culture of Africa
The Culture of Africa is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various tribes that each have their unique characteristic from the continent of Africa. It is a product of the diverse populations that inhabit the contine ...
, the architecture of Africa is exceptionally diverse. Throughout the
history of Africa
The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and — around 300–250,000 years ago— anatomically modern humans ('' Homo sapiens''), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork o ...
,
Africans
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
have developed their own local
architectural
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
traditions. In some cases, broader regional styles can be identified, such as the
Sudano-Sahelian architecture
Sudano-Sahelian architecture refers to a range of similar indigenous architectural styles common to the African peoples of the Sahel and Sudanian grassland (geographical) regions of West Africa, south of the Sahara, but north of the fertile for ...
of
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
. A common theme in traditional African architecture is the use of
fractal
In mathematics, a fractal is a geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scales, as ill ...
scaling: small parts of the structure tend to look similar to larger parts, such as a circular village made of circular houses.
African architecture in some areas has been influenced by external cultures for centuries, according to available evidence. Western architecture has influenced coastal areas since the late 15th century and is now an important source of inspiration for many larger buildings, particularly in major cities.
African architecture uses a wide range of materials, including thatch, stick/wood, mud,
mudbrick
A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been ...
,
rammed earth
Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method.
...
, and stone. These material preferences vary by region: North Africa for stone and rammed earth, the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004 ...
for stone and mortar, West Africa for mud/adobe, Central Africa for thatch/wood and more perishable materials, Southeast and Southern Africa for stone and thatch/wood.
Prehistoric architecture
North Africa
Central Sahara
=Kel Essuf Period
=
Concealed remnants of dismantled furnished flooring are found in 75% of the Central Saharan rockshelters where Kel Essuf rock artforms are found. The furnished flooring in these rockshelters were likely created for the purpose of collecting water and were subsequently dismantled after the earliest
Round Head rock art
Round Head rock art is the earliest painted, monumental form of Central Saharan rock art, which was largely created from 9500 BP to 7500 BP and ceased being created by 3000 BP. The Round Head Period is preceded by the Kel Essuf Period and fol ...
began to be created. Based on these furnished floors purposed for the collection of spring water, the
Kel Essuf rock art
Kel Essuf rock art is the earliest form of engraved anthropomorphic Central Saharan rock art, which was produced prior to 9800 BP, at least as early as 12,000 BP amid the late period of the Pleistocene. The Kel Essuf Period is preceded by the Bub ...
, which are cultural
facies
In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formatio ...
, may date at least as early as 12,000 BP amid the late period of the Pleistocene. Given the occurrences of furnished flooring for collecting water and production of engraved Kel Essuf rock art, these rockshelters may have been inhabited during periods of decreased availability of local water sources. Consequently, there may have been increasing regional isolation due to adverse
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
within the region.
=Round Head Period
=
At the start of 10th millennium BP, amid the
Epipaleolithic
In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are somet ...
, the walls of rockshelters (e.g., Tin Torha, Tin Hanakaten) were used as a
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
for proto-village huts that families resided in, as well as hearths, which may have been suitable for the mobile lifestyle of semi-sedentary Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherers. Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherers of the
Round Head Period
Round Head rock art is the earliest painted, monumental form of Central Saharan rock art, which was largely created from 9500 BP to 7500 BP and ceased being created by 3000 BP. The Round Head Period is preceded by the Kel Essuf Period and foll ...
built a simple
stone wall
Stone walls are a kind of masonry construction that has been used for thousands of years. The first stone walls were constructed by farmers and primitive people by piling loose field stones into a dry stone wall. Later, mortar and plaster ...
, dated to 10,508±429 cal BP/9260±290 BP, which may have been used for the purpose of serving as a
windbreak
A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edges ...
.
=Pastoral Period
=
In the collective memory of Early Pastoral peoples, rockshelters (e.g., Fozzigiaren, Imenennaden, Takarkori) in the Tadrart Acacus region may have served as monumental areas for women and children, as these were where their burial sites were primarily found. Engraved rock art has been found on various kinds of stone structures (e.g., stone arrangements, standing stones, corbeilles – ceremonial monuments) in the Messak Plateau. Stone monuments are also often found in proximity to these engraved Pastoral rock art. A complete cattle pastoral economy (e.g., dairying) developed in the Acacus and Messak regions of southwestern Libya. Semi-sedentary settlements were used seasonally by Middle Pastoral peoples depending on the weather patterns (e.g.,
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
).
Wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...
Bedis
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...
had 42 stone monuments (e.g., mostly corbeilles, stone structures and platforms, tumuli). Ceramics (e.g., potsherds) and stone implements were found along with 9 monuments bearing engraved rock art. From 5200 BCE to 3800 BCE, burial of animals occurred. Nine decorated ceramics (e.g., mostly rocker stamp/plain edge design, sometimes alternately pivoting stamp design) and sixteen stone maces were found. Some stone maces, used literally or symbolically to slaughter the cattle (e.g., Bos taurus), were ceremonially set near the head of sacrificed cattle or stone monuments. In 5000 BP, the development of
megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
) increased in the Central Sahara. In the Central Sahara, the tumuli tradition originated in the Middle Pastoral Period and transformed amid the Late Pastoral Period (4500 BP – 2500 BP). At Takarkori rockshelter, between 5000 BP and 4200 BP, Late Pastoral peoples herded goats, seasonally (e.g., winter), and began a millennia-long tradition of creating megalithic monuments, utilized as funerary sites where individuals were buried in stone-covered
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...
that were usually away from areas of dwellings in 5000 BP. At Takarkori rockshelter, Final Pastoral peoples created burial sites for several hundred individuals that contained non-local, luxury goods and drum-type architecture in 3000 BP, which made way for the development of the Garamantian civilization.
Pastoralism
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands ( pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The anim ...
, possibly along with social stratification, and Pastoral rock art, emerged in the Central Sahara between 5200 BCE and 4800 BCE. Funerary monuments and sites, within possible territories that had chiefdoms, developed in the Saharan region of Niger between 4700 BCE and 4200 BCE. Cattle funerary sites developed in
Nabta Playa
Nabta Playa was once a large Endorheic basin, internally drained basin in the Nubian Desert, located approximately 800 kilometers south of modern-day Cairo or about 100 kilometers west of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt, 22.51° north, 30.7 ...
(6450 BP/5400 cal BCE), Adrar Bous (6350 BP), in Chin Tafidet, and in Tuduf (2400 cal BCE – 2000 cal BCE). Thus, by this time, cattle religion (e.g., myths, rituals) and cultural distinctions between genders (e.g., men associated with bulls, violence, hunting, and dogs as well as burials at monumental funerary sites; women associated with cows, birth, nursing, and possibly the afterlife) had developed. Preceded by assumed earlier sites in the Eastern
Sahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
, tumuli with megalithic monuments developed as early as 4700 BCE in the Saharan region of
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages These megalithic monuments in the
Sahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
n region of
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesmastabas and
pyramids
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...
Predynastic Egypt
Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt span the period from the earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period around 3100 BC, starting with the first Pharaoh, Narmer for some Egyptologists, Hor-Aha for others, with ...
, tumuli were present at various locations (e.g.,
Naqada
Naqada ( Egyptian Arabic: ; Coptic language: ; Ancient Greek: ) is a town on the west bank of the Nile in Qena Governorate, Egypt, situated ca. 20 km north of Luxor. It includes the villages of Tukh, Khatara, Danfiq, and Zawayda. Ac ...
,
Helwan
Helwan ( ar, حلوان ', , cop, ϩⲁⲗⲟⲩⲁⲛ, Halouan) is a city in Egypt and part of Greater Cairo, on the bank of the Nile, opposite the ruins of Memphis. Originally a southern suburb of Cairo, it served as the capital of the now d ...
). Between 7500 BP and 7400 BP, amid the Late Pastoral Neolithic, religious ceremony and ceremonial burials, with megaliths, may have served as a cultural precedent for the latter religious reverence of the goddess
Hathor
Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...
during the dynastic period of ancient Egypt.
Early architecture
Probably the most famous class of structure in all Africa, the
Pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...
s of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
remain one of the world's greatest early architectural achievements, regardless of practicality and origins in a funerary context. Egyptian architectural traditions also favored the building of vast temple complexes.
Little is known of ancient architecture south and west of the Sahara. Harder to date than the pyramids are the monoliths around the Cross River, which have geometric or human designs. The vast number of
Senegambian stone circles
The Senegambian stone circles are groups of megalithic stone circles that lie in The Gambia north of Janjanbureh and in central Senegal. With an approximate area of 30,000 km²,Laport et al. 2012, p. 410 they are sometimes divided into the ...
is also evidence of an emerging architecture.
North Africa
Likely part of
Copper Age
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
and
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
s (e.g.,
dolmens
A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...
) were constructed in
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
North Africa.
Algeria
=Garamantes
=
Some of the earliest evidence of original
Amazigh
, image = File:Berber_flag.svg
, caption = The Berber ethnic flag
, population = 36 million
, region1 = Morocco
, pop1 = 14 million to 18 million
, region2 = Algeria
, pop2 ...
(Berber) culture in North Africa has been found in the highlands of the Sahara and dates from the second millennium BC, when the region was much less arid than it is today and when the Amazigh population was most likely in the process of spreading across North Africa. One of the earliest groups for which there are historical records are the
Garamantes
The Garamantes ( grc, Γαράμαντες, translit=Garámantes; la, Garamantes) were an ancient civilisation based primarily in present-day Libya. They most likely descended from Iron Age Berber tribes from the Sahara, although the earliest kn ...
, who were later mentioned by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
. Numerous archaeological sites associated with them have been found in the
Fezzan
Fezzan ( , ; ber, ⴼⵣⵣⴰⵏ, Fezzan; ar, فزان, Fizzān; la, Phazania) is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ...
