Walata << wah LAH tah >> was a leading trading city in northwest Africa from the late 1000’s through the 1500’s. Copper, glass, and other luxuries were traded there for gold and sometimes for enslaved people. Today, Walata, often spelled Oualata, is a small town in Mauritania.
During the 1000’s, Muslim traders and scholars settled in Walata. The city became part of the Mali Empire in the 1300’s. The Tuareg people seized and occupied Walata in 1433. In the late 1400’s, it became part of the Songhai Empire. By the 1600’s, the city of Timbuktu in present-day Mali had surpassed Walata in economic importance, and Walata began to decline.
