posted
You know I've been doing alot of reading on the "medieval" African empires (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai) and I've noticed that their mosques dont really incorporate the designs of the typical Muslim (Middle Eastern) mosques, they pretty much use indigenous architecture techniques and materials. I've noticed the same with Chinese mosques as well.. Has anyone else noticed this? Get back to me. Peace.
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Well, I believe Kan Kan (Mansa) Musa basically kick started this essentially Malian tradition soon after his pilgrimage to Mecca. Musa commissioned the Egyptian architect, Abu-Ishaq Ibrahim-es-Saheli to return with him and help design the Djingareyber Mosque at Timbuktu, around or just after 1324. This technique indeed consisted of local mudbrick tradition. Many mosques were built in the place of coned spires that were a symbol of reverence for the ancestors. These were later incorporated into the design of most Mosques through out Mali and is very unique.
^ Djingareyber Mosque at Timbuktu
^ Great Mosque at Djenne
^The great Mosque at Djenne actually used to be a palace but was reworked or built over in the 13th century. These are both UNESCO world heritage sites.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sundiata: Well, I believe Kan Kan (Mansa) Musa basically kick started this essentially Malian tradition soon after his pilgrimage to Mecca. Musa commissioned the Egyptian architect, Abu-Ishaq Ibrahim-es-Saheli to return with him and help design the Djingareyber Mosque at Timbuktu, around or just after 1324. This technique indeed consisted of local mudbrick tradition. Many mosques were built in the place of coned spires that were a symbol of reverence for the ancestors. These were later incorporated into the design of most Mosques through out Mali and is very unique.
^ Djingareyber Mosque at Timbuktu
^ Great Mosque at Djenne
^The great Mosque at Djenne actually used to be a palace but was reworked or built over in the 13th century. These are both UNESCO world heritage sites.
so you agree wholeheartedley with me then,that the sahelian "mosques" showed not a great deal of islamic influence?
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
What stops it being Islamic? It's masjid architecture?
Any images of the much older masjids of Kumbi Saleh (with projected reconstructions)?
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's Islamic but not Middle-Easterner I would say. Islamic because it relates to Islam, but it's clearly a native thing for the most part.
Posts: 218 | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Merchants from Djenne settled in Timbuktu, introduced their baked brick housing, and erected the Ghingaraber Masjid.
The pyramidal minaret atop the Ghingaraber Masjid was the work of Mansa Gonga Musa's "imported" Egyptian architect.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Djenne was a prosperous trading center as well as a university town with thousands of teachers who gave lectures and conducted research on many topics. The city produced physicians and surgeons who performed such delicate operations as the removal of cataracts from the human eye.
The city's walls and most of its buildings were constructed of clay (not mud) that was shaped into flat long bricks rounded at the ends. The sun baked bricks were set in in walls with mortar and then were rough-casted. Constructions of this material are very durable requiring only renewed rough-casting to stand for centuries and give the appearance of being cut from one huge block of stone.
The walls of the dwellings have a slight inward tilt and are windowless. After the Moorish conquest, windows with wooden shutters of an Arabian style were imported from Tombouctou where they were manufactured. Openings in the ceiling or roof admitted light and air. The highest parts of walls are adorned with triangular battlements, the entrances are pylonic as are the decorations of the façades.
The houses are two storeys, the second floor surmounted by a terrace. To form flat roofs, planks are laid across the length and width of the house and covered by branches and rushes which in turn are covered by a thin layer of earth of mud consistency. Plumbing systems of baked pipes installed in each dwelling carry away household water and latrines with perfectly constructed drainage are established on all terraces.
The Madou, or governor's mansion, was the only monumental edifice. It was destroyed to be replaced by a mosque measuring a square 183 feet by 39 feet high. Each façade of the mosque faced a cardinal point. The north and south façades displayed two rows of windows that lighted a closed gallery running around the square. A quadrangular tower imposed with steps opened onto the terrace by means of an edicule.
quote:Originally posted by Sundiata: Great Mosque at Djenne
The great Mosque at Djenne actually used to be a palace but was reworked or built over in the 13th century. These are both UNESCO world heritage sites.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: What stops it being Islamic? It's masjid architecture?
