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Djenné-Djenno
Djenné-Djenno (also Jenne-Jeno; ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Niger River Valley in the country of Mali. Literally translated to "ancient Djenné", it is the original site of both Djenné and Mali and is considered to be among the oldest urbanized centers and the best-known archaeology site in sub-Saharan Africa. This archaeological site is located about from the modern town, and is believed to have been involved in long distance trade and possibly the domestication of African rice. The site is believed to exceed in area; however this is yet to be confirmed with extensive survey work. With the help of archaeological excavations mainly by Roderick and Susan McIntosh, the site is known to have been occupied from 250 BC to 900 AD. The city is believed to have been abandoned and moved where the current city is located due to the spread of Islam and the building of the Great Mosque of Djenné. Previously, it was assumed that advanced trade networks and co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandé Peoples
The Mandé peoples are ethnic groups who are speakers of Mande languages. Various Mandé speaking ethnic groups are found particularly toward the west of West Africa. The Mandé Speaking languages are divided into two primary groups: East Mandé and West Mandé. The Mandinka or Manding (Malinke, Bambara and Dioula), a western branch of the Mandé, are credited with the founding of the largest ancient West African empires. Other large Mandé speaking ethnicities include the Soninke and Susu as well as smaller ethnic groups such as the Ligbi, Vai, and Bissa. Mandé speaking people inhabit various environments, from coastal rainforests to the sparse Sahel. They have a wide range of cuisines, cultures, and beliefs, and are organized mainly by their language group. Today they are predominantly Muslim and follow a caste system. Islam has played a central role in identifying the Mandé speaking people who originate and live in the Sahel regions the Mandinka and Soninke who ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susan McIntosh
Susan McIntosh is an American anthropologist and archaeologist and has been the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Anthropology at Rice University since 2012. She is known for her work at Djenné-Djenno and for her advocacy against looting of cultural artifacts. Education McIntosh began her undergraduate studies at Wellesley College and received her BA in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973. After graduate studies at the University of Cambridge and University of California, Santa Barbara she received her MA and PhD, respectively. Her doctoral dissertation was based on field work at Djenné-Djenno in Mali. Career McIntosh is the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Anthropology and interim dean of the School of Social Sciences at Rice University, where she has taught since 1981. She has co-authored or edited archaeological monographs on field work 19802018 at the sites of Djenné-Djenno (Mali), Sincu Bara (Senegal), and Cubalel (Senegal). In 1999 then-President B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Djenné
Djenné ( Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrative centre of the Djenné Cercle, one of the eight subdivisions of the Mopti Region. The commune includes ten of the surrounding villages and in 2009 had a population of 32,944. The history of Djenné is closely linked with that of Timbuktu. Between the 15th and 17th centuries much of the trans-Saharan trade in goods such as salt, gold, and slaves that moved in and out of Timbuktu passed through Djenné. Both towns became centres of Islamic scholarship. Djenné's prosperity depended on this trade and when the Portuguese established trading posts on the African coast, the importance of the trans-Saharan trade and thus of Djenné declined. The town is famous for its distinctive adobe architecture, most notably the Great Mosque which was built in 1907 on the site of an earli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, and Dhar Tagant are the sites which compose Tichitt culture. The cliffs were inhabited by farmers and pastoralists starting at around 4500 BP and lasted to around 2300 BP, or approximately 2500 to 500 BCE. This area is one of the oldest known archaeological occupation sites in the western part of Africa. About 500 stone settlements littered the region in the former savannah of the Sahara. In addition to herding livestock (e.g., cattle, sheep, goats), its inhabitants hunted, fished, collected wild grain, and grew bulrush millet. The inhabitants and creators of these settlements during these periods thought to have been ancestors of the Soninke people. Geography The climate of the Dhar Tichitt region today is very arid and hot. However, thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, and was based in the capital city of Koumbi Saleh. Complex societies, some based on trans-Saharan trade in salt and gold had existed in the region for centuries at the time of the empire's formation. The introduction of the camel to the western Sahara in the 3rd century AD served as a major catalyst for the transformative social changes that resulted in the empire's formation. By the time of the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century the camel had changed the ancient, more irregular trade routes into a trade network running from Morocco to the Niger River. The Ghana Empire grew rich from this increased trans-Saharan trade in gold and slaves and salt, allowing for larger urban centers to develop. The traffic furthermore encourag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta (or the Oil Rivers), into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded by the Nile and the Congo River. Its main tributary is the Benue River. Etymology The Niger has different names in the different languages of the region: * Fula: ''Maayo Jaaliba'' * Manding: ''Jeliba'' or ''Joliba'' "great river" * Tuareg: ''Egerew n-Igerewen'' "river of rivers" * Songhay: ''Isa'' "the river" * Zarma: ''Isa Beeri'' "great river" * Hausa: ''Kwara'' *Nupe: ''Èdù'' * Yoruba: ''Ọya'' "named after the Yoruba goddess Ọya, who is believed to embody the ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sub-Saharan African
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African countries and territories that are situated fully in that specified region, the term may also include polities that only have part of their territory located in that region, per the definition of the United Nations (UN). This is considered a non-standardized geographical region with the number of countries included varying from 46 to 48 depending on the organization describing the region (e.g. UN, WHO, World Bank, etc.). The African Union uses a different regional breakdown, recognizing all 55 member states on the continent - grouping them into 5 distinct and standard regions. The term serves as a grouping counterpart to North Africa, which is instead grouped with the definition of MENA (i.e. Middle East–North Africa) as it is part of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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