(in present-day
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
), attesting to the existence of small villages, towns, and tombs. At least one settlement dates from as early as 1000 BC. The structures were initially built in
dry stone
Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
, but around the middle of the millennium (c. 500 BC) they began to be built with
mudbrick
A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been ...
instead. By the second century AD there is evidence of large
villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
s and more sophisticated tombs associated with the aristocracy of this society, in particular at
Germa
Germa ( ar, جرمة), known in ancient times as Garama, is an archaeological site in Libya. It was the capital of the Garamantian Kingdom.
The Garamantes were a Berber people living in the Fezzan in the northeastern Sahara Desert. Garamantian p ...
.
Egypt
=Ancient Egypt
=
Ancient Egypt's achievements in architecture included
pyramids
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...
,
temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
, enclosed cities, canals, and dams. The architecture of this age was not one style, but a set of styles differing over time but with some commonalities. The most famous examples of ancient Egyptian architecture include the
Great Pyramids
The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Men ...
and the
Sphinx
A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.
In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...
at Giza, the
Temple of Karnak
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...
, and the
Temple of Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive Rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Egyptian temple, temples in the village of Abu Simbel (village), Abu Simbel ( ar, أبو سمبل), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. ...
. Most buildings were built of locally available
mud brick
A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been fi ...
and
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
by levied workers. Columns were typically adorned with capitals decorated to resemble plants important to Egyptian civilization, such as the papyrus plant.
=Nabta Playa
=
At
Nabta Playa
Nabta Playa was once a large Endorheic basin, internally drained basin in the Nubian Desert, located approximately 800 kilometers south of modern-day Cairo or about 100 kilometers west of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt, 22.51° north, 30.7 ...
, located in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
and broader region of the Eastern
Sahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
, there is a
megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
solar calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar.
T ...
,
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
) that dates between 4000 BCE and 2000 BCE.
Sudan
=Nubia
=
Nubian architecture
Nubian architecture is diverse and ancient. Permanent villages have been found in Nubia, which date from 6000 BC. These villages were roughly contemporary with the walled town of Jericho in Palestine.
Early Period
The earliest Nubian architect ...
is one of the most ancient in the world. The earliest style of Nubian architecture includes the
speos
Rock-cut architecture is the creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures by excavating solid rock where it naturally occurs. Intensely laborious when using ancient tools and methods, rock-cut architecture was presumably combined with quarryi ...
, structures carved out of solid rock under the
A-Group culture
The A-Group culture was an ancient culture that flourished between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile in Nubia. It lasted from 3800 BC to 3100 BC.
Overview
In 1907, the Egyptologist George A. Reisner first discovered artifacts belong ...
(3700-3250 BCE). Egyptians borrowed and made extensive use of the process at
Speos Artemidos
The Speos Artemidos (Grotto of Artemis) is an archaeological site in Egypt. It is located about 2 km south of the Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan, and about 28 km south of Al Minya. Today, the site is a small village known as Ista ...
and
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel ( ar, أبو سمبل), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about sou ...
. A-Group culture led eventually to the
C-Group culture
The C-Group culture is an archaeological culture found in Lower Nubia, which dates from ca. 2400 BCE to ca. 1550 BCE. It was named by George A. Reisner. With no central site and no written evidence about what these people called themselves, Reis ...
, which began building using light, supple materials—animal skins and
wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...
—with larger structures of
mudbrick
A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been ...
later becoming the norm.
The C-Group culture was related to that of the city of
Kerma
Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was located in present-day Sudan at least 5,500 years ago. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, in ...
, which was settled around 2400 BC. It was a walled city containing religious buildings, large circular dwellings, a palace, and well-laid-out roads. On the east side of the city, a funerary temple and chapel were laid out. It supported a population of 2,000. One of its most enduring structures was the Deffufa, a mudbrick temple, on top of which ceremonies were performed.
Between 1500 and 1085 BC, Egypt conquered and dominated
Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...
, which brought about the
Napata
Napata (Old Egyptian ''Npt'', ''Npy''; Meroitic language, Meroitic ''Napa''; grc, Νάπατα and Ναπάται) was a city of ancient Kingdom of Kush, Kush at the fourth cataract of the Nile. It is located approximately 1.5 kilometers from ...
n phase of Nubian history: the birth of the
Kingdom of Kush
The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian language, Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Akkadian language, Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, ce ...
. Kush was immensely influenced by Egypt and eventually conquered Egypt. During this phase, we see the building of numerous pyramids and temples.
Gebel Barkal
Jebel Barkal or Gebel Barkal ( ar, جبل بركل) is a mesa or large rock outcrop located 400 km north of Khartoum, next to Karima in Northern State in Sudan, on the Nile River, in the region that is sometimes called Nubia. The jebel is 10 ...
, in the town of Napata, was a significant site, where Kushite pharaohs received legitimacy.
Thirteen temples and two palaces have been excavated in Napata, which has yet to be fully excavated.
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
contains 223
Nubian pyramids
The Nubian pyramids were built by the rulers of the ancient Kushite kingdoms. The area of the Nile valley known as Nubia, which lies within the north of present-day Sudan, was the site of three Kushite kingdoms during antiquity. The capital of th ...
, more numerous but smaller than the
Egyptian pyramids
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures located in Egypt. Sources cite at least 118 identified "Egyptian" pyramids. Approximately 80 pyramids were built within the Kingdom of Kush, now located in the modern country of Sudan. Of ...
, at three major sites:
El Kurru
El-Kurru was the first of the three royal cemeteries used by the Kushite royals of Napata, also referred to as Egypt's 25th Dynasty, and is home to some of the royal Nubian Pyramids. It is located between the 3rd and 4th cataracts of the Nile ab ...
,
Nuri
Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the west side of the Nile River, Nile, near the Fourth Cataract. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, Sudan, Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal.
Nuri is the second of three Napatan burial sites ...
, and Meroe. The elements of Nubian pyramids, built for kings and queens, included steep walls, a chapel facing east, a stairway facing east, and a chamber accessed via the stairway. The Meroe site has the most pyramids and is considered the largest archaeological site in the world. Around AD 350, the area was invaded by the
Kingdom of Aksum
The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wh ...
and the Napatan kingdom collapsed.
Tunisia
=Carthage
=
Large regions of North Africa, particularly near the coasts, came under the control of Carthage at the height of its power in the third century BC. The remains of Carthage are found near Tunis today and contain the remains of multiple periods ranging from the Punic period (Phoenician Carthage) to the later Arab occupation. Vestiges of the Carthaginian Empire include the "Punic Ports" (the city's harbors) and a sanctuary and necropolis dedicated to
Baal Hammon
Baal Hammon, properly Baʿal Ḥammon or Baʿal Ḥamon ( Phoenician: ; Punic: ), meaning “Lord Hammon”, was the chief god of Carthage. He was a weather god considered responsible for the fertility of vegetation and esteemed as King of the ...
, known today as the Sanctuary of Tophet.
After defeating Carthage, Rome progressively took over the entire coast of North Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic coast of modern-day Morocco. Major Roman sites in present-day
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
(the former Roman province known as ''
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
'') include
Roman Carthage
After the destruction of Punic Carthage in 146 BC, a new city of Carthage (Latin '' Carthāgō'') was built on the same land in the mid-1st century BC. By the 3rd century, Carthage had developed into one of the largest cities of the Roman Empir ...
, the
amphitheater of El Jem
The Amphitheatre of El Jem is an oval amphitheatre in the modern-day city of El Djem, Tunisia, formerly Thysdrus in the Roman province of Africa. It is listed by UNESCO since 1979 as a World Heritage Site.
History
The amphitheatre was built arou ...
, and the sites of Dougga (Thugga) and Sbeitla (Sufetula). Well-preserved sites in Libya include
Sabratha
Sabratha ( ar, صبراتة, Ṣabrāta; also ''Sabratah'', ''Siburata''), in the Zawiya DistrictLeptis Magna
Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by other names
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent fil ...
. In Algeria, major sites include
Timgad
Timgad ( ar, تيمقاد, links=, lit=, translit=Tīmgād, known as Marciana Traiana Thamugadi) was a Roman city in the Aurès Mountains of Algeria. It was founded by the Roman Emperor Trajan around 100 AD. The full name of the city was ''Colon ...
,
Djémila
Djémila ( ar, جميلة, links=, lit=Ǧamīlah, translit=Beautiful (one)), formerly Cuicul, is a small mountain village in Algeria, near the northern coast east of Algiers, where some of the best preserved Roman ruins in North Africa are foun ...
, and
Tipasa
Tipasa, sometimes distinguished as Tipasa in Mauretania, was a colonia in the Roman province Mauretania Caesariensis, nowadays called Tipaza, and located in coastal central Algeria. Since 1982, it has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Sit ...
Volubilis
Volubilis (; ar, وليلي, walīlī; ber, ⵡⵍⵉⵍⵉ, wlili) is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco situated near the city of Meknes, and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of Kin ...
were founded or developed by Romans and retain remnants of their architecture.
=Numidia
=
Further west, the kingdom of
Numidia
Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...
was contemporary with the
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
n civilization of
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
and the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
. Among other things, the Numidians have left thousands of pre-Christian tombs. The oldest of these is Medracen in present-day
Masinissa
Masinissa ( nxm, , ''MSNSN''; ''c.'' 238 BC – 148 BC), also spelled Massinissa, Massena and Massan, was an ancient Numidian king best known for leading a federation of Massylii Berber tribes during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), ulti ...