Any images of the much older masjids of Kumbi Saleh (with projected reconstructions)?
um babe, the word "Masjid" is interchangeable with mosque . and I didnt say the sahelian structures werent Islamic (being that they were a place for Muslim worship, they obviously were) its just that they didnt architecturally look like the stereotypical Middle Eastern mosques, and were local in design.
P.S. This thread is just mainly to show that the West African states, although Islamic, were still overwhelmingly indigenous in character, including architecture, since many eurocentrists tend to think that islamization for africans also meant arabization, while not applying the same logic to other peoples Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:alTakruru: The pyramidal minaret atop the Ghingaraber Masjid was the work of Mansa Gonga Musa's "imported" Egyptian architect.
Why did they use an imported Egyptian architect when it ended up looking indigenious at the end? I mean whats the use of a German king to import a Byzantine architect when the church in Germany ends up looking Gothic? To bad since it takes the credit from the Malians.
Posts: 1420 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Once the guy got there and saw the materials at hand he obviously realized he could do no better job than the Djennereans. I guess that shows in the sobriquet they gave him, es-Saheli, because he sure wasn't a native Saheli but could come up with no architectural design fitting all the circumstances of the Sahel than that of the native Sahelis (or in this case Djennereans in particular).
BTW - not everyone in Mali thought Gonga's hajj was the cat's striped pajamas. It was criticised as a waste of revenue and it was a drain on Mali's economy as much as it caused a depression in Egypt. Nor were some pleased by the manner of esteem Gonga afforded foreigners who weren't essential operatives of the Empire.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:alTakruru: The pyramidal minaret atop the Ghingaraber Masjid was the work of Mansa Gonga Musa's "imported" Egyptian architect.
Why did they use an imported Egyptian architect when it ended up looking indigenious at the end? I mean whats the use of a German king to import a Byzantine architect when the church in Germany ends up looking Gothic? To bad since it takes the credit from the Malians.
maybe Mansa Musa wanted to be nice and allow somebody from the wider muslim world to build for him?
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
^What people forget to realize is that Musa was a devout Muslim, inextricably connected to Islam. So retrieving an architect in the center of the Arab world (not spiritual center, but commercial) to help establish that format, says nothing to the effect of "credit being taken away", and why anyone would make such a presumption is completely beyond me. The man hours, style, tradition and materials were all African and if Musa did not agree with Ibrahim-es-Saheli's blue print, then it would not have been carried out. It of course had to fit the standards of the African emperor in question and as was iterated, part of the design its self was based on a previous tradition of conical spires, unique in its purpose of ancestor worship. This has been pointed out by scholars in Islamic architecture, such as Labelle Prussin.
Also, I don't see how that applies to those at Djenne-Jeno, who were virtually front-runners in Mali, as far as architectural and artistic accomplishment that owed little to outside influence.
It was a little bit harder (for me at least) tracking down photos of the older Mosques at Kumbi Saleh, as they are a little less renowned.
The king's compound, as recorded by Al-Barki (El Berki), was, "a palace and a number of dome-shaped dwellings, the whole surrounded by an enclosure like the defensive wall of a city. One of the king's mansions was 66 ft long, 42 ft wide with seven rooms, two stories, and a staircase; its walls and chambers were filled with sculptures and painting, which demonstrated a good taste of royal art. It was written that every evening he spoke to a thousand subjects from his red and gleaming gold balcony and provided enough food for 10,000 people. Al Barki (El Berki) described Ghana's city of Aoudaghast as "A very large city with several markets, many date palms and henna trees as big as olives, filled with fine houses and solid buildings." The king and merchants did not monopolize the wealth. The average citizen used iron knives, arrowheads, nails, and some of the finest scissors of the medieval world, as well as many farming tools."
^Al-bakri also described two sections of the city, one with at least twelve Mosques, which was a part of the merchant section. The king reserved one Mosque in his court for these said merchants, but himself did not adhere to Islam. His pride n joy indeed was the great palace, which was said to have been "the grandest structure in the city".
