kilwa kisiwani mosque <800AD> #historyxt
-swahili
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/144/gallery/
coral stone
Fakr ad-Din Mosque, Sultanate of Mogadishu <1000AD>
#historyxt
coral, marble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fakr_ad-Din_Mosque
Gedi , <1400s>
#historyxt
coral
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5501/
songo mnara <1300s>
#historyxt
https://whc.unesco.org/?cid=31&l=en&id_site=144&gallery=1&index=25&maxrows=12
lalibela <1100AD>
#historyxt
rock-Hewn
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/18/gallery/
debre Damo <550AD>
#historyxt
aksumite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debre_Damo 
#historyxt
parts of the shona-zimababwe style https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/979770512288239617
#historyxt

and this https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/979772307848736769
Fasil Ghebbi <1632>
nubian, baroque -<a mix of arab and european>
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/19/gallery/
meroe <800BC>
nubian, kush
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1336/gallery/
Napata <1500BC>
nubia, kush
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1073/ 
all unesco sites covered were in this area
#historyxt
brief on ghana <700AD> and mali<1230> #historyxt
possibly changed construction material after moving further south as the sahara extended south
the sites at dhar-tichitt date back 2000BC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhar_Tichitt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/981245123643273216
this building was first a throne room, then church, then a mosque

Old Dongola, makuria -christian nubia 700AD, sudan

the "older" nubia <3,500BC> is up in this thread 👆somewhere #historyxt
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/652/
Gondershe - possibly built during the ajuran sultanate 1300s

somalia
#historyxt
ruins of the palace and mosques of Ouara -chad<circa 1600AD>
one of the relatively short lived and weakest sudanic empires<vs sennar and kenem> sacked by the french in 1909 #historyxt

unesco; http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2052/
images sources< http://picssr.com/tags/ouara 
http://solarey.net/16th-century-ancient-ruins-ouara-chad-africa/>
ruins of the palace and mosques of Ouara -chad<circa 1600AD>one of the relatively short lived and weakest sudanic empires<vs sennar and kenem> sacked by the french in 1909 #historyxtunesco; http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2052/images sources< http://picssr.com/tags/ouara  http://solarey.net/16th-century-ancient-ruins-ouara-chad-africa/>
ruins of the palace and mosques of Ouara -chad<circa 1600AD>one of the relatively short lived and weakest sudanic empires<vs sennar and kenem> sacked by the french in 1909 #historyxtunesco; http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2052/images sources< http://picssr.com/tags/ouara  http://solarey.net/16th-century-ancient-ruins-ouara-chad-africa/>
ruins of the palace and mosques of Ouara -chad<circa 1600AD>one of the relatively short lived and weakest sudanic empires<vs sennar and kenem> sacked by the french in 1909 #historyxtunesco; http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2052/images sources< http://picssr.com/tags/ouara  http://solarey.net/16th-century-ancient-ruins-ouara-chad-africa/>
ruins of the palace and mosques of Ouara -chad<circa 1600AD>one of the relatively short lived and weakest sudanic empires<vs sennar and kenem> sacked by the french in 1909 #historyxtunesco; http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2052/images sources< http://picssr.com/tags/ouara  http://solarey.net/16th-century-ancient-ruins-ouara-chad-africa/>
aptly named queen sheba's palace ruins in ethiopia, tigray region
600AD, Aksum #historyxt
not yet a unesco site but this is a summary from lonelyplanet https://www.lonelyplanet.com/ethiopia/aksum/attractions/dungur-queen-of-sheba-s-palace/a/poi-sig/1429822/355294

image source https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/queen-of-sheba-palace.html
Gao-Saney and Gao Ancien -twin capitals of gao empire <900CE, mali>
#historyxt
(excavations barely a decade old so it's not unesco site yet) https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/990394630838669312
timbuktu 500BC
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/990736148103356416
djenne 300BC
sudano sahelian, similar construction styles in <kano, timbuktu, agadez> also in Oualata mixed with dry-stone construction <see up> #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/991095653655896065
Djado, Niger
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/992234013711532033
kumasi ,Ashanti 1670AD #historyxt
<photo is of an ordinary house, illustration is of the palace, a few such houses that survived the wars and sacking are now unesco sites
small exception to the 'pre-1600' rule b'se of the choice of construction materials https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/992509072695070721
tichitt, nema <2000BC>
later, ghana <700AD>