(202–148 BC). Possibly influenced by Greek architecture further east, or built with the help of Greek craftsmen, the tomb consists of a large
tumulus
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...
constructed in well-cut
ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
masonry and featuring sixty
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
columns and an Egyptian-style
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
. Another famous example is the
Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania
The Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania is a funerary monument located on the road between Cherchell and Algiers, in Tipaza Province, Algeria. The mausoleum is the tomb where the Numidian Berber King Juba II (son of Juba I of Numidia) and the Queen Cleop ...
. This structure consists of columns, a dome, and spiral pathways that lead to a single chamber. A number of "tower tombs" from the Numidian period can also be found in sites from Algeria to Libya. Despite their wide geographic range, they often share a similar style: a three-story structure topped by a convex pyramid. They may have initially been inspired by Greek monuments but they constitute an original type of structure associated with Numidian culture. Examples of these are found at Siga, Soumaa d'el Khroub,
Dougga
Dougga or Thugga or TBGG was a Berber, Punic and Roman settlement near present-day Téboursouk in northern Tunisia. The current archaeological site covers . UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it represents " ...
, and
Sabratha
Sabratha ( ar, صبراتة, Ṣabrāta; also ''Sabratah'', ''Siburata''), in the Zawiya District
West Africa
Mauritania
=Tichitt Culture
=
Tichitt Walata is the oldest surviving collection of settlements in
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
and the oldest of all stone-base settlement south of the Sahara. It was built by the
Soninke people
The Soninke people are a West African Mande-speaking ethnic group found in Mali, Fouta Djallon, southern Mauritania, eastern Senegal, Guinea and The Gambia. They speak the Soninke language, also called the Serakhulle or Azer language, which is ...
and is thought to be the precursor of the
Ghana empire
The Ghana Empire, also known as Wagadou ( ar, غانا) or Awkar, was a West African empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali that existed from c. 300 until 1100. The Empire was founded by the Soninke people, ...
. It was settled by agropastoral people around 2000–300 BCE, which makes it almost 1000 years older than previously thought. One finds well-laid-out streets and fortified compounds, all made out of skilled stone masonry. In all, there were 500 settlements.
The Tichitt Tradition of eastern Mauritania dates from 2200 BCE to 200 BCE. By 2000 BCE, as aridification followed the
Holocene Climate Optimum
The Holocene Climate Optimum (HCO) was a warm period that occurred in the interval roughly 9,000 to 5,000 years ago BP, with a thermal maximum around 8000 years BP. It has also been known by many other names, such as Altithermal, Climatic Optimu ...
, the pastoralists had become agropastoralists and had established the Tichitt tradition in the Mauritanian settlement areas of Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Walata, and Dhar Néma, based on a hierarchical economy composed of pastoralism, agriculture (e.g., millet), and
stonemasonry
Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...
(e.g., architecture). In the Sahelian region of West Africa, the corded roulette ceramics of the Tichitt Tradition developed and persisted amongdrystonewalled architecture in Mauritania (e.g., Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Walata, Dhar Néma, Dhar Tagant) between 1900 BCE and 400 BCE. Within these settled areas (e.g., Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Tagant, Dhar Walata) with stone walls, which vary in scale from (e.g., 2
hectares
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...
, 80 hectares), there were walled agricultural land utilized for livestock or gardening as well as land with
granaries
A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals ...
and
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...
.
As areas where the Tichitt cultural tradition were present, Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Walata were occupied more frequently than Dhar Néma. The eastern and central areas of Dhar Walata and Dhar Tichitt, which were primarily peopled between 2200/2000 BCE and 1200/1000 BCE and contained some areas (e.g., Akreijit, Chebka, Khimiya) with boundary walls, served as the primary areas of settlement (e.g., small
villages
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
,
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
, seasonal
camps Camps may refer to:
People
*Ramón Camps (1927–1994), Argentine general
*Gabriel Camps (1927–2002), French historian
*Luís Espinal Camps (1932–1980), Spanish missionary to Bolivia
*Victoria Camps (b. 1941), Spanish philosopher and professor ...
) for the Dhars of Mauritania. The fundamental unit of the Mauritanian Dhars (e.g., Dhar Néma, Dhar Walata, Dhar Tichitt) was the
extended family
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household. Particular forms include the stem ...
or
polygamous family
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...
. Based on the presence of an abundant amount of enclosed areas that may have been used to pen cattle and hundreds of tumuli, intergenerational ownership of
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
, via cattle wealth, may have been part of the Tichitt culture.Planned, level
street
A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...
s spanned several hundred kilometers among the 400
drystone
Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction me ...
-constructed villages, hamlets, and
towns
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
. Primary entry points of residences with access ramps (e.g.,
fortified
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, non-fortified) and
watchtowers
A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...
were also present. Households used various tools (e.g., arrowheads, axes, borers, grindstones, grooved stones, needles, pendants). At Dhar Walata and Dhar Tichitt, stone pillars, stone slabs, and stone blocks, which approximate to several hundred in total, are frequently arranged and aligned in three rows of three; these erected stones may have served as stilts for granaries. There were also gardens and fields located within a walled enclosure ranging between nine and fourteen hectares. At Dhar Nema, there are also stilted granaries,
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
, and tools used for milling. At Dhar Walata and Dhar Tichitt,
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
was also utilized.
Dhar Tichitt
At
Dhar Tichitt
Dhar Tichitt is a Neolithic archaeological site located in the southwestern region of the Sahara Desert, in Mauritania. It is one of several settlement locations along the sandstone cliffs in the area. Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Walata, Dhar Néma, an ...
, Dakhlet el Atrouss I, which is the largest
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
of the Tichitt Tradition and is 80 hectares in scale, serves as the primary regional center for the multi-tiered hierarchical social structure of Tichitt culture; it features nearly 600 settlement compounds, agropastoralism, a large enclosure for cattle, and monumental architecture as an aspect of its
funerary cult
A funerary cult is a body of religious teaching and practice centered on the veneration of the dead, in which the living are thought to be able to confer benefits on the dead in the afterlife or to appease their otherwise wrathful ghosts. Rituals w ...
ure, such as hundreds of
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...
nearby. Along with Akrejit, it also features foundations for granaries.
courtyard
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky.
Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...
of nearby houses, enclosed, erected turriform
gardens
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...
have been found, the earliest of which dates between 1894 cal BCE and 1435 cal BCE.
Hoes
Hoe or HOE may refer to:
* Hoe (food), a Korean dish of raw fish
* Hoe (letter), a Georgian letter
* Hoe (tool), a hand tool used in gardening and farming
** Hoe-farming, a term for primitive forms of agriculture
* Backhoe, a piece of excavatin ...
and fish hooks made of bone were also found. Stone slabs may have been used as a
ballast
Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, ...
in order to avert the entry of animals into the village.
Reservoirs
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
and dams may have been used to manage water from nearby rivers (
wadis
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water o ...
). Millet, flour, and
semolina
Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well.
Etymo ...
may have been prepared to cook
porridge
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...
.
Dhar Néma
In the late period of the
Tichitt Tradition
The Tichitt Culture, or Tichitt Tradition, was created by Mande peoples. In 4000 BCE, the start of sophisticated social structure (e.g., trade of cattle as valued assets) developed among herders amid the Pastoral Period of the Sahara. Saharan pa ...
at Dhar Néma, tamed pearl millet was used to temper the tuyeres of a oval-shaped low shaft furnace; this furnace was one out of 16 iron furnaces located on elevated ground.
Iron metallurgy
Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistory, prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteorite, meteoritic Iron–nickel alloy, iron-nickel. It is not know ...
may have developed before the second half of 1st millennium BCE, as indicated by pottery dated between 800 BCE and 200 BCE.
Dhar Tagant
At Dhar Tagant, there are approximately 276 tumuli that have been surveyed. At Dhar Tagant, there are also various geometric (e.g., rectilinear, circular) constructions, and a possible late period, involving a funerary tomb with a chapel at Foum el Hadjar from 1st millennium CE and wadis with evidence of
crocodiles
Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant memb ...
. As part of a broader trend of iron metallurgy developed in the West African Sahel amid 1st millennium BCE, iron items (350 BCE – 100 CE) were found at Dhar Tagant, iron metalworking and/or items (800 BCE – 400 BCE) were found at Dia Shoma and Walaldé, and the iron remnants (760 BCE – 400 BCE) found at Bou Khzama and Djiganyai.
Niger
In
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesmonument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...
al tumuli – a
cairn
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...
burial (5695 BP – 5101 BP) at Adrar Bous, and a tumulus covered with gravel (6229 BP – 4933 BP) at Iwelen, in the
Aïr Mountains
The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif ( tmh, Ayăr; Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands ecoregion, they r ...
.Tenerians did not construct the two monumental tumuli at Adrar Bous and Iwelen. Rather, Tenerians constructed cattle tumuli at a time before the two monumental tumuli were constructed.
Nigeria
=Nok Culture
=
Nok culture
The Nok culture (or Nok civilization) is a population whose material remains are named after the Ham village of Nok in Kaduna State of Nigeria, where their terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria ...
artifacts—located on the
Jos Plateau
The Jos Plateau is a plateau located near the centre of Nigeria. The plateau has given its name to the Plateau State in which it is found and is named for the state's capital, Jos. The plateau is home to people of diverse cultures and languages ...
in Nigeria, between the
Niger River
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...
and
Benue River
The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. The size of its bas ...
—have been dated as far back as 790 BCE. The excavation of the Nok settlement in Samun Dikiya shows a tendency to build on hill tops and mountain peaks. However, Nok settlements have not been extensively excavated.