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
Another World Heritage Site, the surviving tomb of the Songhai emperor, Askia (the great) Muhammad, or Muhammad Ture exemplifies the continuation of Sahel architectural tradition. While certainly not a mosque, it is 17 meters high and reflects the same stylistic construction as can be seen at Timbuktu, and to a slightly lesser extent, Djenne.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sundiata: ^ Tomb of Askia
Another World Heritage Site, the surviving tomb of the Songhai emperor, Askia (the great) Muhammad, or Muhammad Ture exemplifies the continuation of Sahel architectural tradition. While certainly not a mosque, it is 17 meters high and reflects the same stylistic construction as can be seen at Timbuktu, and to a lesser extent, Djenne.
so the tomb of askia is of native architectural tradition as well, and I dont see how it's like the structures at Timbuktu....lol....
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
And you be talking about Abu Abdullah al-Bakri when you say the dude who wrote about the kings palace?
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sundiata: ^ Tomb of Askia
Another World Heritage Site, the surviving tomb of the Songhai emperor, Askia (the great) Muhammad, or Muhammad Ture exemplifies the continuation of Sahel architectural tradition. While certainly not a mosque, it is 17 meters high and reflects the same stylistic construction as can be seen at Timbuktu, and to a lesser extent, Djenne.
so the tomb of askia is of native architectural tradition as well, and I dont see how it's like the structures at Timbuktu....lol....
^The spiked exterior and pyramidal formation is representative of the Sudanic tradition, among other relatively inconspicuous details. So yes, it screams Sahel as far as architectural heritage.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Obelisk_18: And you be talking about Abu Abdullah al-Bakri when you say the dude who wrote about the kings palace?
Yes, he is the al-bakri I was referring to and has given us most of the information we have about Kumbi Saleh in the 11th century.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
^No, I'm quite sure the name is Soninke derived (though I am mainly assuming) and someone else might have a better idea of the exact translation. The empire its self was called Wagadou, meaning "Land of Herds". "Waga" meaning Herd, "Dou", meaning town, or land. It goes with out saying that Kumbi Saleh, being its capital was a part of Wagadou. - Relevant threadPosts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sundiata: ^What people forget to realize is that Musa was a devout Muslim, inextricably connected to Islam. So retrieving an architect in the center of the Arab world (not spiritual center, but commercial) to help establish that format, says nothing to the effect of "credit being taken away", and why anyone would make such a presumption is completely beyond me. The man hours, style, tradition and materials were all African and if Musa did not agree with Ibrahim-es-Saheli's blue print, then it would not have been carried out. It of course had to fit the standards of the African emperor in question and as was iterated, part of the design its self was based on a previous tradition of conical spires, unique in its purpose of ancestor worship. This has been pointed out by scholars in Islamic architecture, such as Labelle Prussin.
Also, I don't see how that applies to those at Djenne-Jeno, who were virtually front-runners in Mali, as far as architectural and artistic accomplishment that owed little to outside influence.
It was a little bit harder (for me at least) tracking down photos of the older Mosques at Kumbi Saleh, as they are a little less renowned.
The king's compound, as recorded by Al-Barki (El Berki), was, "a palace and a number of dome-shaped dwellings, the whole surrounded by an enclosure like the defensive wall of a city. One of the king's mansions was 66 ft long, 42 ft wide with seven rooms, two stories, and a staircase; its walls and chambers were filled with sculptures and painting, which demonstrated a good taste of royal art. It was written that every evening he spoke to a thousand subjects from his red and gleaming gold balcony and provided enough food for 10,000 people. Al Barki (El Berki) described Ghana's city of Aoudaghast as "A very large city with several markets, many date palms and henna trees as big as olives, filled with fine houses and solid buildings." The king and merchants did not monopolize the wealth. The average citizen used iron knives, arrowheads, nails, and some of the finest scissors of the medieval world, as well as many farming tools."