Mauritania
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/992534585035644933
<state name pending> , DGB ruins 1250 AD, cameroon
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/992913237137084417
d'mt <980BC> yeha (with the temple) might have been its capital , ethiopia
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/992936205451964416
<trading post>
loropeni, burkina faso <1000 or 1100AD>
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/992950942508208128
kano <999AD- present> nigeria (plus similar cities)
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/993268374942765056
the origin of the swahili cities <the first in the thread, kilwa, gedi> <100AD?-present> mombasa, shanga -their connection to the zimbabwe culture and more
sources #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/993282801263923201
dananombe and naletale <1680AD>
continued the dry stone zimbabwe style at great zimbabwe and khami <400-1680AD, see thread below>
this is the last inclusion of the zimbabwe tradition because there are too many to list (manyikeni, ziwa, etc> #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/994706557052030976
Monastery of Ghazali 500AD, makura -christian nubia
#historyxt
ill add christian nubian cities in this thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/995313525122838529
kaole <1200AD> and other swahili cities, plus sources and parallels to similar islamic cities in west africa

#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/999019110133649409
takwa (the main mosque) <1500AD> and Jumba la Mtwana <1300AD>

the last swahili inclusion in the #historyxt thread

general summary of all such cities by Mark Horton https://www.academia.edu/1199031/The_Swahili_Corridor https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/999060734020595712
fuctions of the zimbabwe constructions https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/999786521564798976
more; similar cities built in the same tradition <also khami in #historyxt>
thulamela 1250AD
Chibvumani
Chisvingo
mutoko 1000AD
tsindi (Lekkerwater) 1250AD
plus
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1000453120558796801
dhar walata (oualata) 2,000BC
kumbi saleh 850AD (?)
oudane 800AD
dhar tichitt , old town 2,300BC
(ghana mini thread) #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1000896653036015616
katsina and daura hausa city states
1250AD-
ill be adding hausa cities under this mini thread
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1003070607196647427
Danqaz palace, 1604AD

ethiopia mini thread, from the yeha <d'mt kingdom> to dungur, queen sheba's palace, debre damo <aksumite empire> to islamic haarla, through fasil gebbi <solomonic dynasty> and others https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1003083026404925442
a few of the ethiopian castles and palaces at fasil ghebbi excluding the better known fasilides castle <UNESCO site up in the #historyxt main thread>
1632AD-
gondar, ethiopia https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1003094874432856064
a few of the main islamic cities in ethiopia
harar 750AD
nora 1250AD (mosque inset, last photo)
others are Asbari and Masal
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1005253551294119936
main aksumite cities;
adulis 500AD
Wakarida 350AD
matara 100AD(?)
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1005262395663634432
Zinder -17thcentury(?)
kanuri (was initially a kanem vassal), damagaram sultanate -1731
features a mixture of hausa and djenne-type architecture
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1005796816963670016
contributions of berber ethnic groups in westafrica
while they maintained a mostly nomadic lifestyle, they were part of the trading community in the sahel subject to the southern states
aoudaghost 800AD
chinguetti 777/1200AD
ksar el barka 1690AD #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1013413346773696512
agadez 1100AD (?)
initially founded by the hausa, grew after it had become the capital of the tuareg sultanate, captured by the songhai empire for over a century #historyxt
was always predominantly hausa and tuareg city https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1013440310737866755
mogadishu 1st century CE

i'll do a somali minithread here with any information i can find #historyxt
-the old berbera cities in somaliland <known to ancient egyptians as the land of punt> predate their southern peers by two millennia but most were lost https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1018141576600547328
zeila
antiquity era berbera city in somaliland
one of the few continuously occupied of the northern somali cities #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1018159296624775168
abomey, 1645
capital of dahomey #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1018425978916298752
zaria 1536AD
capital of zazzau emirate *wasn't the first*
and similar hausa cities in the minithread #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1020638935058284547
tongoni 1450AD

and the swahili cities "unislamic" tombs and burial customs https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1020693611258699776
Qohaito 500BC

