Africa: Ancient cities УАДАН / Ouadane

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PHOTO: Philippe Stoop 20°55'51.58"С 11°37'21.30"З

Основанные в XI-XII вв. для обслуживания караванов, пересекающих Сахару, эти торговые и религиозные центры стали важными средоточиями исламской культуры. Они сумели сохранить городскую застройку, сложившуюся в XII-XVI вв. Обычно дома с внутренними дворами концентрировались вдоль узких улиц, окружая мечеть с квадратным минаретом. Все это иллюстрирует типичный жизненный уклад, основанный на культуре кочевничества народов западной Сахары.

 

 

Ouadane is a town in north western Mauritania, lying on the Adrar Plateau, north east of Chinguetti. It was founded in 1147 by the Berber tribe Idalwa el Hadji and soon became an important caravan and trading centre. A Portuguese trading post was established in 1487, but the town declined from the sixteenth century. The old town, a World Heritage Site, though in ruins, is still substantially intact, while a small modern settlement lies outside its gate. Founded in the 11th and 12th centuries to serve the caravans crossing the Sahara, these trading and religious centres became focal points of Islamic culture. They have managed to preserve an urban fabric that evolved between the 12th and 16th centuries. Typically, houses with patios crowd along narrow streets around a mosque with a square minaret. They illustrate a traditional way of life centred on the nomadic culture of the people of the western Sahara. 

 

THE  SAHARA GEOGLYPHS

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