In the central region of
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, Nok
archaeological sites
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
are determined to be settlement sites, on the basis of archaeological evidence discovered at the surface level of the sites, and determined to be of the Nok culture, on the basis of the type of archaeological evidence discovered, specifically, Nok terracotta remnants and Nok pottery. Mountaintops are where the majority of Nok settlement sites are found. At the settlement site of Kochio, the edge of a cellar of a settlement wall was chiseled from a granite foundation. Additionally, a
megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
stone
fence
A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length.
...
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...
megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
monolith
A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...
-circles and tumuli (1300/1100 BCE – 1400/1500 CE) were constructed by West Africans who had a complex hierarchical society. In the mid-region of the
Senegal River
,french: Fleuve Sénégal)
, name_etymology =
, image = Senegal River Saint Louis.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = Fishermen on the bank of the Senegal River estuary at the outskirts of Saint-Louis, Senegal ...
Valley, the
Serer people
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group.
may have created tumuli (before 13th century CE),
shell middens
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofac ...
(7th century CE – 13th century CE) in the central-west region, and shell middens (200 BCE – Present) in the southern region. The
funerary
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture ...
tumuli-building tradition of
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
was widespread and a regular practice amid 1st millennium CE. More than ten thousand large funerary tumuli exist in Senegal.
Eastern Africa
Ethiopia
In the
Ethiopian Highlands
The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...
of
Harar
Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...
, the earliest construction of
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
s occurred. From this region and its megalith-building tradition (e.g., dolmens,
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...
with burial chambers organized in cemeteries), the subsequent traditions in other areas of
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
likely developed. In the late 1st millennium BCE, the urban civilization of Axum developed a megalithic
stelae
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
-building tradition, which commemorated Axumite royalty and elites, that persisted until the
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
period of Axum. In the Sidamo Province, the megalithic monoliths of the stelae-building cultural tradition were utilized as tombstones in cemeteries (e.g., Arussi, Konso, Sedene, Tiya, Tuto Felo), and have engraved anthropomorphic features (e.g., swords, masks), phallic form, and some of that served as markers of territory. Sidamo Province has the most megaliths in Ethiopia.
=Aksumite
=
Aksumite
The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wha ...
architecture flourished in the Ethiopian region, as attested by the numerous Aksumite influences in and around the medieval churches of
Lalibela
Lalibela ( am, ላሊበላ) is a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Lasta district and North Wollo Zone, it is a tourist site for its famous rock-cut monolithic churches. The whole of Lalibela is a large and important site ...
, where stelae (''hawilt''s) and, later, entire
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
es were carved out of single blocks of rock. Other monumental structures include massive underground tombs often located beneath stelae. Other well-known structures employing monolithic construction include the
Tomb of the False Door
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...
, and the tombs of
Kaleb
Kaleb (), also known as Saint Elesbaan, was King of Aksum, which was situated in modern-day Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Procopius calls him "Hellestheaeus", a variant of grc-koi, Ελεσβόάς version of his regnal name, gez, እለ አጽብ ...
and
Gebre Mesqel
Gebre ( gez, ገብረ, ''Gäbrä'') is a common masculine Ethiopian and Eritrean name, meaning "servant" in Ge'ez. It is used as both a stand-alone given name and, frequently, as a prefix (or stem) in religiously themed compound names; e.g. Gebr ...
in Axum.
Most structures, however—such as palaces, villas, commoner's houses, and other churches and monasteries—were built of alternating layers of stone and wood. Some examples of this style had whitewashed exteriors and/or interiors, such as the medieval 12th-century monastery of Yemrehanna Krestos, which was built in Aksumite style. Contemporary houses were one-room stone structures, two-storey square houses, or roundhouses of
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
with
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
s. Villas were generally two-to-four storeys tall and had sprawling rectangular plans (cf.
Dungur
Dungur (or Dungur 'Addi Kilte) is the ruins of a substantial mansion in Aksum, Ethiopia, the former capital city of the Kingdom of Aksum. The ruins are in the western part of Aksum, across the road from the Gudit stelae field.
Dungur is known lo ...
ruins). A good example of still-standing Aksumite architecture is the monastery of
Debre Damo
Debre Damo (), also spelled Debre Dammo, Dabra Dāmmo or Däbrä Dammo), is the name of a flat-topped mountain, or amba, and a 6th-century monastery in Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The mountain is a steeply rising plateau of trapezoidal shape, abou ...
from the 6th century.
Kenya
In 2nd millennium BCE,
Namoratunga
The Nasura Pillar Site, registered as GcJh3 and also known as Namoratunga II, is an Archaeology, archaeological site on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya dating to the Pastoral Neolithic. Namoratunga means "people of stone" in the Turkana ...
(Monolith Circles)
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
s were constructed as burials the eastern Turkana region of northwestern
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
.
Central Africa
Between late 3rd millennium BCE and mid-2nd millennium CE,
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
s (e.g., monuments, cairn burials) were constructed in the regions (e.g., Eastern Adamawa,
Oubanguian
The Ubangi River (), also spelled Oubangui, is the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River in the region of Central Africa. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mean annual discharge ...
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
and
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, throughout various periods (e.g., Balimbé: 2000 BCE – 1000 BCE; Early Gbabiri: 950 BCE – 200 BCE; Late Gbabiri: 200 BCE – 500 CE; Bouboun: 500 CE – 1600 CE), for various purposes (e.g., ritual practices, territorial marking).
Chad
=Sao Civilization
=
Sao civilization
The Sao civilization (also called So) flourished in Central Africa from ca. the fourth or sixth century BC to as late as the sixteenth century AD. The Sao lived by the Chari River basin in territory that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. The ...
sites of walled-cities are in the
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
region, along the
Chari River
The Chari River, or Shari River, is a long river, flowing in Central Africa. It is Lake Chad's main source of water.
Geography
The Chari River flows from the Central African Republic through Chad into Lake Chad, following the Cameroon border f ...
; the oldest site—at Zilum, Chad—dates to at least the first millennium.
Medieval architecture
North Africa
The Islamic conquest of North Africa saw the development of
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ar ...
in the region. Some of the early major monuments include the
Great Mosque of Kairouan
The Great Mosque of Kairouan ( ar, جامع القيروان الأكبر), also known as the Mosque of Uqba (), is a mosque situated in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Kairouan, Tunisia and is one of the most impressive and largest Islamic mo ...
, founded in 670 and mostly rebuilt in its current form during the 9th century, and the Ibn Tulun Mosque in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, built in the 9th century. In the western part of North Africa, known as the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
, the "Moorish" style of architecture developed over time, with strong cultural connections to
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
, the Islamic society of the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
. Around 1000 AD, cob (''tabya'') first appears in the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
and al-Andalus. To the east, Egypt continued to be more closely connected with the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
and the rest of the Middle East.
Tunisia
Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...
(roughly present-day Tunisia) was an important province of Islamic North Africa, with Kairouan serving as a major cultural and political center for much of its history. Under the
Aghlabids
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a cen ...
(9th century), the Great Mosque of Kairouan was rebuilt and Abbasid architectural innovations, such as the minaret, were introduced for the first time in North Africa. Under the
Fatimids
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
(10th century), Ifriqiya was temporarily the center of a new caliphate in rivalry with the Abbasid Caliphate to the east. The Fatimids initially eschewed some of the trends of Abbasid architecture (e.g. minarets), while following some of the established forms (e.g. the hypostyle format of mosques) and introducing new elements (e.g. monumental entrance portals for mosques). They also founded new capital cities including
Mahdia
Mahdia ( ar, المهدية ') is a Tunisian coastal city with 62,189 inhabitants, south of Monastir and southeast of Sousse.
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax
Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located ...
on the coast and al-Mansuriya near Kairouan. After the Fatimids departed to Cairo, the
Zirids
The Zirid dynasty ( ar, الزيريون, translit=az-zīriyyūn), Banu Ziri ( ar, بنو زيري, translit=banū zīrī), or the Zirid state ( ar, الدولة الزيرية, translit=ad-dawla az-zīriyya) was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty from ...
were left in charge in the late 10th century until they were succeeded by the Almohads in the 12th century. The latter introduced some of their own architectural trends, as seen in the Kasbah Mosque of
which bears strong resemblance to Almohad mosque architecture in Marrakesh. The Almohads in Ifriqiya were soon succeeded by the
Hafsids
The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...
, under whose long dominion the center of power and patronage shifted to Tunis and the region's architecture increasingly deviated from that of the western Maghreb and al-Andalus. Madrasas were first built during the Hafsid period and quickly proliferated. After the advent of
Ottoman rule
Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to:
Governments and dynasties
* Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924
* Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...
in the 16th century some elements and traditions of
Ottoman architecture
Ottoman architecture is the architectural style that developed under the Ottoman Empire. It first emerged in northwestern Anatolia in the late 13th century and developed from earlier Seljuk architecture, Seljuk Turkish architecture, with influen ...
, such as the use of pointed minarets and the creation of multi-functional religious complexes, began to penetrate local architecture, especially among the monuments built by or associated with the new Ottoman elites.
File:Great Mosque of Sousse.jpg,
Great Mosque of Sousse
The Great Mosque of Sousse ( ar, الجامع الكبير بسوسة) is a historical mosque in the coastal city of Sousse, Tunisia. The construction dates back to 851 during the rule of Aghlabid Dynasty, a vassal of the Abbasid Caliphate, and i ...
(9th century)
File:Porte Grande Mosquée El Mehdi Mahdia.JPG, Entrance of the Fatimid Great Mosque of Mahdia (10th century)
File:Mosquée de la Kasba 1 (retouched).jpg, Kasbah Mosque of Tunis (13th century)
File:Minaret et mausolée.jpg, Mosque and mausoleum of Youssef Dey in Tunis (17th century)
Algeria
The territory of present-day Algeria was ruled by various dynasties in the early Islamic period, including the
Rustamids
The Rustamid dynasty () (or ''Rustumids'', ''Rostemids'') was a ruling house of Ibāḍī imāms of Persian descent centered in Algeria. The dynasty governed as a Muslim theocracy for a century and a half from its capital Tiaret (present day ...
