📷 Kwaku Griffin · Pexels

Where in the world

Mali

Djenné

Mali Empire · Mali

Field notes

civilizations: Mali Empire
types: City
occupied: 250 CE — 1,600 CE
country: Mali

The site

Rising from the Inland Niger Delta of central Mali, Djenné is a mud-brick town whose fortunes were built by the trans-Saharan trade in salt, gold and more that flowed toward Timbuktu. It became a celebrated center of Islamic scholarship and is famed for its distinctive adobe architecture. Just south lies Djenné-Djenno, among the oldest known towns in sub-Saharan Africa, anchoring this UNESCO World Heritage Site deep in West Africa's past.

Nearby sites

~2 km

Djenné-Djenno

~145 km

Bandiagara Escarpment