Niani, Guinea
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Niani is a village in
Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
. It is located in the
Kankan Prefecture Kankan is a prefecture located in the Kankan Region of Guinea. The capital is Kankan Kankan ( Mandingo: Kánkàn; N’ko: ߞߊ߲ߞߊ߲߫) is the largest city in Guinea in land area, and the third largest in population, with a populati ...
of the
Kankan Region Kankan Region () is a region of Guinea located in the east of the country. It is the largest region of Guinea by area. The region has five (5) prefectures (Kankan, Kérouané, Kouroussa, Mandiana and Siguiri). It is bordered by the countries o ...
, in the east of the country. It lies on the left bank of the Sankarani River.


Geography

The village is situated in extreme eastern Guinea, on the west bank of the Sankarani River. The river is accessible all year round and rocky peaks surround the village. The village is also on the edge of the forest, which is a source of gold,
kola nut The kola nut ( Yoruba: ''obi'', Dagbani: ''guli'', Hausa: goro, Igbo: ''ọjị'', Sängö: ''gôro,'' Swahili: ''mukezu'') is the seed of certain species of plant of the genus ''Cola'', placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and ...
s,
palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...
and
ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...
.


History

Niani is often considered one of the ancient capitals of the
Mali Empire The Mali Empire (Manding languages, Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or ''Manden ...
. Some scholars believe that the village became the capital in the early 12th century after the former capital of Dioliba was abandoned. Niani is mentioned by the 16th-century traveler
Leo Africanus Johannes Leo Africanus (born al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī al-Fasī, ; – ) was an Andalusi diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later publish ...
. While some scholars believe that Kangaba was one of the capitals of the empire, others believe that Niani remained continuously the capital through the 14th to 16th centuries. 14th century Arab historian
Shihab al-Umari Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari (), commonly known as Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari or Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-‘Umārī (1301 – 1349) was an Arab historian born in Damascus. His major works include ''at-Taʾrīf bi-al-muṣ ...
reported the village as ''Nyeni'' (Niani), saying it is "the official name of Mali ... because it is the capital of the regions of this kingdom."
Griot A griot (; ; Manding languages, Manding: or (in N'Ko script, N'Ko: , or in French spelling); also spelt Djali; or / ; ) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Griots are masters of communicatin ...
s still exist in Niani today, preserving the history of the Mali Empire. Couriers left imperial Niani daily on horseback, and those who arrived from the provinces reported to the griot. Many Berber Arabs settled in Niani as a result of trans-Saharan trade. The city had at least 100,000 inhabitants in the 14th century. The emperor ('' mansa'') and his courtiers lived in Niani, which was a centre of trade and commerce. The town developed as an outlet for two main trade routes, one northward, called the '
Mande Mande may refer to: * Mandé peoples of western Africa * Mande languages, their Niger-Congo languages * Manding languages, Manding, a term covering a subgroup of Mande peoples, and sometimes used for one of them, Mandinka people, Mandinka * Garo p ...
route' (''Manding-sila''), and one southward, called the ' Sarakolle route' (''Sarakolle-sila''). Niani and other principal cities housed a garrison for the imperial army. The Mansa had great forges in Niani. The emperor
Musa I of Mali Mansa Musa (reigned ) was the ninth '' Mansa'' of the Mali Empire, which reached its territorial peak during his reign. Musa's reign is often regarded as the zenith of Mali's power and prestige, although he features less in Mandinka oral tradit ...
employed the Andalusian architect Ishak al-Tuedjin to build an audience chamber at Niani. It was "square, surmounted by a
cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...
, which he covered with plaster and decorated with arabesques in dazzling colours." 14th-century North African historian
Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...
described it as an "admirable monument". After the Mali Empire declined during the 1600s, Niani lost its importance and became a small town again. In the 1920s, archaeological excavations were carried out at Niani by Vidal and Gaillard which first identified the site. In 1965 and 1968, Guinean-Polish archaeological missions were carried out. These excavations revealed that the area around Niani was once densely populated. Archaeologists have discovered that these dwellings were widely dispersed; around the royal town, there was a host of hamlets or villages for various trade clans: smiths, fishermen and so on. As a result of archaeological studies, the Arab quarter and royal town in Niani have been identified, specifically the foundations of stone houses, the ''
mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...
'' of a mosque and the walls around the royal town. Al-Umari wrote that the buildings were made of bricks of beaten earth and that the "ceilings are made of beams and reeds. They are mostly in the shape of a cupola onicalor a camel's hump, like vaulted arches. The floors of the houses are of earth mixed with sand ... The king has a group of palaces surrounded by a circular wall." Due to Niani's latitude, such buildings required constant repair and restoration.


References

{{Authority control Populated places in Guinea