eritrea mini thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1018452846788792320/
mombasa
900AD
#historyxt
the oldtown is on unesco's tentative list
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/883/ https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1028301304408375297
pemba
600AD
<Ras Mkumbuu mosque inset> #historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1028683364801249280
aksum
400BC
the section with the stelae, tomb's and an elite house at dungur <called quueen sheba's palace> are now UNESCO sites
the obelisks themselves date between 250-350AD
it served the longest as the capital of the aksumite empire
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1031161878200823808
benin city
850AD
few grainy photos of the interior of the oba's courtyard, my attempt at matching british and dutch illustrations with the bronze figures
<may include the bronze traditions of the region at igbo-ukwu and ife later>
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1033509807934726144
zinjaja, ziwa, bumbusi
<more from the zimbabwe tradition>
all date after the 17th century <when great zimbabwe was abandoned >
most were hurriedly constructed like bumbusi thus not built as well as the older ruins
all fell after the mfecane wars
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1036126204338876417
-brief on the bronze, gold casting and architectural traditions of the kingdoms of
benin 900CE-
ashanti 1400CE- (?)
nri 660CE-
ife 697CE-

-short chronology from the nok culture -1500BC-100AD

-trans saharan trade; #historyxt
https://books.google.co.ug/books/about/Trade_in_the_Ancient_Sahara_and_Beyond.html?id=6ug7DwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y … https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1036067509907075072
Siyu 1250AD
and the swahilis' only fort built in 1821
the swahili cities <esp kilwa, mombasa> were trading towns and were thus not fortified the siyu swahilis fiercely resisted the zanzibari and pate omani-arabs until ultimately falling in 1863
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1039067174218788865
the old palaces of kano, built between 1411-1463, the museum at argungu which served as the capital for the 16th century kebbi kingdom that was previously at Birnin Kebbi and finally the bauchi city state, the youngest of the hausa city-states
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1048864054629085184
after the fall of the mali empire and the shifting of trade to the coast, the intentional sale of guns to non-centralised coastal people threatened to more established states, forcing them to re-orient their economies thus...
segou 1712AD
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1051453983158603776
...lasting shorter periods, the increased insecurity exacerbated the shift to more fundamentalist sects of islam until the Toucouleur empire fell to the french in 1890 and the sokoto to the british in 1903
bandiagara 1770
hamdallaye 1820
#Historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1051455862580088832
foumban 1400s

more on the bamum kingdom and its script <njoya's alphabet>
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41857165?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3335758?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24476663?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1056571380731383808
qasr ibrim
800BC

the 542AD cathedral was most likely built with materials from old meroitic temples whose construction started with pharaoh taharqa <25th dynasty>
also historically marked the border btn egypt and nubia
#historyxt
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25130500.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A67b0584c637ab777ee0b1a1ea2253b31 https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1058677029606952961
Musawwarat Es Sufra temple complex
270BC
ill add a few pre-christian cities in the thread
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1061278282283470848
massawa, eritrea

an axumite city, later ruled by the ottomans and ethiopia
served as a refuge for the first muslim converts who then built the oldest mosque on the continent
#historyxt https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1069217807391490050
<honorary inclusion>
sana'a in yemen and marzuq in libya

of note are the ethiopian and kanembu populations in both yemen and the fezzan
<eg in 1841, al-kanemi a son of a kanembu father and arab mother at marzuq supplanted the sayfawa's 800yr old dynasty> https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1071493930091462656
kerma

increased conflicts between the kingdom and its northern neighbour forced the latter to construct a series of <7> forts after the 15th millenium BC, later capturing it in 1550BC, the former rebelled north in 1575BC, later breaking away in 1069BC https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1071811826973847553
kong, ivory coast https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1076958505658130434
ajuran cities; merca, kisimayo, barawa and hobyo

the ajuran state, an ally of the ottomans relied heavily on its navy enabling it to maintain its independence even after facing off with the portuguese twice after the latter had razed the swahili coast https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1084128670359408640
15th century kotoko cities; logone-birni and kousseri

claiming sao ancestry, the kotoko lived in high-walled, fortified cities and were always the target of bornu raids, the former would later fall to the bornu empire in the 19th century https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1084132821097201664
naqa , 350BC

possibly the second biggest city of the meroitic era, most of the construction occurred in the first two decades of the 1st century credited to queen amanitore who presided over the kingdom's golden age https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1086560485242228736
banganarti

a 6th century makurian city from nubia's christian early-to-medieval era https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1097425663794077697
wad ban naqa , 4th century BC, https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1106893232384819200
dangeil

