Nested along the banks of the Bani River within the fertile floodplains of central Mali, the city of Jenne has for centuries been at the heart of West Africa's political and cultural landscape. Integrated within the vast social landscape, the city of Jenne would have a profound influence on West Africa's cultural history. Jenne’s commercial significance, its craftsmen's architectural styles and its scholars' literary production would leave a remarkable legacy in African history.This article outlines the complete history of Jenne; including a summary of the city's political history, its scholarly traditions and its architectural styles. The settlement at Jenne-Jeno, and its urban cluster was part of a broader Neolithic tradition that arose in the region of Mema near Mali’s border with Mauritania, which included the ancient settlement of Dia and several small nucleated settlements of related dates in the 1st millennium BC.  Djenne was home to one of the earliest scholarly communities in West Africa. According to the tarikh-al sudan, Jenne's king Kunburu (ca. 1250) assembled 4,200 scholars under his domain, made three grants regarding the city's status as a place for refugee, scholarship and trade, and pulled down his palace to build the now-famous congressional mosque. The city was within the nucleus of the Wangara diaspora prior to their dispersion which spread their Suwarian philosophy and building style across parts of West Africa.The Wangara/Dyula were an important class of Soninke-speaking merchant-scholars associated with the ancient urban settlements of the middle Niger region (e.g. Dia and Kabara), that carried out gold trade with north Africa and established scholarly communities across vast swathes of West Africa from the Senegambia to the Hausalands and the Volta basin. Most of the scholars of Jenne were derived from this group as shown by their nisbas; "al-Wangari", "Diakhate", "al-Kabari", and their Soninke/Mande clan names etc. The Wangara scholars were also important in the northern scholarly center of Timbuktu as well.Among the prominent scholars in Jenne during the Songhai era was al-faqīh Muḥammad Sānū al-Wangarī who was originally born in the town of Bitu (Begho in today's northern Ghana). Al-Wangarī’s life spanned the period before Sunni ‘Alī’s takeover of Jenne to that of Askiya Muḥammad, who appointed him qāḍī of Jenne after the recommendation of Maḥmūd Aqīt of Timbuktu's Sankore mosque.His appointment in the novel office of qāḍī at Jenne represented a maturation of Islamic scholarship under state patronage and his burial site in the congregational mosque’s courtyard became a site of veneration. He would be succeeded in the office of qadi at Jenne by another Wangara scholar named al-Abbas Kibi, who died in 1552 and was buried next to the Jenne mosque.Another leading scholar of Jenne was Maḥmūd Baghayughu, who had a rather adversarial relationship with the Songhai emperor Askiya Isḥāq Bēr. When the Askiya requested that the residents of Jenne name the person who had been oppressing them so he may be punished, Baghayughu said it was the Askiya himself and his overreaching laws -in a bold reproach of his ruler. But shortly after the passing of al-Abbas Kibi (the previous qadi of Jenne), the Askiya coolly repaid Baghayughu's insolence by appointing him as qadi, the overwhelming irony of his unfortunately compromising position drove Baghayughu to his deathbed.Jenne’s scholarly tradition continued long after Songhai’s collapse, as the city became a cosmopolitan center of education. Jenne’s learning system was personalized as in most of West Africa, with day-to-day teaching occurring scholar's houses using their own private libraries, while the mosques served as the locus for teaching classes on an adhoc basis. However, the theocratic rulers of Masina would establish a institutionalized public school system in the early 19th century. A recent digitization project catalogued about half of the 4,000 manuscripts they found dating back to 1394, but these constituted only a small fraction of the total number of manuscripts. Many were composed and copied in Jenne by local scholars in various languages including Arabic, Songhai, Bozo, Fulfulde and Bamabara, These manuscripts include copies of West African classics such as the the tarikh al-sudan, but also various works on theology, poetry, history and astronomy.  
