Jenne-jeno is the site of the oldest known
settlement in sub-Saharan Africa, dating from
the third century B.C. Many scholars previously
thought that complex social organization did not
exist here before the arrival of Islamic traders in
the seventh and eighth centuries. However,
archaeological expeditions conducted in the
1970’s clearly showed that indigenous trade
networks and social structures were in place
starting from as early as 200 B.C. The old town of
Djenne, Jenne-jeno, is located on an island in the
inland Niger Delta of Mali. It was founded in 800
A.D. and at this time already had about ten
thousand inhabitants. Between 800 and 1000,
Jenne-Jeno was a thriving area, owing to the
combination of rich rice-growing soils, levees for
pasture in the flood season, deep basin for
pasture in the dry season, and access to major
river channels and the entire system of inland
trade routes. Djenne later became an important
Islamic cultural center, home to one of the
largest mosques in the Sudanese building style,
erected in the 13th century, and today a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. After 1400, the town
gradually declined, while the present-day
Djenne, little more than one mile away, was
already founded in about 1250.
- (PF.5489)
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