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Early African Architecture/Ruins

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Earl
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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Early African Architecture/Ruins
    Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 00:36
Nubia










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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 00:37
Gao, west africa




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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 00:38
Segou, Mali


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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 00:42
Timbuktu


















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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 00:50
Traditional house in Mahalapye, Botswana 



Diverse Ghanaian homes



Akan compund



Timbuktu





Hausa architecture





Xhosa huts





Swahili






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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 00:54
Lalibela church, Ethiopia



Somalia



Nubia











Nubia














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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 01:04
Zanzibar



Nubian houses


















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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 01:10
Nubian houses





Nubian mosque



Nubian houses



Ancient Zeila



Medieval Nubian city of Suakin


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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 01:18
Medieval Dongola ruins in Nubia





Domed tomb in Dongola



Dongola ruins





Walata in west africa



Inside a Walata mosque



Livestock exit



Walata houses 



Walata living room 



Ibn Battuta never failed to mention the well built homes, city planning, and water preservation systems of Walata. It was a crucial city in the trans saharan trade.



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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 01:38
Pre Axumite ruins of the city of Qohatio, dating back to the 5th millenium BC



Carved wooden Swahili door



One of eight Zimbabwe birds





In western part of Kenya (Nyanza Province), there are a number of old villages and settlement sites marked by dry stone walling. These settlements are referred to locally as 'Ohingni', a name that connotes an idea of a refuge in the wilderness. The 'Ohingni' literally refers to a "frightening dense forest" in Dholuo language, a Nilotic group who occupy the region. A total of 138 sites containing 521 structures exist. These are concentrated in the Kadem-Kanyamkago areas, Karungu, Gwasi and Kaksingiri Lake headlands, and in Kanyamwa and Kanyidoto areas. In these areas, the structures are distributed in particular spots giving a first sight impression of a clustered distribution pattern. While the uphill stone structures have survived the vagaries of weather, the ones on the lower side have been degraded. The stone structure enclosure has walls ranging from 1.0 to 4.2 meters in height and 1.0 to 3.0 m in width, were built of loose stones and blocks without any dressing or mortar. Within the structures are interior partitions of various kinds including: small enclosures, depressions and corridors. These were used as either as cattle kraals, pens for smaller animals or garden fence structures. Archaeological record of materials found within the site goes beyond 500 years ago.











Nubia









Nubia


Saint Damianos, Nubia








Banganarti ruins, Nubia



Dendur temple, Nubia


Temple of Debod










Temple of Dakka








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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 01:45
Segou, Mali











Timbuktu









Segou



Djenne





Houses on an island in the Niger river


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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 01:53
Kombole Mosque


Small Dogon mosque



Mopti mosques



Kani-Kombole, a Dogon mosque, Mali



Mali mosque











Komoguel Mosque, Mopti



Tichitt-Walata



Hausa mosque



Pyramid of Amanitore



Burkina Faso


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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 03:14
Bani in northern Burkina Faso














Tomb of Amanitore, Nubia, 50 AD



The empire of the Ashanti has many well large maintained roads connecting the cities









 A description of the Oba of Benin's palace by Olfert Dapper reads as

The king's palace or court is a square, and is as large as the town of Haarlem and entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries, about as large as the Exchange at Amsterdam, but one larger than another, resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war exploits and battles..."


The palace of the Oba was much larger than that of the Ashanti king's. The city of Benin at its apex was the same size as its contemporary Lisbon, Portugal in the 17th century. Benin should not be confused with Dahomey. 


The gardens of Benin are described as follows


"This compound consisted of about a hundred houses, whose roofs
made a good blaze. Behind the buildings there
was a huge garden, which we never had time to
explore, but it must have been quite a hundred
acres, surrounded by a high red wall. It is not
unlikely that it was the walking place of the King,
and formed part of his compound
 . . ." -  Reginald H. Bacon, Benin (1897)


Abomey ruins








The palaces of Dahomey number 12 and are spread over 99 acres in the heart of its capital, Abomey. They could house 8000 people. 


















Veranda










Religious ceremony in Abomey in 1850.




Segou
















Nubia houses




A fine example of the "nubian vault" architecture
















Nubia




Nubian houses




Sennar, Sudan. The Funj kingdom.




