A specific geographic factor that contributed to the growth of Jenne-jeno as a trading center was? It’s location to the Niger River as well as its location near the border of two vegetation zones.

From its foundation, Jenne-jeno served as the focus of long-distance trade networks that linked gold and forest goods producers far to the south with those who brought the semiprecious stone and salt of the Sahara (and, eventually metal goods, beads, and books from North Africa).

It has been hypothesized that the city grew as a trade center due to its location on the southern portion of the agriculturally productive region of the delta. It was likely that rice produced in this region would have been a valuable trade for Saharan commodities such as salt, copper and dried fish.

1,600 years

What theory did the discovery of Jenne-jeno prove wrong? Trade between villages only occurred in the Sahara desert. Cities did not exist in West Africa until outsiders came in.

Great Mosque of Djenné

Bundles of rodier palm sticks embedded in the walls of the Great Mosque are used for decoration and serve as scaffolding for annual repairs.

Great Mosque of Damascus, also called Umayyad Mosque, the earliest surviving stone mosque, built between 705 and 715 ce by the Umayyad Caliph al-Walīd I, who proclaimed to his citizens: “People of Damascus, four things give you a marked superiority over the rest of the world: your climate, your water, your fruits, and …

Rising up at the center of Djenné, Mali, is the Great Mosque. Built in 1907, everything from its minarets to its spired walls is constructed from mud.

The largest earthen building in the world: The Great Mosque, Djenné This is the Great Mosque in Djenné, Mali. It is the largest mud brick (adobe) building in the world.

Like hundreds of other buildings in Djenne, the Great Mosque is made of mud. It was built in 1907, but the town’s mud architecture dates back to at least the 14th century.

Traditionally, West Africans built small shrines to the forces of nature. As they converted to Islam, they began to build mosques (Muslim house of worship). The mosques that were built blended Islamic architectural styles with their own traditional religious art.

The nature of Islam as a religion accepting polygamy to some extent, its tolerance of traditional African religions, its simplicity of doctrine and mode of worship helped propagators to make converts in Africa. These factors also made Islam easily adaptable to the African communities with which it came in contact.

Islam first came to West Africa as a slow and peaceful process, spread by Muslim traders and scholars. Goods passed through chains of Muslim traders, purchased, finally, by local non-Muslims at the southern most end of the route.

The most famous of them was Mansa Musa (1307-32). He made Islam the state religion and in 1324 went on pilgrimage from Mali to Mecca.

Why did Islam spread fairly easily in Mali? People in Mali practiced Islam with their traditional religions. Mali had become an important empire.

Sahara

Why did Wangarans trade silently? Wangarans traded Gold silently because they wanted to keep it a secret. They wanted to keep the location of the gold mines a secret. They would rather give up their lives than reveal the secret.