Sudano-Sahelian
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The Sudano-Sahelian (also Sudanese and the French style-Soudanais) covers an umbrella of similar architectural styles common to the Islamized peoples of the Sahel and Sudanian (geographical) regions of West Africa, south of (and within) the Sahara, but above the savanna and fertile forest regions of the coast. This style is characterized by the use of mudbricks and an adobe plaster, with large wooden-log support beams that jut out from the wall face for large buildings such as mosques or palaces. These beams also act as scaffolding for reworking, which is done at regular intervals, and involves the local community. The earliest examples of Sudano-Sahelian style likely comes from Jenné-Jeno around 250 BC, where the first evidence of permanent mudbrick architecture in the region is attested.[1]
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[edit] Difference between Savannah and Sahelian styles
The earthen architecture in the Sahel zone region is noticeably different to the building style in the neighboring savannah. The "old Sudanese" cultivators of the savannah built their compounds out of several cone-roofed houses. Here on the other hand cubic buildings with terraced roofs comprise the typical style. They lend a characteristic appearance to the close-built villages and cities. Large buildings such as mosques, representative residential and youth houses stand out in the distance. They are landmarks in a flat landscape that point to a complex society of farmers, craftsmen and merchants with a religious and political upper class.
[edit] Three Main Types
The Sudano-Sahelian architectural style itself can be broken down in to three smaller sub-styles that are typical of different ethnic groups in the region. The examples used here illustrate the construction of mosques, as the architectural style is concentrated around inland Muslim populations. These include:
- Malian - of the various Manden groups of southern and central Mali. Characterized by the Great Mosque of Djenne and the Kani-Kombole Mosque of Mali.
- Hausa-Fulani or Fortress - of the Hausa, Fulani and Zarma peoples of northern Nigeria and western Niger, and Songhai of northeastern Mali. Military aspect in construction of high protective compound walls built around a central courtyard. Minaret is the only building with support beams showing. Characterized by the Sankore Mosque of Timbuktu, the tomb of Askia in Gao Mali, and the Agadez mosque of northern Niger.
- Volta basin - of the Gur and Manden groups of Burkina Faso and northern Ghana. The most conservative of the three styles. A single courtyard, characterised by high white and black painted walls, inward curved turrets supporting an exterior wall, and a larger turret nearer the center. Characterized by the Larabanga mosque of Ghana and the Bobo-Dioulasso Grand Mosque.
The highlights of Sudano-Sahelian mosque architecture are without doubt to be found in the mid-Niger region between Ségou and Gao with the inner delta as the center. They outdo all other west Sudanese regions in terms of the number and quality of sacred buildings.[2] They have been extensively inventorised by Archnet.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] Further reading
- Aradeon, Suzan B. (1989), "Al-Sahili: the historian's myth of architectural technology transfer from North Africa", Journal des Africanistes 59: 99–131, http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jafr_0399-0346_1989_num_59_1_2279.
- Bourgeois, Jean-Louis; Pelos, Carollee (photographer); Davidson, Basil (historical essay) (1989), Spectacular vernacular : the adobe tradition, New York: Aperture Foundation, ISBN 0893813915. Second edition published in 1996.
- Prussin, Labelle (1986), Hatumere: Islamic design in West Africa, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0520030044.
- Schutyser, S. (photographer); Dethier, J.; Gruner, D. (2003), Banco, Adobe Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta, Milan: 5 Continents Editions, ISBN 88-7439-051-3.
