Trade between High Plateau Tries and Gourara: Insights from the 1892–1893 French Caravan Report

The caravans of the Arab tribes from the High Plateaus in the Oran region traveled through all the areas and ksour (fortified villages) of the Touat region via different routes, visiting all its markets and carrying with them a variety of agricultural and livestock products produced in their territories. They returned with goods either locally produced in the Gourara region or imported into it from Sudan and Morocco. These long-standing historical trade relations between the two regions drew the attention of the colonial administration, which monitored caravan movements and prepared detailed reports covering even the smallest details of these movements—whether natural, social, or economic. These included descriptions of the routes taken, documentation of water sources, inventories of various types of wild plants and palm groves found in the gardens of different ksour, and even detailed qualitative and quantitative descriptions of goods and trade items, including their prices.