^Al-bakri also described two sections of the city, one with at least twelve Mosques, which was a part of the merchant section. The king reserved one Mosque in his court for these said merchants, but himself did not adhere to Islam. His pride n joy indeed was the great palace, which was said to have been "the grandest structure in the city".
so djenne-jeno architecture is older than mansa musa's?
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Obelisk_18: so djenne-jeno architecture is older than mansa musa's?
From the sixteenth century until the late nineteenth century, when French colonial mercantile interests altered centuries-old trade patterns in the Inland Niger Delta, the city of Jenne dominated the central delta as a major commercial centre. Linked to Timbuktu by 500 kilometres of navigable riverway, Jenne was a major entrepot in the long-distance trade networks along which passed major commodities like gold, salt, copper, slaves, and kola, and a host of minor commodities.
Historical sources permit a great deal of certainty about the preceding two statements. For periods earlier than the fifteenth century, however, Jenne retreats into historical obscurity. The failure of any Arab or European source prior to the mid-fifteenth century to mention the town by name has convinced various historians of the Western Sudan that Jenne did not exist substantially prior to this time. Such a conclusion is contradicted by the oral traditions of Jenne, which state that the town was founded in the second century after the Hegira (i.e. in the eighth century A.D.). Until now, however, the negative evidence of the early written sources has tended to prevail over the testimony of the oral traditions. Archaeological investigations undertaken in 1977 at the ancestral site of Jenne, known as Jenne-jeno or Djoboro, have demonstrated that the settlement was established by the third century B.C. and had developed into an urban centre of considerable proportions by the eighth or ninth century A.D. In this article we present a summary of the excavation results and briefly consider the implications of the archaeological data for our understanding of the development of the Western Sudan during the first millennium A.D. -
"The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: Evidence from Jenne-Jeno", by Roderick J. McIntosh and Susan Keech McIntosh, The Journal of African History, Vol. 22, No. 1 (1981), pp. 1-22
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sundiata: ^^Pretty much..
quote:Originally posted by Obelisk_18: so djenne-jeno architecture is older than mansa musa's?
From the sixteenth century until the late nineteenth century, when French colonial mercantile interests altered centuries-old trade patterns in the Inland Niger Delta, the city of Jenne dominated the central delta as a major commercial centre. Linked to Timbuktu by 500 kilometres of navigable riverway, Jenne was a major entrepot in the long-distance trade networks along which passed major commodities like gold, salt, copper, slaves, and kola, and a host of minor commodities.
Historical sources permit a great deal of certainty about the preceding two statements. For periods earlier than the fifteenth century, however, Jenne retreats into historical obscurity. The failure of any Arab or European source prior to the mid-fifteenth century to mention the town by name has convinced various historians of the Western Sudan that Jenne did not exist substantially prior to this time. Such a conclusion is contradicted by the oral traditions of Jenne, which state that the town was founded in the second century after the Hegira (i.e. in the eighth century A.D.). Until now, however, the negative evidence of the early written sources has tended to prevail over the testimony of the oral traditions. Archaeological investigations undertaken in 1977 at the ancestral site of Jenne, known as Jenne-jeno or Djoboro, have demonstrated that the settlement was established by the third century B.C. and had developed into an urban centre of considerable proportions by the eighth or ninth century A.D. In this article we present a summary of the excavation results and briefly consider the implications of the archaeological data for our understanding of the development of the Western Sudan during the first millennium A.D. -
"The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: Evidence from Jenne-Jeno", by Roderick J. McIntosh and Susan Keech McIntosh, The Journal of African History, Vol. 22, No. 1 (1981), pp. 1-22 [/QB]
and that djenne-jeno architecture is the forerunner of sudano-sahelian right?
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
^^By inference from the available data, this seems to be the case. Though architecture at Djenne-Jeno differed slightly from its successor, Djenne, continuity is observed. This suggests a gradual, instead of abrupt change, attributed to a higher concentration of indigenous urbanization, leading into the 9th century. This Sahelian theme would indeed extend later through out most of the Savanna region.
quote:Originally posted by Obelisk_18: and that djenne-jeno architecture is the forerunner of sudano-sahelian right?