7th century BC-
the amun temple was razed probably during or shortly after the aksumite invasion, a number of statues were found on the site -mostly 25th dynasty <the one that conquered egypt> but the city grew much later during the meroitic era https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1112286859147780097
zanzibar, 12th century

most of stone-town was built in the 18th and 19th centuries unlike its much older peers along the swahili coast https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1114460140093050882
gebel adda and the small christian chapel at masida both from the makurian era

initially a nobatian city it was then united with makuria until the latter's demise in the 15th century after which the royals moved the capital from old dongola forming dotawo https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1117015002823704576
fasilides' pool of the famous gondarine emperor fasilides https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1119567854909702146
back to early-medieval swahili

mnarani was part of the kilifi swahili city state, briefly peaking about the same time the portuguese arrived at the coast
unlike its peers, it was destroyed by the oromo who razed both mosques in the early 17th century https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1122067724958687234
sikasso

initially a small town in the 17th century, sikasso grew into on of the sahel's biggest cities in the mid 19th century with a population of over 40,000 as the capital of Kenedougou
surviving samory's siege and a french siege all in the same decade https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1124608156884013056
tumbatu, tanzania

one of the first settlements of the swahili, the city was by the 13th century mentioned by arab geographers as one of the biggest on the coast but was abandoned after the 15th century before the portuguese arrival https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1127152948297981953
maduna / maduuna

a medieval era adal city in somaliland

its larger peers like amud have had their building materials torn down and reused for modern construction https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1129665200519622656
meroitic era temples in lower nubia that were built at the kingdom's greatest extent since their expulsion from egypt in the 6th century BC, the ptolemies later retook the region and extended these temples rededicating them to other gods

dakka, debod https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1132213000084103168
random post-aksumite churches from ethiopia

i would need a separate thread to cover them all https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1134745706986500097
the palace in a fairly recent 19th century royal city of mekelle, the ethiopians had since the "era of princes" prefered not to live in permanent royal city so yohannes' capital was the first since the 18th century after gondar https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1137677997903962113
hobbyo and its short-lived mid-19th century sultanate https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1139826290259890176
the nubian forts of hisn al-bab and kulubnarti , a common feature during the christian era

kulubnarti island was occupied till the modern era but al-bab wasn't https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1142364366915829761
Bobo-Dioulasso, this mosque construction style is different from those at djenne, timbuktu, southern mauritania and the hausaland
its common in the volta basin esp northern ghana with a number dating back to the days of mali in the 15th century https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1144920463350669312
the old church of Maryam Ts’iyon
it built over an earlier pagan temple so its earliest construction date maybe much older and is one of the oldest churches in africa https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1147440015523405824
the unesco site of gede/gedi in kenya

unlike its coastal peers gedi was located several kilometers inland and went unmentioned and avoided at the time the portuguese arrived at the coast
the site was abandoned sometime btn the 16th and 17th century https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1149988833561329664
the medieval church of kidane mehret, there are a number of them in the region that were razed or significantly damaged during the abyssinia-adal wars https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1152503661064589312
iyasu's 17th century church of debre berhan just outside gondar https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1155057914647912451
the 13th century swahili city of pate https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1157589837479915521
the 13th century church of biete Medhane Alem

archeological work on the site is still in its early stages but ill expand lalibela churches under this mini-thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1160125332751601664
the 18th century city of kadishwene in south africa

i may add a few more sotho-tswana towns under this thread, their relation to the "zimbabwe culture" sites is still ambiguous https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1162651998262423552
napatan era fortress of Gala Abu Ahmed

i may include a few more in this thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1165188793013592064
napatan-meroitic era cemetery of sedeinga ; for kush's wealthy

unlike nuri and meroe, this was reserved for non-royal elite members of the kingdom, most of those buried here were women <nubia was matrilineal>
the cemetary got crowded was later abandoned https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1167738903593439232
bandiagara, dogon country -11th century

the classic sudano-sahelian style started not with the djenne mosque but with the older tellem mosque below, built in a similar fashion to traditional shrines is evidence of its pre-islamic indigenous origin https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1170260742530129920
9th cent. BC the royal necropolis of el-kurru, a napatan era cemetery for the kings of kush including those before alara's dynasty and those of the the 25th dynasty <ex-taharqo>
the first of atleast five major cemeteries of the kingdom https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1172829967870320641
the medieval swahili city of kunduchi in tanzania

