Editing Camel train (section)

==Africa, Asia and the Middle East==
{{See also|Bedouin|Trans-Saharan trade|Silk Road}}

By far the greatest use of camel trains occurs between [[North Africa|North]] and [[West Africa]] by the [[Tuareg]], [[Shuwa Arabic|Shuwa]] and [[Hassaniyya]], as well as by culturally-affiliated groups like the [[Toubou people|Toubou]], [[Hausa people|Hausa]] and [[Songhai people|Songhay]]. These camel trains conduct trade in and around the [[Sahara Desert]] and [[Sahel]]. Trains travel as far south as central [[Nigeria]] and northern [[Cameroon]] in the west, and northern [[Kenya]] in the east of the continent. In antiquity, the Arabian Peninsula was an important route for the trade with [[India]] and [[Ethiopia|Abyssinia]]. 

Camel trains have also long been used in portions of trans-Asian trade, including the [[Silk Road]]. As late as the early twentieth century, camel caravans played an important role connecting the [[Beijing]]/[[Shanxi]] region of eastern China with [[Mongolia]]n centers ([[Ulaanbaatar|Urga]], [[Uliastai]], [[Khovd (city)|Kobdo]]) and [[Xinjiang]]. The routes went across [[Inner Mongolia|Inner]] and [[Mongolia|Outer]] Mongolia. According to [[Owen Lattimore]], who spent five months in 1926 crossing the northern edge of China (from [[Hohhot]] to [[Qitai County|Gucheng]], via Inner Mongolia) with a camel caravan, demand for caravan trade was only increased by the arrival of foreign steamships into Chinese ports and the construction of the first railways in eastern China, as they improved access to the world market for such products of western China as wool.<ref name=drt>Lattimore, Owen [1928/9] ''The Desert Road to Turkestan''. London, Methuen and Co; & various later editions. Caravan logistics and organization is discussed in Chap. VIII, "Camel-Men All"; route maps are found inside the back cover.</ref>