, the Idrisids (and their Sulaymanid branch), and the Zirids. In the 10th century the Zirids built a palace at 'Ashir (near the present town of
Kef Lakhdar
Kef Lakhdar is a town and commune in Médéa Province, Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordi ...
) that is one of the oldest palaces in the Maghreb to have been discovered and excavated by archeologists. The
Hammadids
The Hammadid dynasty () was a branch of the Sanhaja Berber dynasty that ruled an area roughly corresponding to north-eastern modern Algeria between 1008 and 1152. The state reached its peak under Nasir ibn Alnas during which it was briefly the m ...
, an offshoot of the Zirids, based themselves in Algeria and in 1007 they founded an entirely new fortified capital known as Qala'at Bani Hammad, northeast of present-day
M'Sila
M'sila (also spelled Msila) ( ar, المسيلة); is the capital of M'Sila Province, Algeria, and is co-extensive with M'sila District. It has a population of 132,975 as per the 2008 census. M'sila University is also located in this city.
Hist ...
. Although abandoned and destroyed in the 12th century, the city has been excavated by archeologists and the site is one of the best-preserved sites of a medieval capital city in the Islamic world, with remains of multiple palaces and of a monumental mosque. From the late 11th to early 13th centuries varying extents of Algerian territory were controlled by the
Almoravids
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that ...
and
Almohads
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fo ...
. The
Great Mosque of Tlemcen
The Great Mosque of Tlemcen ( ar, الجامع الكبير لتلمسان, ''el-Jemaa el-Kebir litilimcen'') is a major historic mosque in Tlemcen, Algeria. It was founded and first built in 1082 but modified and embellished several times afterw ...
Great Mosque of Nedroma
Great Mosque ( ar, الجامع الكبير) or the Great Mosque of Nedroma ( ar, الجامع الكبير بندرومة) is a historic mosque in the city of Nedroma, about 77km from Tlemcen, Algeria. The mosque was founded in 1145 and contains ...
(1145) are all important foundations from the Almoravid period. After the Almohads, the region was mostly controlled by the
Zayyanids
The Zayyanid dynasty ( ar, زيانيون, ''Ziyānyūn'') or Abd al-Wadids ( ar, بنو عبد الواد, ''Bānu ʿabd āl-Wād'') was a Berber Zenata dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Tlemcen, mainly in modern Algeria centered on the town of ...
(13th to early 16th centuries), based in
Tlemcen
Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the por ...
, with occasional incursions by the Marinids. Both the Zayyanids and the Marinids left a significant architectural legacy in Tlemcen, which became a cultural center of the region. Various mosques and monuments in the western Maghrebi-Andalusi style are still preserved in the city today. After the Ottomans brought the region under their control in the 16th century, Algiers became the new center of power. Many mosques, palaces, and tombs were built in the city with a blend of Ottoman and indigenous Maghrebi architectural influences. An important example is the 17th-century New Mosque, which has an Ottoman-influenced layout with dome and vaulted ceilings alongside a Maghrebi-style minaret.
File:28-2 Kalâa de Beni Hammad (4) (cropped).jpg, Remains of the mosque of
Qal'at Bani Hammad
Qal'at Bani Hammad ( ar, قلعة بني حماد), also known as Qal'a Bani Hammad or Qal'at of the Beni Hammad (among other variants), is a fortified palatine city in Algeria. Now in ruins, in the 11th century, it served as the first capital o ...
(11th century)
File:Grande mosquée et dépendance Minaret de la Mosquée 021.jpg,
Great Mosque of Tlemcen
The Great Mosque of Tlemcen ( ar, الجامع الكبير لتلمسان, ''el-Jemaa el-Kebir litilimcen'') is a major historic mosque in Tlemcen, Algeria. It was founded and first built in 1082 but modified and embellished several times afterw ...
(11th-12th centuries, with later additions)
File:Entrée de SBM.JPG, Zellij and muqarnas decoration at the entrance of the Sidi Bu Madyan Mosque in Tlemcen (14th century)
File:Alger-Place-des-Martyrs-Casbah cropped.jpg, New Mosque in Algiers (17th century)
Morocco
Islamic architecture began in Morocco under the
Idrisid dynasty
The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ar, الأدارسة ') were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid an ...
, with structures such as the
University of al-Qarawiyyin
The University of al-Qarawiyyin ( ar, جامعة القرويين; ber, ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵇⴰⵕⴰⵡⵉⵢⵉⵏ; french: Université Al Quaraouiyine), also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in ...
, founded in the 9th century. The Almoravid dynasty united northwest Africa and Iberia under one empire, and brought Andalusi architects to North Africa. A similar situation persisted under the Almohads, whose buildings (e.g. the Kutubiyya Mosque) further cemented many stylistic trends that would characterize the architecture of the region. After them, the Marinid Sultanate, Marinid dynasty used similar architectural forms with increased surface decoration, which shared many similarities with contemporary Nasrid dynasty, Nasrid architecture in the Emirate of Granada. Some features of Moroccan Islamic architecture that emerged from these periods are the Moroccan riad, ''riad'', square-based minarets, ''tadelakt'' plaster, and decorative features such as arabesque and ''zellij''. Under the Saadi dynasty, Carrara marble, marble from Carrara, bought with Sugar industry of Morocco, Moroccan sugar, was used in the furnishing of palaces and mosques. The traditional Moorish style of architecture continued to be followed under the 'Alawi dynasty, which ruled Morocco from the 17th century onward. Between 1672 and 1727, The 'Alawi sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif, Moulay Isma'il built a new capital at Meknes, the Kasbah of Moulay Ismail, which covered a vast area and featured monuments and infrastructure on a vast scale. The 'Alawi sultans continued to build or renovate other palaces and mosques. Some of the palaces preserved today were built by other high-ranking officials, such as the Bahia Palace in Marrakesh, which was built in the late 19th century by a family of viziers.
File:أطلال مسجد في موقع ليكسوس الأثري قرب مدينة العرائش المغربية.jpg, Remains of an Idrisid mosque at Lixus (ancient city), Lixus
File:Al Quaraouiyine.jpg,
University of al-Qarawiyyin
The University of al-Qarawiyyin ( ar, جامعة القرويين; ber, ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵇⴰⵕⴰⵡⵉⵢⵉⵏ; french: Université Al Quaraouiyine), also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in ...
in Fez, Morocco, Fes (founded in 9th century)
File:Cúpula almorávide (Marrakech).jpg, Almoravid Qubba in Marrakesh (early 12th century)
File:المسجد الأعظم تينمل 7.jpg, Mihrab of the Almohad Caliphate, Almohad Mosque of Tinmel (12th century)
File:مدرسة العطارين.jpg, Arabesque, Maghrebi script, and Zellige, ''zillīj'' at Al-Attarine Madrasa in Fes (14th century)
File:Palais El Badii - panoramio.jpg, El Badi Palace in Marrakesh (late 16th century)
Egypt
After initially being a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphates, with its administrative capital at Fustat, Egypt became more politically independent in the 9th century under the Tulunids, Tulunid dynasty. In the 10th century, the Fatimid Caliphate moved its base of power to Egypt and founded the city of Cairo, near Fustat. Fatimid architecture in Egypt can be witnessed in religious monuments in Cairo such as the Al-Azhar Mosque (significantly modified in later centuries), the Al-Hakim Mosque, and in the small but artistically significant Aqmar Mosque. Other remains from this period include the monumental stone gates of Cairo – Bab al-Futuh, Bab al-Nasr (Cairo), Bab al-Nasr, and Bab Zuweila – which were built by a Fatimid vizier in the 11th century. The Fatimid Great Palaces, Great Fatimid Palaces, where the caliphs lived, have not been preserved. After the Fatimids, Egypt became the capital of the Ayyubid dynasty founded by Saladin, Salah ad-Din (Saladin). The most significant monument of this era was the Cairo Citadel, Citadel of Cairo, which became Egypt's center of government up until the 19th century.Raymond, André. 1993. ''Le Caire''. Fayard. In the mid-13th century the Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo), Mamluks took control and ruled an empire from Cairo that lasted until the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), Ottoman conquest of 1517. The Mamluks were major patrons of architecture and a large part of the historic heritage of Islamic Cairo dates from their time. The major monuments of Mamluk architecture were multi-functional religious and funerary complexes whose layouts were adapted to fit into the dense urban environment. Some of the most significant examples of this period include the Qalawun complex, Complex of Sultan Qalawun, the Madrasa-Mosque of Sultan Hasan, and the Funerary complex of Sultan Qaytbay.
File:Courtyard of Al-Azhar Mosque Cairo Egypt 2019 (6).jpg, Courtyard of the Al-Azhar Mosque in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, founded in 972
File:Cairo, porte settentrionali, 01.JPG, Bab al-Futuh, a Fatimid gate in Cairo (1087–92)
File:Cairo, moschea di al-aqmar, 04.JPG, Street façade of the Aqmar Mosque (1126)
File:Flickr - HuTect ShOts - Citadel of Salah El.Din and Masjid Muhammad Ali قلعة صلاح الدين الأيوبي ومسجد محمد علي - Cairo - Egypt - 17 04 2010 (4).jpg, The Cairo Citadel, Citadel of Cairo, founded in 1176
File:Minaret of the Qalawun complex.jpg, Exterior of the Qalawun complex, Funerary complex of Sultan Qalawun (1285), which included a mausoleum, a madrasa, and a Bimaristan, maristan
File:Qaitbey4 (2133768658).jpg, Dome of the Funerary complex of Sultan Qaytbay (1474)
File:Sultan-Hassan-Moschee 2015-11-14zc.jpg, Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan, Madrasa-Mosque of Sultan Hasan (1356–1361)
Sudan
=Nubia
=
The Christianization of
Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...
began in the 6th century. Its most representative architecture consists of churches, whose design is based on Byzantine Empire, Byzantine basilicas, but which are relatively small and made of mud bricks. Vernacular architecture of the Christian period is scarce. Soba (city), Soba is the only city that has been excavated. Its structures are made of sun-dried bricks, the same as today, except for an arch. During the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid phase of Islam, Nubia became Arabization, Arabized. Its most import mosque was the Mosque of Derr.
