User:Hanfei Xiao/Sudano-Sahelian architecture

Sudano-Sahelian architecture

Sudano-Sahelian architecture refers to a range of similar indigenous architectural styles common to the African peoples of the Sahel and Sudanian grassland (geographical) regions of West Africa, south of the Sahara, but north of the fertile forest regions of the coast. The special geographical environment has caused the lack of stone and arbor resources here, and also caused this area to be mostly built with earthen houses in history.

This style is characterized by the use of mudbricks and 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 probably come from Jenné-Jeno around 250 BC, where the first evidence of permanent mudbrick architecture in the region is found. The Sudanese mosques are also monumental reflections of the unique synthesis between the kind of Islam which penetrated from across the Sahara and the indigenous cultures of West Africa - a synthesis nurtured in the Savannah environment.

Although African architecture has always been considered to be primeval, buildings in different regions do not share similar styles. Some of them even have significance beyond reinforcing political and social structure. As a building style that reflected the importance of religion, Sudano Sahelian architecture emphasized the building center, boundary, path, direction and area.

History

For centuries, the people of inland western Africa have been building using mud brick, earthen plaster, and palm wood. It was not until the spread of Islam, however, that a unique recognizable style flourished. Islamic conquest of Africa brought with it trade, scholarship, and cultural diffusion via travel. The Islamic kingdoms in the region such as the Mali, Songhay, and Macina were uniquely positioned to benefit from trade routes, being between the mediterranean coast to the North and the Atlantic coast to the West and South. Here, cities like Djenne and Timbuktu experienced golden ages due to an influx of commerce, bringing with it a desire to expand and build.

Timbuktu was known by the 11th century as an important center for learning in Africa, and is home now to one of the oldest universities in Africa. Travelers from across the Muslim world would stop and browse the private library collections of the city, as well as worship in its mosques, built in the signature style now known as Sudano-Sahelian.

Mud architecture building techniques

Buildings classified as Sudano-Sahelian architecture use mud bricks, and mixture of clay and hay or straw for adhesive mortar and a plaster finish. Thick palm wood supporting beams are inserted into the mud then protrude from walls. The beams are dual purpose, used to reinforce the structure, and as scaffolding during construction and later for annual repairs. This construction method gives Sudano-Sahelian architecture its distinct look, which stands out as thorny monolithic structures in a flat expansive region.

The architectural materials are all found local to the region. Clay is first excavated and pulverized, and then brought to a mason. There, it is hydrated, worked thoroughly, and mixed with fibrous substances (straw and/or earth from termite mounds). It may then be piled up while still wet, without further shaping, or pressed onto lattices made of wood or fascines. Coarse lumps of the material may be placed on top of one another, or it may be cast in molds of various sizes into bricks, which are dried and then stacked atop one another with damp mud. This basic material takes many forms ---- farmhouses, barns, outer walls, and bachelor houses in the countryside, as well as urban houses, palaces, and mosques in the towns.

The traditional earth building construction technology has a particular name called “banco” in West Africa, meaning a wet-mud process similar with the concept of coil pottery. When banco technology continues to be the criterion for dwellings in the savannah area, an alternative method is to use earthen brick consequently with wet mud. The brick is cast into rectangular shape and dried in the sun.

One symbol of the Sudanese architecture is the man-made, conical earthen pillars. Being combined with the building itself uniquely, they often project horizontally to the outside like engaged pillars. Being so omnipresent in the vernacular buildings, they can be found singularly or clustered at multiple entrances. As a hallmark of the Sudano Sahelian architecture, they mark the indication of continuity and productivity.

Great Mud Mosque of Djenné

Mosque

Mainly built for Islamic mosques, the vernacular buildings of sudano-sahelian architecture succeed to the formal and spatial characteristics of Dogon house and original mosques from Medina as well as physical features and external ornaments of Dogon temples. Using earth building technologies, the mosques were constructed into typical combined forms which corresponded to the shape of the Dogons’ house.

The Djenné Mosque was considered to be the most successful example of Sudano-Sahel architecture, as well as a cultural focal point of the city of Djenné. It is the primary landmark in the city and a symbol of culture. The Djenné Mosque was built mainly with mud, like other examples of the Sudano-Sahelian style, and people of Djenné would gather together to re-plaster the mosque once a year, in a tradition that honors the history of the mosque. Local legend states that the mosque was first built around the late 12th century, under the ruling of the local king Koi Konboro, later converted to Islam in CE 1180.^{[citation needed]}

In 1818, the city of Djenné was occupied by a jihad, instigated by Fulani Muslim Cheikou Amadou, which quickly spread through the Niger Inland Delta. He soon founded the Macina Empire and the Djenné became its political administrative center. During Amadou's reign, the mosque suffered heavy damage due to deliberate neglect.^{[citation needed]} Though he could not officially order the destruction of the mosque because of its status as Islamic architecure, he disrupted the building’s maintenance system which caused the building to be eroded by rain, ultimately breaking down due to its primarily mud construction. It would not be until the French conquest of the area in 1893 that interest in restoring the mosque would grow.

In 1906, reconstruction of the Great Mosque was initiated, with teams of local designers, masons, and engineers, and oversight by the French . According to Jean-Louis Bourgeois, the author of The History of the Great Mosque of Djenné (1987), the modern structure of the mosque was designed and engineered by the local masons of Djenné, and was finished in 1907 under chief Ismaila Traoré along with local laborers. Since then, the tradition of yearly maintenance has been continued. Historically, the maintenance was coordinated by the town elders and publicly enacted in March or April when the city’s masons became available. Gradually, the Djenné Mosque became more than just a religious gathering place or historical site. It serves as a cultural landmark that was designed, built, maintained, and more importantly, protected by its community. It will always be remembered and cherished by its residents.

The sources on The Djenné Mosque were rare. In 1828 the French traveler René Caillié was the only European to see it before it became to a ruin. In 1895 another French journalist Felix Dubois collected an oral documentation about the ruins, which had a question on its liability.

Myth of architectural technology

Scholars, architects and historians refer to the Andalusian Abuishakui Brahim Arsahiri, who was brought back from Mecca to Mali in the early 14th century to enrich the history of medieval West African architecture. But historical evidence destroys the myth of Arsahiri's influence. Not only did he settle in the area before the arrival of North African merchants and clergy, but the introduction of Muslim settlements and mosques, and the pilgrimage of West African rulers all that he pioneered Sudan architecture. I proved it. West African mosque styles are characterized by Saharan mosques and traditional African architecture and religion, rather than the monumental mosques of Spain and North Africa.