Nubia churches




Nubia




Mali




Sankore mosque courtyard




House and carpet in Djenne


Timbuktu streets






Mopti




Tiebele, Burkina Faso










Sidama home, southern Ethiopia




Tigray home, Ethiopia




Hidamo house, Ertitrea




Old Segou mosuqe


Las Khorey ruins, Somalia




Inside Djenne mosque, Mali




Hausa Architecture








Djenne










Timbuktu bread baking oven




Djenne






Djenne




Djenne




Djenne




Timbuktu




Dahomey




Bondoukou in what is now the Ivory Coast




Sketch of Benin city




Igbo woman's house




Inside of an Igbo house




Sierra Leone compound




Igbo watchtower




Bamikele Bamjoun palace




Ndebele houses






Lalibela church




Other Ethiopian stone churches






Another Malinese building




Fanti (Ghana) houses




Sierra Leone house




Iddah (An Igala town in central Migeria) king's counrt




Dogon cliff houses




Dogon homes




Dogon Shrine




Igbo shrine






Naqa near Meroe




Dajo ruins, Niger 




Dogon ruins




Gurunsi homes




Igbo chiefs home





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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 03:42
Igbo chief house




Moving away from the north and toward the Bende region of Abia state in the south we see more examples of multi-storeyed buildings from traditional African architecture. The building was built with two-stories and a set of stairs. This was probably owned by a wealthy trader.




Woodpanel inside house on ground floor




Upstairs balcony




Nnobi Anambra




Owere people





Ngwo people house diagram  





The capital of one of the Funj mekdoms, which ruled between the 17th-19th centuries. Al Khandaq, on the left side of the Nile, had in the past been an important junction for trade routes to Egypt. The site includes the castle, the town and the cemetery. The castle was built on a high area facing the Nile, its walls were battlemented and had towers. The material used are stones, mud brick and mud (jaloos).

 

The town, with its two-storey mud-brick houses, extended for nearly half a mile along the river and was surrounded by mud wall whose remains were visible in the early 20th century. The interior decoration include a keel arch, tri-lobed arched windows beside the wall recessed shelves.

 

The old cemetery lies to the north of the town, and comprises three conical qubbas (domed tombs) of stone and mud, and remains of rectangular structures which might had been small mosques, as there are small mihrab niches indicating the qibla.direction. These were built of mud-mortared stone.

 

No roofs can be seen today, nor evidence of the material used for roofing, but in accordance with general practice in the area, roofs would have been of palm leaves and logs. It was the home of many, rich merchants. It became the main port for Darfur and Kordofan caravans who chose the Nubian route to Egypt. Thus Khandaq became connected to regional and international trade along the Nile.




Building in Foumban, Cameroon




Palace of the chief of Foumban







Details of a Bamileke wall




Palace of the chief of Bali





Palace of Bandjoun on right side










Bondoukou, Ivory Coast. Residence of the religious chief Almani


House of Kofi, Akan chief of  Abengourou, Ivory Coast





Residence of the chief of Dosso, Niger



Sketch of Benin city




Ruins of Gao mosque




Malinese houses


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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 03:44



Gao mosque ruins



Edited by Askia - 18-Mar-2014 at 03:44
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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 04:01
Below is an image of a gate leading into the Yoruba town of Ketu in the Republic of Benin (formerly Dahomey). The photo is from 1909.



Djenne













Utiri, Tanzania



A town in Dahomey



Uganda



Senegal





Burkina Faso



Cameroon





Igbo house




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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 04:03
That's everything I got, hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did. Feel free to ask about anything, I'm an amateur historian. Smile
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  Quote Ollios Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 14:52
Well I thought that I knew the basics about African Architecture/History such as

Nubian Pyramids
Timbuktu
Great wall of Zimbabwe
Ethiopian church

but I admired your photos, so keep going Big smile


Ellerin Kabe'si var,
Benim Kabem İnsandır
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  Quote Askia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Mar-2014 at 17:37
Originally posted by Ollios

Well I thought that I knew the basics about African Architecture/History such as

Nubian Pyramids
Timbuktu
Great wall of Zimbabwe
Ethiopian church

but I admired your photos, so keep going Big smile



Eh, I'm all out of pics but the actual discussion of these places can go on and on. Did you know the palace at Owo had 100 courtyards, many of which dedicated to a particular spirit, the largest of which was the size of two american football fields? Or that the palace at Benin had a 7 mile long wall and 50 foot deep moat around it when it was first built? The scholars from Timbuktu had a heliocentric view of the solar system. The Haya people of Tanzania during the time of christ were producing steel of such a high quality europeans wouldn't reach the same quality until the industrial revolution. Ironworking began in sub saharan africa at least 400 years before europe or china. In Djenne the mosquito was identified as the cause of malaria, and cataract removal surgery was common. The african muslim scholars of Timbuktu were aware of the dangers of smoking. The Akan people practiced innoculation against smallpox. People in the great lakes region of africa regularly practiced a well developed process of C-sections. Using talking drums people could send complex messages from village to village over 100 miles in about 2 hours. West african war boats could be up to 80 feet long, 8 feet broad, and carry 120 armed men including hearths and a captain's quarters. About the same size as a viking longboat. There's all kinds of historical gems. 
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