West Africa
At Kumbi Saleh, locals lived in dome-shaped dwellings in the king's section of the city, surrounded by a great enclosure. Traders lived in stone houses in a section which possessed 12 beautiful mosques (as described by Abu Abdullah al-Bakri, al-Bakri), one of which was for Friday prayer. The king is said to have owned several mansions, one of which was sixty-six feet long and forty-two feet wide, contained seven rooms, was two stories high, and had a staircase, with paintings on the walls and chambers filled with sculpture.
Sudano-Sahelian, Sahelian architecture initially grew from the two cities of Djenné and Timbuktu. The Sankore Mosque, constructed from mud on timber, was similar in style to the Great Mosque of Djenné.
Ghana
=Ashanti
=
Ashanti people, Ashanti architecture from Ghana is perhaps best known from the reconstruction at Kumasi, Ghana. Its key features are courtyard-based buildings, and walls with striking reliefs in brightly painted mud plaster. An example is the Besease shrine, which can be seen at Kumasi. Four rectangular rooms, constructed from
wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...
, lie around a
courtyard
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky.
Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...
. Animal designs mark the walls, and arecaceae, palm leaves cut to a tiered shape provide the roof.
Mali
At Tondidarou, in the Malian Lakes Region, there are
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
s of an anthropomorphic nature (e.g., face, navel, scarifications) that date between 600 CE and 700 CE.
At the Inner Niger Delta, in the Mali Lakes Region, there are two monumental tumuli constructed in the time period of the Trans-Saharan trade for the Sahelian kingdoms of
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
. The El Oualadji monumental tumulus, which dates between 1030 CE and 1220 CE and has two human remains buried with horse remains and various items (e.g., horse harnesses, horse trappings with plaques and bells, bracelets, rings, beads, iron items), may have been, as highlighted by al-Bakri, the royal burial site of a king from the Ghana Empire. The Koï Gourrey monumental tumulus, which may date prior to 1326 CE and has over twenty human remains that were buried with various items (e.g., iron accessories, an abundant amount of copper bracelets, anklets and beads, an abundant amount of broken, but whole pottery, another set of distinct, intact, glazed pottery, a wooden-beaded bone necklace, a bird figurine, a lizard figurine, a crocodile figurine), and is situated within the Mali Empire.
Nigeria
Several societies in pre-colonial
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
built structures from earth and stone. In general, these structures were primarily defensive, repelling invaders from other tribes, but many settlements put spiritual elements into their construction. These defensive structures were primarily constructed from earth, occasionally plastered.
Dump ramparts consist of an outer ditch and inner bank and can span from 1/2 meter to 20 meters across in the largest settlements such as Benin City, Benin and Sungbo's Eredo. Coursed mud walls in the Guinea and Sudan savannas were laid in layers of mud. Each layer of mud would be held in place by wooden framing, allowed to dry, and built on top of. At the most significant settlement in Koso, these walls averaged 6 meters in height, tapering from 2 meters thick at the base to 1/2 meter thick at the top. Tubali walls in northern Nigeria have two components: sun-dried mud bricks held together with mud mortar. Walls in this style have a tendency to deteriorate in wetter climates.
These mud constructions were usually plastered with mud mixed with other materials. The defensive purpose of this was to create a smoother, unscalable surface to help repel attackers. However, some plaster has been found with blood, bone remains, gold dust, oil, and straw mixed in. Some of these materials were functional, adding strength, while others had spiritual meanings, possibly to defend against evil spirits.
Benin City in particular had sophisticated house and urban planning. Houses had several rooms and were usually roofed, enclosing private quarters, sacred spaces, and rooms for receiving guests. Usually, multiple houses would enclose a shared courtyard. When it rained, the house roofs would collect water into a space in the courtyard for later use. Houses would have public frontage along long, straight roads. The city had markets and the chief's palace in the center of the city, with dominant and subordinate roads leading outwards. HM Stanely, quoted in Asomani-Boateng, Raymond (2011-11), described the roads as "...fenced with tall [water cane] neatly set very close together in uniform rows..." possibly for privacy.
More sophisticated construction methods include stone and brick constructions, with and without mortar, plaster, and accompanying defensive structures. Fired brick constructions were observed in settlements in northeast Nigeria, such as historic Kanuri people, Kanuri buildings. Many of the bricks have since been removed for new constructions. Laterite block walls with clay mortar were found in northwest Nigeria, possibly inspired by Songhai people, Songhai constructions. Walls built from stone without mortar have been found where societies could obtain sufficient stone, most notably in Sukur. None of these constructions have been observed with additional plastering.
The Sukur World Heritage Site is especially significant, with extensive terraces, walls, and infrastructure. Walls separate homes, animal pens, and granaries, while terraces often include spiritual items such as sacred trees or ceramic shrines. Early iron foundries were also present, usually placed close to the homes of their owners.
Broadly, three styles of residential architecture can be identified in indigenous Nigerian architecture, relating to the people groups which developed them.
* Hausa architecture uses plastered adobe to create monolithic walls. Roofing is provided by shallow domes and vaults made from structural timber beams covered by laterite and earth. Homesteads are bounded by perimeter walls with both circular and linear interior divisions with one clearly defined entrance.
* Yoruba architecture uses cured earth walls to support roof timbers, over which leaf or woven grass roofing is applied. These walls are usually homogeneous mud structures, though wattle-and-daub techniques can be found in certain locations. Space is divided into individual units which are then connected by proximity and walls into a compound with courtyards and private spaces. Multiple entrances and exits allow access to accessory facilities such as kitchens.
* Igbo people, Igbo architecture uses similar construction techniques and materials as Yoruba architecture, but varies significantly in spatial arrangement. No unified compound walls exist in these constructions. Instead, individual units are related to a central leader's hut, with significance attached to relative position and size.
These elements are believed to affect present-day residential house design, especially when designating spaces as public, semi-public, semi-private, or private.
=Benin
=
The rise of kingdoms in the West African coastal region produced architecture which drew on indigenous traditions, utilizing wood. Benin City, destroyed during the Benin Expedition of 1897, was a large complex of homes in coursed mud, with hipped roofs of Shake (roof), shingles or palm leaves. The palace contained a sequence of ceremonial rooms and was decorated with Benin Bronzes, brass plaques. The Walls of Benin City were the world's largest man-made structure. Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist:
In 1691, the Portuguese Lourenco Pinto observed: “Great Benin, where the king resides, is larger than Lisbon; all the streets run straight and as far as the eye can see. The houses are large, especially that of the king, which is richly decorated and has fine columns. The city is wealthy and industrious. It is so well governed that theft is unknown and the people live in such security that they have no doors to their houses.”
Benin City’s planning and design was done according to careful rules of symmetry, proportionality and repetition now known as fractal design. The main streets had underground drainage made of a sunken impluvium with an outlet to carry away storm water. Many narrower side and intersecting streets extended off them.
=Hausa Kingdoms
=
The important Hausa Kingdoms city state of Kano (city), Kano was surrounded by a wall of reinforced ramparts of stone and bricks. Kano contained a citadel near which the royal court resided. Individual residences were separated by earthen walls. The higher the status of the resident the more elaborate the wall. The entrance-way was maze-like to keep women secluded. Inside, near the entrance, were the abodes of unmarried women. Further on were slave quarters.
Gobarau Mosque
Gobarau Mosque is believed to have been completed during the reign of Muhammadu Korau (1398–1408), the first Muslim king of Katsina. Originally built as the central mosque of Katsina town, it was later also used as a school. By the beginning of the 16th century, Katsina had become a very important commercial and academic center in Hausaland, and Gobarau Mosque had grown into a famed Islamic institution of higher learning. Gobarau continued to be Katsina's central mosque until the beginning of the 19th century AD.
=Yoruba
=
The Yoruba people, Yoruba surrounded their settlements with massive mud walls. Their buildings had a similar plan to the Ashanti shrines, but with verandahs around the court. The walls were of puddled mud and palm oil. The most famous of the Yoruba fortifications, and the second largest wall edifice in Africa, is Sungbo's Eredo, a structure that was built in honour of a traditional Oba (ruler)#Aristocratic titles among the Yoruba, oloye by the name of Bilikisu Sungbo, in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries. The structure is made up of sprawling mud walls among the valleys that surrounded the town of Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State. Sungbo's Eredo is the largest pre-colonial monument in Africa, larger than the Great Pyramids or Great Zimbabwe.
Eastern Africa
Burundi
Burundi never had a fixed capital. The closest thing to it was a royal hill. When the king moved, his new location became the ''insago''. The compound itself was enclosed inside a high fence and had two entrances. One was for herders and herds. The other was to the royal palace, which was itself surrounded by a fence. The royal palace had three royal courtyards, each serving a particular function: one for herders, one as a sanctuary, and one encompassed by kitchen and granary.