The round houses at Jenne-jeno were constructed with tauf, or puddled mud, foundations, from the fifth to the ninth century. During this time, the settlement continued to grow, reaching its maximum area of 33 hectares by 850 C.E. We know that this is so because sherds of the distinctive painted pottery that was produced at Jenne-jeno only between 450-850 C.E. are present in all our excavation units, even those near the edge of the mound. And we find them at the neighboring mound of Hambarketolo, too, suggesting that these two connected sites totaling 41 hectares (100 acres) functioned as part of a single town complex.
In the ninth century, two noticeable changes occur: tauf house foundations are replaced by cylindrical brick architecture, and painted pottery is replaced by pottery with impressed and stamped decoration. The source of these novelties is unknown, although we can say that they did not involve any fundamental shift in the form or general layout of either houses or pottery. So it is unlikely that any major change in the ethnic composition of Jenne-jeno was associated with the changes. Change with continuity was the prevailing pattern.
One of the earliest structures built using the new cylindrical brick technology was apparently the city wall, which was 3.7 meters wide at its base and ran almost two kilometers around the town. All these indications of increasingly complex social organization are particularly important in helping us understand the indigenous context of the Empire of Ghana, an influential confederation that consolidated power within large areas to the north and west of the Inland Niger Delta sometime after 500 C.E.. To date, Jenne-jeno provides our only insight into the nature of change and complexity in the Sahel prior to the establishment of the trans-Saharan trade. Although some excavations have been conducted at the presumed capital of Ghana, Kumbi Saleh (in southeastern Mauritania), these focused on the stone-built ruins dating to the period of the trans-Saharan trade. - Jenne-jeno, an ancient African cityPosts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
The citizens of Djenne operated routine staffed businesses comprised of relatives, slaves, and free working class individuals. The firms had branches and representatives in important centers at Tombouktou.
Their warehouses were the ground floor of large houses storing * cereals (rice, millet, semolina) * honey * karita * arachides * spices * onions * indigo * kola nuts * neta flour * monkey bread fruit * lead * iron * ostrich feathers * ivory * virgin gold * civet musk * marble * antimony * native fabrics * linen * wool
Commercial fleet vessels were made of ebony or cedar made watertight by straw, tow, and clay. These craft measure 58-65' x 10 having a maximum displacement of 30 tons thus replacing a 200 camel caravan. The great merchants have their own boats while fleets carrying merchandise and passengers at fixed rates served the less wealthy. Waterproof stuff was placed in the hold and covered by the more delicate merchandise on which passengers lay or sit on their heels protected by an awning.
The market occupies a large square in the town's center intersected with paths for buyers and raised spots for sellers. Three sides are lined by shops, the fourth opening upon the mosque. Women sell food and household goods with piles of cowries beside them indicating their prices. Men sell the choicer goods at the shops in market center marked by three square posts where can be found the money changer who converts gold and silver into cowries. The butcher shop sells joints of meat which are suspended for selection and live sheep. Nearby are free furnaces for roasting purchases after buying fuel from the adjacent wood seller.
Djenne merchants settled in Tombouctou introducing baked brick housing when it was still little more than a watering place for transhumant Twareg pastors.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
You can read on all the Western Sudan from al Bakri's Book of Routes and Realms in
J F P Hopkins; Nehemia Levtzion Corpus of Early Arabic sources for West African History New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981 London: Cambridge University press, 1978
from which the following excerpts about Ghana (pp. 79-81):
quote: The city of Ghana consists of two towns situated on a plain. One of these towns, which is inhabited by Muslims, is large and possesses twelve mosques, in which they assemble for the Friday prayer. There are salaried imams and muezzins, as well as jurists and scholars. In the environs are wells with sweet water, from which they drink and with which they grow vegetables. The king’s town is six miles distant from this one….