Aerial view of Jenne
Origins of Jenne: The Urban Settlement at Jenne-Jeno (250 BC - 1400 AD)
The city of Jenne is built on a large river island in the Bani tributary of the Niger River. The original settlement of Jenne was established at the Neolithic site of Jenne-Jeno about 2-3km away, which was occupied from the 3rd century BC to the 15th century AD. Jenne-Jeno has revealed the site of a complex society that developed into a considerable regional center, and is one of West Africa’s oldest urban settlements. Surrounded by over 69 satellite towns, the population of the whole exceeded 42,000 in the mid-1st millennium.Jenne-jeno urban cluster, map by R. McIntosh
Map of Jenne-Jeno in relation to the Neolithic sites of Dia and Dhar Tichitt, map by K.C. MacDonald
The History of Jenne Under the Empires of Mali and Songhai (13th-16th Century)
From the 9th-13th century, the hinterland of Jenne fell under the political control of the empires of Ghana and Mali, the latter of which was the first to exercise any real control over the city. Jenne's status under Mali was rather ambiguous. Its immediate hinterland which included the provinces of; Bindugu (along the Bani river between Jenne and Segu); as well as Kala and Sibiridugu (both between the Bani and Niger rivers) were under Malian control by the 13th century. A 14th century account about the Mali emperor Mansa Musa and the 17th century Timbuktu chronicle; tarikh al fattash, both mention that the Mali empire conquered hundreds to cities and towns, “each with its surrounding district with villages and estates”, with Jenne being one of the cities under Mali.However, the city may have maintained a significant degree of autonomy throughout the entire period of Mali empire. According to the 17th century chronicle; Tarikh al-Sudan "At the height of their power the Malians sought to subject the people of Jenne, but the latter refused to submit. The Malians made numerous expeditions against them, and many terrible, hard-fought encounters took place-a total of some ninety-nine, in each of which the people of Jenne were victorious." While embellished, this story indicates that Jenne didn't willingly submit to Mali's rule if it ever did.The city first appears in external accounts in a description of West Africa by the Genoese traveler Antonio Malfante in 1447 while he was in the southern Sahara region. He mentions the cities of the middle Niger basin then under the (brief) control of the Tuaregs, among which was Jenne (“Geni”). But by the time of the Portuguese account of Alvise Cadamosto who was on the west African coast by 1456, Jenne's ruler was reportedly at war with Sulaymān Dāma, the first Songhai ruler.Sunni Ali, the successor of Sulaymān, besieged Jenne in between the years 1470-1473 using a flotilla of 400 boats to surround it with his armies. Daily pitched battles ensued for the next 6 months until the city eventually capitulated, allowing Sunni Ali to establish his residence east of the Great Mosque. This siege must have represented a significant political event, since the Tarik al-sudan noted that "with the exception of Sunni "Ali, no ruler had ever defeated the people of Jenne since the town was founded". Jenne's independence ended with this conquest as successive empires vied for its control. Fatefully, this same conquer of Jenne is reported to have died during another siege of Jenne around 1487-8 and his death would initiate a series of events that led to the coup of Askiya Muḥammad.The city would then remain under the Songhai administration through the dual administrative offices of the Jenne-koi (traditional ruler) and Jenne-mondio (governor). The Jenne-koi retained some form of symbolic importance and was reportedly exempt from the practice of pouring sand on the head when approaching the Askiya, as a sign of submission, but even this symbolic autonomy could only go so far, since the princes of Jenne-koi were sent to Gao to be tutored by the Songhai rulers. However, Jenne's neighboring provinces of Kala and Bindugu remained independent, wedged between the expansionist Songhay and the declining Mali empire.Jenne became more prosperous during the Songhai era. According to the tarikh al-sudan, most of Jenne's wealth was derived from its connection to the 'gold mine' of Begho, and it was the gold dust from the latter that Jenne exported through Timbuktu to the Mediterranean. Leo Africanus’ account written in 1550, mentions that the city's merchants made “considerable profit from the trade in cotton cloth which they carry on with the Barbary merchants”. Its residents "are very well dressed. They wear a large swathe of cotton, black or blue, with which they cover even the head, though the priests and doctors wear a white one" and use “bald gold coins” as currency.Writing in 1506-1508 based on secondary accounts, Duarte Pereira describes "the city of Jany, inhabited by negroes and surrounded by a stone wall, where there is great wealth of gold; tin and copper are greatly prized there, likewise red and blue cloths and salt, all except the cloth being sold by weight. The commerce of this land is very great; every year a million gold ducats go from this country to Tunis, Tripoli of Soria [Syria] and Tripoli of Barbary and to the kingdom of Boje [Bougie] and Fez and other parts."Aerial view of Jenne, and street scene from 1905/6
The Scholars of Jenne
What Is The Great Mosque Of Djenne? - African Roots And Routes
Kitāb jāmi‘ al-aḥkām (book of Jamia Al-Ahkam), a work on astronomy and astrology written by Sidiki son of Ibrahim Torofo, ca. 1723-1844, Sekou Toure Family collection.