Ethiopia
Throughout the medieval period, the monolithic influences of Aksumite architecture persisted, with its influence felt strongest in the early medieval (Late Aksumite) and Zagwe periods (when the churches of Lalibela were carved). Throughout the medieval period, and especially during the 10th to 12th centuries, churches were hewn out of rock throughout
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, especially in the northernmost region of Tigray Province, Tigray, which was the heart of the Aksumite Empire. However, rock-hewn churches have been found as far south as Adadi Maryam (15th century), about south of Addis Ababa.
The most famous examples of Ethiopian rock-hewn architecture are the 11 monolithic churches of Lalibela, carved out of the red volcanic tuff found around the town. Although later medieval hagiographies attribute all 11 structures to the eponymous king Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, Lalibela (the town was called Roha and Adefa before his reign), new evidence indicates that they may have been built separately over a period of a few centuries, with only a few of the more recent churches having been built under his reign. Archaeologist and ''Ethiopisant'' David Phillipson postulates that Bete Gebriel-Rufa'el was actually built in the very early medieval period, some time between 600 and 800 AD, originally as a fortress but later turned into a church.
Kenya
Thimlich Ohinga is a complex of dry-stone walled enclosures near Migori town in Western Kenya. Thimlich Ohinga was built around the 16th century CE by sedentary, pastoralist Bantus who later on abandoned the site, later on replaced by members of the Luo people. The site consists of four main "Ohingni" (i.e. settlements) surrounded by walls with low entrances, the walls were built by stacking irregularly-shaped stones without the use of any mortar, the result being an interlocked wall with immense stability similar to walls of Great Zimbabwe 3600 kilometers to the south of the settlement. The walls of Thimlich Ohinga also included vents for water drainage, buttresses to reinforce the free-standing walls and a watchtower.Within the walls of the settlement were livestock enclosures, houses and
granaries
A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals ...
. The inhabitants of Thimlich Ohinga engaged in craft industries, most notably pottery and metallurgy. Imported glass beads at the site indicate that Thimlich Ohinga was part of a network of long-distance trade.
Rwanda
Nyanza, Rwanda, Nyanza was the royal capital of Rwanda. The king's residence, the Ibwami, was built on a hill. Surrounding hills were occupied by permanent or temporary dwellings. These dwellings were round huts surrounded by big yards and tall hedges to separate the compounds. The ''Rugo'', the royal compound, was encircled by reed fences encompassing thatched houses. The houses for the king's entourage were carpeted with mats and had clay hearths in the center. For the king and his wife, the royal house was close to 200-100 yards in length and looked like a huge maze of connected huts and granaries. It had one entrance that lead to a large public square called the ''karubanda''.
Somalia
Somali architecture has a rich and diverse tradition of designing and engineering different types of construction, such as masonry, castles, citadels, fortresses, mosques, temples, aqueduct (water supply), aqueducts, lighthouses, towers and tombs, during the ancient, medieval, and early modern periods in Somalia. It also encompasses the fusion of Somalo-Islamic architecture with Western designs in modern times.
In ancient Somalia, pyramidical structures known in Somali language, Somali as ''taalo'' were a popular burial style, with hundreds of these
dry stone
Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
monuments scattered around the country today. Houses were built of Stonemasonry, dressed stone similar to the ones in Ancient Egypt, and there are examples of courtyards, and large stone walls, such as the Wargaade Wall, enclosing settlements.
The peaceful introduction of Islam in the early medieval era of Somalia's history brought Islamic architectural influences from Arabia and Persia, which stimulated a shift in construction from dry stone, and other related materials, to Masonry, coral stone, mud-brick, sun-dried bricks, and the widespread use of
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
in Somali architecture. Many of the new architectural designs, such as mosques, were built on the ruins of older structures, a practice that would continue over and over again throughout the following centuries.
=Dhulbahante garesa
=
In the official Dervish-written letter's description of the 1920 air, sea and land campaign and the fall of Taleh in February 1920, in an April 1920 letter transcribed from the original Arabic script into Italian by the incumbent ''Governatori della Somalia'', the British are described taking twenty-seven ''garesas'' or 27 houses from the Dhulbahante clan:Ferro e Fuoco in Somalia, da Francesco Saverio Caroselli, Rome, 1931; p. 272. "i Dulbohanta nella maggior parte si sono arresi agli inglesi e han loro consegnato ventisette garese (case) ricolme di fucili, munizioni e danaro." (English: "the Dhulbahante surrendered for the most part to the British and handed twenty-seven ''garesas'' (houses) full of guns, ammunition and money over to them viewable link /ref>
Tanzania
Engaruka is a ruined settlement on the slopes of Mount Ngorongoro in northern Tanzania. Seven stone-terraced villages comprised the settlement. A complex structure of stone channels along the mountain's base was used to dike, dam, and level surrounding river waters for irrigation of individual plots of land. Some of these irrigation channels were several kilometers long. The channels irrigated a total area of .
=Swahili States
=
Farther south, increased trade with Arab merchants, and the development of ports, saw the birth of Swahili architecture. An outgrowth of indigenous Bantu settlements, one of the earliest examples is the Palace of Husuni Kubwa, lying west of Kilwa (district), Kilwa, built about 1245. As with many other early Swahili buildings, coral rag was the main construction material, and even the roof was constructed by attaching coral to timbers. The palace at Kilwa Kisiwani was a two-story tower, in a walled enclosure. Other notable structures from the period include the pillar tombs of Malindi and Mnarani in Kenya and elsewhere, originally made of coral rag, and later from stone. Later examples include Zanzibar's Stone Town, with its famous carved doors and the Great Mosque of Kilwa.
A visitor in 1331 AD considered the Tanzanian city Kilwa to be of world class. He wrote that it was the “principal city on the coast the greater part of whose inhabitants are Zanj of very black complexion.” Later on he says that: “Kilwa is one of the most beautiful and well-constructed cities in the world. The whole of it is elegantly built.”
Uganda
=Buganda
=
Initially, the hilltop capital, or ''kibuga'', of Buganda would be moved to a new hill with each new ruler, or ''Kabaka of Buganda, Kabaka''. In the late 19th century, a permanent kibuga of Buganda was established at Mengo, Uganda, Mengo Hill. The capital, 1.5 miles across, was divided into quarters corresponding to provinces, with each chief building dwellings for his wife, slaves, dependents and visitors. Large plots of land were available for planting bananas and fruits. Roads were wide and well maintained.
=Kitara and Bunyoro
=
In western Uganda, there are numerous earthworks near the Katonga River. These earthworks have been attributed to the Empire of Kitara. The most famous, Bigo bya Mugenyi, is about . The ditch was dug by cutting through of solid bedrock and earth. The earthwork rampart was about high. It is not certain whether its function was for defense or pastoral use. Little is known about the Ugandan earthworks.
Central Africa
Chad
=Kanem-Bornu
=
Kanem-Bornu's capital city, Birni N'Gazargamu, may have had a population of 200,000. It had four mosques, which could hold up to 12,000 worshippers. It was surrounded by a wall more than in circumference. Many large streets extended from the esplanade and connected to 660 roads. The main buildings were built with red brick. Other buildings were built with straw and adobe.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
=Kongo
=
With a population of more than 30,000, Mbanza Congo was the capital of the Kingdom of Kongo. The city sat atop a cliff, with a river running below through a forested valley. The king's dwelling was described as an enclosure, a mile-and-a-half in extent, with walled pathways, courtyard, gardens, decorated huts, and palisades. An early explorer described it as looking like a Labyrinth#Cretan labyrinth, Cretan labyrinth.
=Kuba
=
The capital of the Kuba Kingdom was surrounded by a fence. Inside the fence were roads, a walled royal palace, and urban buildings. The palace was rectangular and in the center of the city.
=Luba
=
The Luba Empire, Luba tended to cluster in small villages, with rectangular houses facing a single street. ''Kilolo'', patrilineal chieftains, headed the local village government, under the protection of the king. Cultural life centered around the ''kitenta'', the royal compound, which later came to be a permanent capital. The kitenta drew artists, poets, musicians and craftsmen, spurred by royal and court patronage.
=Lunda
=
Musumba the capital of the Kingdom of Lunda, was from the Kasai River, in open woodland, between two rivers apart. The city was surrounded by fortified earthen ramparts and dry moats. The compound of the ''Mwato Yamvo'' (sovereign ruler) was surrounded by large fortifications of double-layered tree, or wood, ramparts. Musumba had multiple courtyards with designated functions, straight roads, and public squares. Its cleanliness was noted by European observers.
Mozambique
=Maravi
=
The Maravi people built bridges (''uraro'') of bamboo because of changing river depths. Bamboo was placed parallel to each other and tied together by bark (''maruze''). One end of the bridge would be tied to a tree. The bridge would curve downward.
Zambia
=Eastern Lunda
=
The Eastern Lunda dwelling of the Kazembe was described as containing fenced roads a mile long. The enclosing walls were made of grass, 12 to 13 span (unit), span in height. The enclosed roads led to a rectangular hut opened on the west side. In the center was a wooden base with a statue on top of about 3 span in height.
Southern Africa
Madagascar
The Southeast Asian origins of the first settlers of Madagascar are reflected in the island's architecture, typified by rectangular dwellings topped with peaked roofs and often built on short stilts. Coastal dwellings, generally made of plant materials, are more like those of East Africa; those of the central highlands tend to be constructed in cob or brick. The introduction of brick-making, by European missionaries in the 19th century, led to the emergence of a distinctly Malagasy architectural style that blends the norms of traditional wooden aristocratic homes with European details.
In the mid-2nd millennium CE, the
megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
funerary monuments of Madagascar were constructed amid the History of Madagascar#Rise of the great kingdoms, emergent period of the Merina Kingdom. Some of the megaliths remain utilized by Malagasy language, Malagasy-speakers for funerary practices (e.g., ceremony of turning the dead) in present-day.
