance that they contracted in order to overcome the zwaya party, marked a turning point in the evolution of Moorish political structure. The zwaya party, according to Barry, opposed selling slaves to French traders because it was determined to maintain "the level of stocks" in the areas from which it drew them.
