The commodities and manufactured goods that moved along trans-Saharan trade routes were often destined for markets at astonishing distances from their places of origin. Produced in southeastern China, Qingbai pottery was widely exported between the tenth and twelfth century and was exchanged along routes moving from market to market in a process called relay trade. Fragments of Qingbai ware have been found at medieval sites from Central Asia to Egypt and across the Sahara.