there are several in the bagamoyo region linked with the two prominent swahili clans of the shomvi and the zaramo the details of the clans' identities and history are in the last book i shared https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1175360149827067905
the ancient city of kawa in sudan https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1177858732929245184
the medieval makurian city of Al Khandaq https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1180408209712005121
the 15th cent. city of bondoukou, ivory coast https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1182965941681950721
the 17th century town of gorgora nova along lake tana, initially Emperor Susenyos' first residence before shifting to the hilltop at danqaz https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1185503641509208065
washa mikael church, one of the overlooked rock-hewn churches of the shewa region, addis ababa was a medieval city and its settlement predates emperor menelik's move to shift his capital there https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1188383772208750592
the 10th century city of lamu

it was mostly eclipsed by the larger cities until the 18th century but the archipelango is one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements of the swahili https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1190597966500896768
dia, 9th century BC

the inland niger valley cities <dia and jenne-jenno> were offshoots of the older tichitt-walata neolithic civilization
it was largely abandoned after the fall of songhai in the 16th cent. then lighly resettled in the 19th cent. https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1193137666453323776
the Tiebele capital of the kassena -gurunsi , a small state on the fringes of the larger mossi kingdom

the house complex at oursi built in similar style as those at jenne-jenno <mudbrick rectilinear and curvilinear rooms with an upper settlement floor> https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1195657789022052352
the now-flooded provincial meroitic capital of Karanog built in the 1st century BC https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1198177632476696576
the sacred city of jebel barkal , the holy mountain -sudan

most of the ruins that we see today were built by (kushite king and egyptian pharaoh) Taharqa and meroitic king Natakamani
settlements dates back to the kerma kingdom https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1200737488324714496
the 17th cent. city of debre tabor

briefly the ethiopian capital during the reign of tewodros, it was mostly used as a "camp" by ethiopian emperors since susenyos' era the latter and yohannes built a "summer" palace there
there' a rock-cut church nearby https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1203273746578100226
the 13th century ruined cities of abasa and amud https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1205803113027899392
chwaka, 1000AD

being one of the oldest swahili settlements, chwaka has relatively fewer as most of its popn resided in earthen homes but built mosques and tombs with coral stone
presenting us with the earliest evidence of the evolution of swahili culture https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1208362922184826880
mbanza kongo later called sao salvador was founded in the 14th century

this mini thread will include west-central africa <DRC and angola> cities or ruins where i can find them https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1210879130180472833
the ruins of majande and domboshaba in botswana, luswingo in zimbabwe

these are three of about a thousand zimbabwe culture sites built by the shona-kalanga
while under the butua state, most have free standing walls rather than khami's retaining walls https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1213402372627558400
the ruined city of matendere/matendera

huffman, using caton's work places its occupation at the height and later years of great zimbabwe between 1300-1700 CE , most of the city's entrances were later partially or completely sealed off and it was abandoned https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1215947628887904261
the collapsed walls of dzata in southafrica and majiri in zimbabwe

dzata's ruling singo clan migrated from zimbabwe bringing with it the dry-stone construction albeit courser than the latter
majiri is a lesser known ruin not far from great zimbabwe https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1218524120071184384
nioro du sahel , nyamina, sarafere and other towns

nioro was founded in the 13th century, became the capital of kaarta then taken by umar tall who built the mosque <inset>, the other towns have mostly been rebuilt which is why i'm using postcards https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1220666569086337031
Ali dinar's palace at al-fashir of the dafur Kingdom
Dafur was the second largest of the four 'black sultanates' that rose btn lake Chad and Ethiopia after the fall of Christian nubia and decline of the kanem empire
Covering an area the size of nigeria https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1223558952899829760
The 7th cent. BC kushite pyramids of nuri, sudan

This the fifth nubian pyramid-necropolis in this thread after meroe, el-kurru, gebel barkal and sedeinga (second biggest by number of pyramids) https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1226099298015809536
The 9th century city of dahlak https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1228644169926815744
18th century Ethiopia monastery of narga selassie
There are several monasteries on the lake tana islands
Many house the remains of solomonic era emperors and
their burial treasures https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1231174605018161153
the 15th century palace complex at pujuni, pemba

pemba island has one of the highest concentration of swahili ruins along the east african coast; the small island was described as having numerous polities in the 16th century
ill add more in in this thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1233795129418436608
the 17th century settlement at kichokochwe on pemba island

there are still at half a dozen such on this island alone that i've yet to include on top of the four in this thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1236229379602202624
the 17th cent. city of wa