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Commentary on the "Mukhtasar of Khalil", written by a Jenne scholar in 1723, Sekou Toure Family collection.
The Old mosque of Jenne more than two decades before its reconstruction, ca. 1895 by A. Lainé, quai branly
Jenne Through the Moroccan Era and the Timbuktu Pashalik (1591-1618-1767)
There was a general state of insecurity after the collapse of Songhai to the Saadian army in March 1591 and Jenne was caught in the maelstrom. The tarikh al-sudan mentions that the "the land of Jenne was most brutally ravaged, north, south, east, and west, by the Bambara". Jenne's governor sent his oath of allegiance to the Saadian representative (Pasha) in Timbuktu in December 1591. The Timbuktu pasha then sent 17 musketeers (Arma) to install a new Jenne-koi after the previous one had passed away. After putting down a brief rebellion in Jenne led by a former Songhai officer, a garrison of 40 musketeers under the authority of Ali al-Ajam as the first Arma governor of Jenne, alongside the two pre-existing offices.Saadian control of Jenne remained weak for most of the time, and the last Pasha was appointed in 1618, after which the rump state based at Timbuktu was largely independent of direct Moroccan control. Jenne's immediate hinterland remained largely independent, especially the town of Kala which had several chiefs including Sha Makay, who had briefly submitted to the Arma's authority but later renounced his submission almost immediately after assessing their strength and invaded Jenne. The Arma governor of Jenne sent their forces to attack Kala but were defeated and Makay continued launching attacks against Jenne with his forces, among whom were 'non-Muslim' soldiers (most likely Bambara).Jenne also remained a target of the Mali's rulers. In a major attempt at retaking lost territory, the ruler of Mali; Mahmud invaded Jenne in 1599 with a coalition that included the ruler of Masina; Hammad Amina. But Mali's forces were driven back by a coalition of forces led by the Arma and the Jenne-koi as well as a ruler of Kala, the last of whom spared the Mali ruler’s life. Shortly after this battle, Hammad Amina of Masina would later raise an army that included Bambara forces and decisively defeat the Arma and their Jenne allies at the battle of Tiya in the same year.Describing contemporary circumstances in the 1650s, the tarikh al-sudan writes that "The Sultan of Jenne has twelve army commanders in the west, in the land of Sana. Their task is to be on the alert for expeditions sent by the Malli-koi (ruler of Mali), and to engage his army in such cases, without first seeking the sultan's authority." Besides the continued threat from Mali, Jenne itself rebelled several times between 1604 and 1617, often with the support of the deposed Askiyas, who were trying to re-take the former Songhai territories from their new base at Dendi (along the Benin/Niger border).By 1632, the local Arma garrison was itself rebelling against their overlords in Timbuktu and they were soon joined by the Jenne elite in several successive rebellions in 1643 and 1653 before each Arma garrison (at Jenne and Gao) became effectively independent. More rebellions by the Arma of Jenne against the Pashas at Timbuktu were recorded in 1713, 1732 and 1748, during which time, Jenne was gradually falling under the political sphere of the growing Bambara empire of Segu and the Masina kingdom.The Bambara in the regions of Kala and Bindugu had always been a significant military threat in Djenne's hinterland during the Songhai era when they had remained independent of the Askiyas. During his routine visits to Jenne in the year 1559, the Askiya Dawud chastised his Jenne-mondio al-Amin for not campaigning against the Bambara forces that had repeatedly invaded the city. After Songhai's collapse, they always formed part of the forces of the independent rulers in Jenne's hinterland the chiefs at Kala who launched attacks against the Arma garrisons in the city. It's within the regions of Kala and Bindugu that the nucleus of the Segu empire developed.The kingdom of Masina also featured in Jenne's political history during the Songhai era and in the succeeding Pashalik period. Armies from the Masina ruler Fondoko Bubu Maryam reportedly attacked the Askiya’s royal barge in 1582, just as it was leaving Jenne with a consignment destined for Gao.| Empire/Kingdom | Period of Influence | Key Interactions with Jenne |
|---|---|---|
| Ghana Empire | 9th-13th Century | Political control over Jenne's hinterland |
| Mali Empire | 13th-16th Century | Ambiguous control, potential autonomy of Jenne |
| Songhai Empire | 15th-16th Century | Conquest by Sunni Ali, period of prosperity |
| Moroccan Pashalik of Timbuktu | 16th-18th Century | Weak control, rebellions, influence from Bambara and Masina |
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