Between these two towns are continuous habitations. …In the king’s town, and not far from his court of justice, is a mosque where the Muslims who arrive at his court pray. Around the king’s town are domed buildings and groves and thickets where the sorcerers of these people, men in charge of the religious cult, live. In them too are their idols and the tombs of their kings. These woods are guarded and none may enter them and know what is there…. The king’s interpreters, the official in charge of his treasury and the majority of his ministers are Muslims. Among the people who follow the king’s religion only he and his heir apparent (who is the son of his sister) may wear sewn clothes. All other people wear robes of cotton, silk, or brocade, according to their means. All of them shave their beards, and women shave their heads. The king adorns himself like a woman (wearing necklaces) round his neck and (bracelets) on his forearms, and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. He sits in audience or to hear grievances against officials in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials. Behind the king stand ten pages holding shields and swords decorated with gold, and on his right are the sons of the (vassel) kings of his country wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold. The governor of the city sits on the ground before the king and around him are ministers seated likewise. At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree who hardly ever leave the place where the king is, guarding him. Round their necks they wear collars of gold and silver studded with a number of balls of the same metals. The audience is announced by the beating of a drum which they call duba made from a long hollow log. When the people who profess the same religion as the king approach him they fall on their knees and sprinkle dust on their head, for this is their way of greeting him. As for the Muslims, they greet him only by clapping their hands….
Their religion is paganism and the worship of idols….
On every donkey-load of salt when it is brought into the country their king levies one golden dinar and two dinars when it is sent out. … The best gold is found in his land comes from the town of Ghiyaru, which is eighteen days’ traveling distance from the king’s town over a country inhabited by tribes of the Sudan whose dwellings are continuous…
The king of Ghana when he calls up his army, can put 200,000 men into the field, more than 40,000 of them archers.
Between these excerpts and the resource Sundiata provided you pretty much have all of what al~Bakri had to say, biases et al.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
You can read on all the Western Sudan from al Bakri's Book of Routes and Realms in
J F P Hopkins; Nehemia Levtzion Corpus of Early Arabic sources for West African History New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981 London: Cambridge University press, 1978
from which the following excerpts about Ghana (pp. 79-81):
alTakruri thanks for the info, I will get that book.
posted
Breath-taking to say the least. The architects at Djenne were/are among the most innovative in the region. Notice the rectangular-shaped houses and flat roofs, and also the accurately aligned street lay-outs.
quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: Djenne - street & roofline A street in Djenne with a view of rooflines to the river and horizon
More on the Djennereans as pioneers of Sahelian architecture:
It is here in Timbuktu that African merchants from Djenne traded with the Tuareg and the Arabs from the north. The Tegaza mines are 1850 km from Timbuktu. It took six months to compile such a journey. The merchants from Djenne were for the most part Marka, Wangara, Sarakole and Mandika people. These African merchants and the Tuareg were the first settlers of Timbuktu.
The first constructions in Timbuktu were designed by African architects from Djenne and later on by Muslim architects from North Africa. Trade and knowledge were at their height. It was at this time that the King of Sosso invaded the empire of Ghana, thus causing the exodus of the scholars of Walata to Timbuktu. - History of Timbuktu, Mali
And:
Around 1100 C.E., a Tuareg woman called Buktu the settled Timbuktu as a seasonal camp. Grazing her herds and flocks during the dry season not far from the Niger River, she discovered an oasis and decided to set up a tented camp and dig a well there. Very soon, the little seasonal camp, called Timbuktu (literally Buktu's well) became an important stop for other nomads as well as the caravans traveling along the trans-Saharan route.
Although the Tuaregs founded Timbuktu, it was merchants [from Djenne] who set up markets and built fixed dwellings in the town to establish the site as a meeting place for people traveling by camel. http://www.history.com/classroom/unesco/timbuktu/history.html
Before Mansa Musa commissioned to have the Sankore mosque/university designed or actually improved upon, it was already funded under the Mandinka, namely a wealthy local of Timbuktu (a woman) in cooperation and under direction of the chief judge.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
This thread should relate to the recent "Architecture of Africa" thread in the other forum..
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
. and I didnt say the sahelian structures werent Islamic (being that they were a place for Muslim worship, they obviously were) its just that they didnt architecturally look like the stereotypical Middle Eastern mosques, and were local in design. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
for him?
Printer-friendly view of this topic