Namibia
The fortress of ǁKhauxaǃnas, built by the Oorlam in southeastern Namibia, included a wall that was in length and in height. It was built with stone slabs and displays features of both the Zimbabwean and Transvaal-Free-State styles of stone construction.
South Africa
=Sotho-Tswana
=
Sotho–Tswana peoples, Sotho–Tswana architecture represents the other stone-building tradition of southern Africa, centered in the transvaal, highveld north and south of the Vaal. Numerous large stonewalled enclosures and stone-house foundations have been found in the region. Tswana, the capital of the ''Kwena'' (ruler), was a stone-walled town as large as the capital of Eastern Lunda.
The Tswana lived in city states with stone walls and complex sociopolitical structures that they built in the 1300s or earlier. These cities had populations of up to 20,000 people, which at the time rivalled Cape Town in size.
=Zulu and Nguni
=
Zulu Architecture was constructed with more perishable materials. Dome-shaped huts typically come to mind when one thinks of Zulu people, Zulu dwellings, but later on their design evolved into dome over cylinder-shaped walls. Zulu capital cities were elliptical in plan. The exterior was lined with a durable wood palisade. Domed huts, in rows of 6 to 8, stood just inside the palisade. In the center was the kraal, used by the king to examine his soldiers, hold cattle, or conduct ceremonies. It was an empty circular area at the center of the capital, enclosed by a less durable interior palisade, compared to the exterior. The entrance to the city was opposite to the fortified royal enclosure called the ''Isigodlo''.
Zimbabwe
=Mapungubwe
=
Mapungubwe is considered the most socially complex society in southern Africa and the first southern African culture to display economic differentiation. The elite lived separately in a mountain settlement made of sandstone. It was the precursor to Great Zimbabwe. Large amounts of dirt were carried to the top of the hill. At the bottom of the hill was a natural amphitheater, and at the top an elite graveyard. There were only two pathways to the top, one following a narrow steep cleft along the side of the hill of which observers at the top had a clear view.
=Great Zimbabwe
=
Great Zimbabwe was the largest medieval city in sub-Saharan Africa. It was constructed and expanded for more than 300 years in a local style that eschewed rectilinearity for flowing curves. Neither the first nor the last of some 300 similar complexes located on the Zimbabwean plateau, Great Zimbabwe is set apart by the large scale of its structures. Its most formidable edifice, commonly referred to as the Great Enclosure, has dressed stone walls as high as extending for approximately , making it the largest ancient structure south of the
Sahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
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. Houses within the enclosure were circular and constructed of
wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...
, with conical thatched roofs.
=Torwa State
=
Khami was the capital of the Torwa State. It was the successor to Great Zimbabwe and where the techniques of Great Zimbabwe were further refined and developed. Elaborate walls were constructed by connecting carefully cut stones to form terraced hills.
Modern architecture
Ethiopia
External influences
In the early modern period, Ethiopia's absorption of diverse new influences—such as Baroque, Arab, Turkish and Gujarati Indian styles—began with the arrival of Portuguese Society of Jesus, Jesuit missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries. Portuguese soldiers had initially come in the mid-16th century as allies to aid Ethiopia in Ethiopian-Adal War, its fight against Adal, and the Jesuits came hoping to convert the country.
Some Turkish influence may have entered the country during the late 16th century during Ethiopia's war with the Ottoman Empire (see Habesh), which resulted in an increased building of fortresses and castles. Ethiopia, naturally hard to defensible because of its numerous amba (geology), ambas or flat-topped mountains and rugged terrain, gained little tactical use from these structures, in contrast to advantages they bestowed when placed on the flat terrain of Europe and other areas; and so Ethiopia had not nurtured the tradition. Castle building, especially around the Lake Tana region, began with the reign of Sarsa Dengel; and subsequent emperors maintained the tradition, eventually resulting in the creation of the ''Fasil Ghebbi'' (royal enclosure of castles) in the newly founded capital, Gondar (1635).
Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia, Susenyos (r. 1606-1632) converted to Catholicism in 1622 and attempted to make it the state religion, declaring it as such from 1624 until his abdication. During this time, he employed Arab, Gujarati (brought by the Jesuits), Jesuit and local masons, some of whom were Beta Israel, and adopted their styles. With the reign of his son Fasilides of Ethiopia, Fasilides, most of these foreigners were expelled, although some of their architectural styles were absorbed into the prevailing Ethiopian architectural style. This style of the Gondarine dynasty would persist throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, especially, and influenced modern 19th-century-and-later styles.
Europeans and European influences
Afrikaner
Cape Dutch architecture is traditional Afrikaner architecture and is one of the most distinctive types of settler architecture in the world. It was developed during the century-and-a-half that the Cape was a Dutch colony. Even by the end of that period, the early 19th-century, the colony was inhabited by fewer than fifty thousand people, spread over an area roughly the size of the United Kingdom. The Cape Dutch–style buildings showed a remarkable consistency and were clearly related to rural architecture in northwestern Europe but equally clearly having its own unmistakable African character and features.
Colonial fortifications in West Africa
Early European colonies on the West African coast built large forts, as can be seen at Elmina Castle, Cape Coast Castle, Osu Castle, Christiansborg, Fort Jesus, and elsewhere. These were usually plain, with little ornamentation, but with more adornment at Dixcove Fort. Other embellishments were gradually accreted, with the style inspiring later buildings such as Lamu Fort and the stone palace of Kumasi.
Eclecticism
European artists in the 18th century would go out to Africa and the Middle East in hopes of finding new inspiration to include in their art. These travels became common and changed political and cultural relations between Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. By the late 19th century, most buildings reflected the fashionable European eclecticism and pastisched Mediterranean, or even Northern European, styles. Examples of colonial towns from this era survive at Saint-Louis, Senegal, Saint-Louis, Grand-Bassam, Swakopmund, Cape Town, Luanda. A few buildings were pre-fabricated in Europe and shipped over for erection. This European tradition continued well into the 20th century, with the construction of European-style manor houses, such as Shiwa Ng'andu in what is now Zambia, or the Boer homesteads in South Africa, and with many town buildings.
Modernism
The effect of modern architecture began to be felt in the 1920s and 1930s. Le Corbusier designed several never-built schemes for Algeria, including ones for Nemours and for the reconstruction of Algiers. Elsewhere, Steffen Ahrends was active in South Africa, and Ernst May in Nairobi and Mombasa.
Eritrea
Italian futurist architecture heavily influenced the designs of Asmara. Planned villages were constructed in Libya and Italian East Africa, including the new town of Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli, all utilising modern designs.
After 1945, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew extended their work on British schools into Ghana, and also designed the University of Ibadan. The reconstruction of Algiers offered more opportunities, with Cathédrale du Sacré-Cœur d'Alger, Sacred Heart Cathedral of Algiers, and universities by Oscar Niemeyer, Kenzo Tange, , and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. But modern architecture in this sense largely remained the preserve of European architects until the 1960s, one notable exception being in South Africa, which built homes inspired by Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.
Morocco
Elie Azagury became the first Morocco, Moroccan modernist architect in the 1950s. The —at first led by Michel Écochard, director of urban planning under the French Protectorate in Morocco, French Protectorate—was active building public housing in the Hay Mohammadi, Hay Mohammedi neighborhood of Casablanca that provided a "culturally specific living tissue" for laborers and migrants Rural flight, from the countryside. Sémiramis (Casablanca), Sémiramis, (Honeycomb), and Carrières Centrales were some of the first examples of this Vernacular Modernism. Carrières Centrales was the first project to employ the 8x8 grid associated with GAMMA.
=1953 CIAM
=
At the 1953 Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne, ''Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture'' Moderne (CIAM), Écochard presented, along with Georges Candilis, the work of ATBAT-Afrique—the Africa branch of , founded in 1947 by figures including Le Corbusier, Vladimir Bodiansky, and André Wogenscky. It was a study of Casablanca's Shanty town, bidonvilles entitled "Habitat for the Greatest Number." It argued against doctrine, arguing that architects must consider local culture and climate in their designs. This generated great debate among modernist architects around the world and eventually Team 10, provoked a schism.
=Post-independence
=
The French-Moroccan architect Jean-François Zevaco built experimental modernist works in Morocco. Abdeslam Faraoui, Patrice de Mazières, and Mourad Ben Embarek were also notable modernist architects in Morocco.
Post-colonial architecture
A number of new cities were built following the end of colonialism, while others were greatly expanded. Perhaps the best known example is that of Abidjan, where the majority of buildings were still designed by high-profile non-African architects. In Yamoussoukro, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro is an example of a desire for monumentality in these new cities, but Arch 22 in the old The Gambia, Gambian capital of Banjul displays the same bravado.
Experimental designs have also appeared, most notably the Eastgate Centre, Harare, Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe. With an advanced form of natural air-conditioning, this building was designed to respond precisely to Harare's climate and needs, rather than import less suitable designs. Neo-vernacular architecture continues, for instance with the Great Mosque of Niono or Hassan Fathy's New Gourna.
Other notable structures of recent years have been some of the world's largest dams. The Aswan Dam, Aswan High Dam and Akosombo Dam hold back the world's largest reservoir (water), reservoirs. In recent years, there has also been renewed bridge building in many nations, while the Trans-Gabon Railway is perhaps the last of the great railways to be constructed.
Traditional revival
The revival of interest in traditional styles can be traced to
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
in the early 19th century. This had spread to Algiers and Morocco by the early 20th century, from which time colonial buildings across the continent began to consist of pastiches of traditional African architecture, the Jamia Mosque (Kenya), Jamia Mosque in Nairobi being a typical example. In some cases, architects attempted to mix local and European styles, such as at Bagamoyo.
See also
* ArchiAfrika
* List of World Heritage Sites in Africa