Bandiagara () is a small town and urban commune in the

Mopti Region Mopti (Fula language, Fulfulde: 𞤁𞤭𞥅𞤱𞤢𞤤 𞤃𞤮𞥅𞤩𞤼𞤭𞥅, transliterated ''Diiwal Moobti'') is the fifth administrative region of Mali, covering 79,017 km2. Its capital is the city of Mopti. During the Mali War, ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. The name translates roughly to "large eating bowl"—referring to the communal bowl meals are served in. Mainly on its

Bandiagara Escarpment The Bandiagara Escarpment (, ) is a sandstone cliff in the Dogon country of Mali. It rises about above the lower sandy flats to the south, and has a length of approximately . The area of the escarpment is inhabited today by the Dogon people. ...

it has about 2,000 speakers of the vibrant

Bangime language Bangime (; , or, in full, ) is a language isolate spoken by 3,500 ethnic Dogon in seven villages in southern Mali, who call themselves the ("hidden people"). Bangande is the name of the ethnicity of this community and their population grows a ...

, an isolate used mainly as an anti-language; it has the highest point of the country. Bandiagara is 65 km east-southeast of

Mopti Mopti (Fulfulde: Mobti) is a town and an urban commune in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. The town is the capital of the Mopti Cercle and the Mopti Region. Situated 630 km northeast of Bamako, the town lies at the confluence of the ...

. A seasonal river, the Yamé, flows in a northeasterly direction through the town. The population includes a number of different ethnic groups including Dogons,

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

and Bambaras.*.

History

Bandiagara is said to have been founded in 1770 by Nangabanu Tembély, a Dogon hunter. In 1864, Tidiani Tall,

El Hadj Umar Tall Hadji Oumarûl Foutiyou Tall (ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd al-Fūtī Ṭaʿl, , – 1864 CE), born in Futa Tooro, present-day Senegal, was a Senegalese Tijani sufi Toucouleur Islamic scholar and military commander who founded the short-lived Touc ...

's nephew and successor, chose Bandiagara as capital of the

Toucouleur empire The Tukulor Empire (; ; ; also known as the Tijaniyya Jihad state or the Segu Tukulor or the Tidjaniya Caliphate or the Umarian State) (1861–1890) was an Islamic state in the mid-nineteenth century founded by Elhadj Oumar Foutiyou Tall of the ...

. It is the birthplace of Malian authors

Amadou Hampâté Bâ Amadou Hampâté Bâ (, 1900/1901 – 15 May 1991) was a Malian writer, historian, and ethnologist. He was an influential figure in the twentieth-century African literature and cultural heritage. A champion of Africa's oral tradition and tr ...

, Madina Ly-Tall and Yambo Ouologuem. In the music video for the song ''Reset'' by Three Trapped Tigers it is shown as the location of an alien rune. As of 2018 the town remained insecure with attacks on hotels used by UN staff being reported. Nine soldiers were killed and nine wounded in an attack on a police station on February 25, 2021. Image:Bandiagara - Maison toucouleurs.jpg, The 19th century ''Maison toucouleurs'' in Bandiagara. Part of the

World Heritage Site in Mali File:Bandiagara2.jpg, Market stalls in town File:Bandiagara - Dogon Men (6458932).jpg, Dogon men File:Bandiagara-La Résidence (AOF).jpg, Bandiagara in the early 1900s

References

*This article was originally based on the corresponding article in the French Wikipedia, accessed April 9, 2005. Additional reference was made to this article on Dec. 14, 2006. *B.O. Oloruntimeehin. The Segu Tukulor Empire. Humanities Press, New York (1972). SBN 391002066
UNESCO site about the Cliff of BandiagaraDogon Country
{{Authority control Toucouleur Empire Communes of Mopti Region

History

See also

References