northern ghana, eastern ivory coast constituted the southern section of the western sudan
the region had its own unique architecture & literary cultures; including some of westarica's west africa's oldest buildings and chronicles https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1238792334336196609
17th and 19th cent. mosques from the gonja kingdom, ghana

this was a modification of the djenne style mosques but shorter building, taller minarets and thicker buttresses
smaller than kong and bobo dioulasso mosques b'se the muslim converts were fewer https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1241341481480323072
mentewwab's early 18th century palace complex called "kuskuam" just outside gondar
most of the structures were damaged in ethiopia's war with the mahdists of sudan in 1888
ill be adding sections of the royal city in this thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1243878329742131202
the 11th century rock-hewn Yemrehana Krestos church
while it was built by the zagwe, the church followed earlier axumite architectural styles similar to debre damo https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1246408711096147968
the 10th cent. city of kua, mafia archipelago -tanzania

mafia flourished around the same time as kilwa kisiwani, both went into slow decline after the 16th cent., afterwhich the omanis would come to control both indirectly
they resisted in the 18th cent https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1248894939225821184
Abba jifar's palace in jimma, ethiopia

several oromo kingdoms existed along the fringes of ethiopian empire becoming powerful during the 'era of princes' one of these was the kingdom of jimma https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1251469951128436737
Diani's 16th century Kongo mosque
archaeological studies of most swahili cities is restricted to the larger ones so most ruins including this one haven't been studied beyond collecting oral histories about them https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1254045047856730113
tarhaqo's 7th century BC shrine from his amun temple at kawa, sudan
he was the 'greatest builder' among the nubian 25th dynasty
for the original temple (see kawa in thread) https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1256519663309201410
Fukuchani, Zanzibar one of the earliest Swahili settlements along the east African coast dated between the 5th and 8th centuries

unlike its successors, fukuchani's trade was oriented towards south asia https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1259072483556278273
empress taitu's temporary residence at mt entoto, built in 1886, https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1261612505476075521
The temple at Meqaber Ga'ewa built in the 8th cent. BC by King Waran : first king of D'MT; ethiopia's first Kingdom
He ruled alongside his wife and inherited his throne matrilineally mentioning both his mother and wife on the temple's altar inscription https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1264146111230550018
kanem oasis towns of dirku, bilma and fachi in Niger

the region is unfortunately understudied but several of these towns have ksars/tatas <castles and forts> that guarded kanem's salt mines central to the kingdom's economy
see thread for outline https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1267046506768596993
an outline of the kanem oasis towns, castles and fortifications in the Nigerien desert

kanem's cities (like most in the central "sudan") were often fortified, a complex maze of firedbrick and mudbrick structures with palaces and mosques at the centre https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1269238423153508352
nyangwe and chawomera hillforts
two of dozens of 16th-18th century hillforts of the "nyanga culture" in zimbabwe, while these weren't related to the mwenemutapa forts, they served the same defensive function and their construction was influenced by it https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1271786742929076229
selib , 100AD

lies between banganarti and old dongola -the makurian capital, the site was not always permanently settled, serving as a fortification from desert nomads https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1274325304987787264
the mid-19th century city-state of Ouahabou in Burkina Faso

its founder, mamadou Karanto, was from djenne but the style of the mosque he built is distinct from the mosques of djenne and the nearby kong and bobo-Dioulasso mosques <see thread> https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1276493492068417538
the 16th cent. capital of antalaotra, a Swahili city in Madagascar

increasing Portuguese incursions in the 16th cent. forced some Swahili to migrate from the Tanzanian coast to northern Mozambique and Madagascar where they established states https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1278969059581755392
omdurman

the 19th century capital of the mahdist state in sudan and one of the largest african cities at the time, housing over a quarter million people within a 4-mile radius https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1281515658291937281
Surame
16th cent. kebbi capital

Kanta was a songhai military general turned rebel he built this city entirely out of drystone similar of kumbi, tichitt and hamdullahi (see thread)

In 1820, Bello wrote that it's ruined walls still rose more than 15ft high https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1284509184411742209
Mahilaka 950AD, Madagascar

The swahili city was the first urban port and settlement on the island predating the merina kingdom and later european arrival by centuries

It's growth was contemporaneous with kilwa with whom it traded extensively https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1287317481451851776
A few more churches from Ethiopia -the first comes from the zagwe era (10th-13th cent.) and the rest are from the solomonic era (13th cent-)

