Hombori

Hombori
—  Commune and town  —
Hombori
Coordinates: 15°17′N 1°42′W
Country	Mali
Region	Mopti Region
Cercle	Douentza

Hombori is a town in Mali, lying between Mopti and Gao on the slopes of the Hombori Tondo mesa. It is in the traditional region of Gourma, and the current région administrative de Mopti, Cercle of Douentza.

While the village itself has about 3,000 residents, there are 12,000 in the surrounding commune of Hombori.

Sites and fame

The town is known for its vernacular architecture of rock-built houses with narrow alleyways and tunnels. Having an average annual 24-hour temperature above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), it is one of the hottest places on earth.

The area around Hombori features rock formations including the Needles of Gami and is popular for rock climbing. Mount Hombori, Mali's highest point at 1153 meters, is also nearby.

History

Hombori is an ancient village of the Dogon people; its exact age is unknown. After the invasion of the almoravides in the 16th century, one part of the royal family of Gao established themselves in Hombori. The Songhai, now the majority population, later followed the royal refugees to this area.

Hombori remains a focus of Songhai Empire traditions but was also a strategic point for the conquest of southern Mali by the Songhai successor states.

Those local villages deeper in the hills (for example Tabi, 30 km away) were never conquered or directly colonised, and retain their traditional cultures.

The Songhai leadership were largely coopted by the French Colonial administration upon their arrival around 1900, while much of the Dogon community fled to nearby mountains, a process that had earlier begun to escape Moorish slave raids.

The religion of the community is Islam by a vast majority. Sufism and Shiism are the dominant belief systems in the area.

Some sequences of Souleymane Cissé's film, Yeelen, were shot in Hombori.

References

• Translation of French Wikipedia Article.

External links

• Project Hombori