Information About

Kumbi Saleh




Koumbi Saleh dates back to the Third Century CE, when its Mandé founders and neighboring Sanhaja Berber s controlled the trade routes between Koumbi Saleh, Aoudaghost , and Timbuctu . In the Seventh Century , the Ghana Empire rose to dominate the region, with Koumbi Saleh as its capital.

By the Eleventh Century , it had a population of about 30,000, making it one of the largest on the continent. It consisted of two centres. The northern centre was known for its twelve Mosque s, while the southern, known as ''al-Ghala'', was home to the royal Palace surrounded by a small, planned settlement. Residential Suburb s lay between the two centres. However, in 1076, the Sanhaja Berbers again moved south to the city, this time razing it, and with it, most of its documented records. As a result of this destruction, accounts of the city of Ghana as it were, are mainly those of Arab or Berber visitors and travellers.

In the early Thirteenth Century , the Sosso king Soumaoro Kanté of the Takrur region used the city as a base of operations for his army. The city was later abandoned, then rediscovered in 1913 and opened as an archeological site.