They contain dozens of manuscripts mostly religious but some secular such as land sales
link to project in thread https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1289508562683564034
The 10th century city of domoni one of the oldest on the Comoros archipelago

trade, settlement and dev't on the islands mirrored those on the east African coast
There was a kilwa-swahili diaspora after the 1500s
Inset is the old palace and city walls https://mobile.twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1292045844427034636
Taharqa's sanam temple built in the 7th century BC

Considered one of the "great builders" of Egypt and Sudan, the kushite pharaoh built and restored several temples, cities and monuments, making kush one of the largest empires in antiquity https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1294581371491487745
The 16th cent. bokoni ruins

and zimbabwe's 7000 sqkm nyanga complex were the most extensive settlements utilising intensive agricultural practices in southern Africa

with average farms of 0.5ha and 57k population, bokoni exported surplus grain & cattle https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1297095135222812673
The late meroitic to early christian nubia stone and mudbrick fortresses of
-ras al-jazira
-umm marrahi
- el-koro
- al-hilla

Four of over 300 similar forts in sudan from the same era https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1299987976739590144
The mid-19th cent. city of bagamoyo in tanzania established by the shomvi swahili clan; a prominent clan associated with the medieval cities of kaole and kunduchi https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1302517439759081472
13th cent. makurian church at duweishat west in sudan

By this era, nubian churches were smaller as the kingdoms of makuria and alodia were faced with incursions from the mamluks in the north and muslim african groups (like the funj) from the south https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1304726008436797442
One of the post-meroitic, early-christian fortresses in nubia at sabagura built in the early medieval era

The fortresses were more symbols of power (for the polities that succeeded the fall of meroe) than effective defensive constructions https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1307284316788060165
The third century BC royal baths in the city of meroe -capital of kush, sudan

Their construction was contemporaneous with the shift of burial grounds to meroe, the erection of the musawwarat temple complex and the first use of the meroitic script https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1309779272610045952
The early-medieval nubian fortresses of

Umm ruweim, kuweib and merowe (not to be confused with meroe) https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1312322383504707584
The old mosque at bouna

Bouna was indirectly referrenced in the tarikh al-sudan: a scholar named muhammad al-buni (from bouna) was a pupil of the famed 15th cent. soninke scholar Al-Hajj suwari

Ivor Wilks suggests it was the refuge for begho's scholars https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1314881507983532032
The ruins of the old dogon towns of kounou and fiko in the mopti region of mali

The expansionist segu (bambara) empire made incursions into the dogon heartland where the latter had -since the fall of songhai- become a formidable rival in the region https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1317413269406126080
Mopti, old town in the early 20th century

The prominence of the bambara capital segu saw much of the trade on the Niger river diverted south until the rise of the massina and tukulor empires that was followed by a resurgence of jenne, mopti and timbuktu https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1319939754629255171
Mai Idris Alooma's 16th century gambaru palace https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1322450686492266501
The 16th century city of Ain Farah capital of the Tunjur Kingdom, Sudan

A pre-islamic Kingdom that preceded the darfur and wadai kingdoms
Most of the ruins were torn down for modern construction (photos are from the 1940s) https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1325029991290167296
The late 16th century palace of guzara at enfraz, Ethiopia https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1327580860854505473
Tsingoni -the 14th century capital of maore on the island on mayotte -Comoros archipelago

The city had close ties with kilwa including traditions of migrations of kilwa elites and/or royals in the 16th century (after the Portuguese sack of kilwa) https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1330071445511221248
The diffis (fortified houses) of jawgul island from the 17th-19th cent.

Over 90 exist in the third cataract region built by the mahas nubians

A traveller in the 1820s "many villages had a fort or castle fortified with towers serving as a place of refuge" https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1334837991563538432
You can follow @rhaplord.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled:
Those who think consciousness raising & movement building are disconnected, or even a distraction from electoral politics have not paid attention to the history of social change.In this thread, we
Read more
The 2020s will be known as the Remote Work decadeA few predictions of what is likely to emerge[ a thread ] Third Space: Office and Working from Home will
Read more
1/29: Have you ever had a concept explained to you that helps frame complex issues you’ve been wrestling with and opens your eyes to new possibilities? A concept that I
Read more
By continuing to use the site, you are consenting to the use of cookies as explained in our Cookie Policy to improve your experience.