11th century, Bilad al-Maghrib, the Land of the Setting Sun.
Located between Europe to the North, and Bilad al-Sudan, the Land of the Blacks, to the South.
The powerful force of religion takes hold in Yahya ibn Ibrahim, returning from the Mecca with the dervish Abdallah ibn Yassin.
Together, they start their freligious movement, with little success.
After a retreat in a ribat on the Atlantic island of Tidra, they emerged in History at the forefront of the al-Murabitun movement, Those of the Convent.
Their struggles will soon be known to the christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, which will know them as the Almoravids.
The slave trade, old as humanity, is its economic pillar. By controlling the strategic african cities of Sijilmassah in the North, and Audaghost in the Sahel, they can fully dedicate themselves to Bilad al-Maghrib.
In the middle, the Sahara desert.
Its ruthless geography imposes its laws, and entire caravans, with thousands of people, disappear victims of its extreme climatology.
But even in some of these areas, the human species is able to survive. These tribes, known in modern times as the Tuareg, played a key role as guides for the caravans.
Without them, the crossing of the Sahara was simply impossible.
With exceptions, for the he people who became slaves and survived the crossing of the Sahara dessert, their life cycle was impregnated with their social status, inferior to that of the people on the places where they end up living.