Kano, Nigeria & Zinder, Niger Located on the fringe where the Sahara Desert meets the more hospitable regions of the Sahel, Nigeria and Niger were home to some of the last major Muslim kingdoms to be founded in Africa.  These small kingdoms, which often amounted to little more than city-states, were largely established by Hausa tribesmen as early as the 14th century.  They … [Read more...]

Djenne & Timbuktu, Mali The Mud Brick Mosques of Djenne and Timbuktu in Mali are among the architectural wonders of the Sahara Desert.  These two cities, which became the dominant regional trading centers during the European colonial era, surpassed Chinguetti in religious importance in the 15th and 16th centuries.  Because of their isolation from other Muslim states during … [Read more...]

Algiers, Algeria Few North African cities have captured the imagination in the way that Algiers has.  Algiers was the city of the Barbary pirates, who held European shipping in the Western Mediterranean hostage for centuries; it is the city where Muslims first threw off the yoke of foreign occupation in the post-war era; and it is the city of the Kasbah, the great fortress and … [Read more...]

Chinguetti, Mauritania After its initial arrival in the Maghreb, Islam took centuries to slowly diffuse down into Western Africa.  When it finally did, a number of cities sprang up in the Sahara to help facilitate the spreading of Islam southwards and trade from the rich coastlands northwards.  The earliest of these to rise to prominence was Chinguetti in Mauritania.  … [Read more...]

Marrakesh, Morocco Morocco boasts many of Africa’s most famous cities, and the most quintessentially exotic of all Moroccan cities is storied Marrakesh, which is home to some of the best Islamic architecture in the region.  It boasts several of Morocco’s best preserved palaces, countless mosques and madrassas, a magnificent casbah and one of the world’s largest traditional … [Read more...]