Aoudaghost

17.416666666667 - 10.416666666667Koordinaten: 17 ° 25 ' N, 10 ° 25' W

Aoudaghost, Arabic أوداغوست, DMG Audaġust, French Aoudaghost, also Awdaghost, today Tegdaoust, Tiġdaust; was an important trading town in the medieval West Africa. It is located in the Western Sahara in what is now southeastern Mauritania. Rock paintings speak for a first settlement in pre-Christian times, the heyday of the oasis city lay somewhere between the 9th and 11th centuries.

Location

After the itineraries Arab geographers such as Ibn Hauqal in the 10th and al - Bakri in the 11th century Aoudaghost is to be found in the southeastern Mauritania. 1927 The French Lieutenant localized Boëry the place with Tiġdaust in the administrative region Tagant, which was later confirmed by Théodore Monod. The ruin site is located halfway between Kiffa and Tichitt on a dirt road. It is located about 200 kilometers northwest of Koumbi Saleh, the putative capital of the Ghana Empire.

History

Aoudaghost may have been founded around the 5th century or in the 7th century by a prince of the Lamtuna, a tribal group of Berber Sanhaja. The flourishing trading center in the 11th century was due to the farthest to the west route for the Trans -Saharan trade between the black African Sudan to the south and the Maghreb. The route led over Koumbi Saleh to Bouré gold box on the upper reaches of the Niger River in present-day Guinea. The earliest finds evidence that trade contacts with the Islamic north ( Ifriqiya ), are glazed pottery and semi-precious stones from the 9th century.

Together with the capital of Ghana was Aoudaghost in the 10th and 11th centuries the most important trading center of the region to the south; north of the Sahara was Sigilmasa ( Siğilmāsa ) in the area of ​​Tafilet in southeastern Morocco the starting point of the trade route. The distance was 60 days' journey. What was traded exactly, is not clear from the reports of contemporary historians. Ibn Hauqal reported by Arab traders in Sigilmasa that originally came from Iraq ( Baghdad, Basra and Kufa ), traveled even after Aoudaghost and also at least one time are likely to have long lived here. There was in place a commercial driving top layer of Arabs and Berbers, as well as a far larger number of subservient slaves.

From the south came gold and certainly slaves who were transported in the Maghreb and from there to the east. Other chroniclers describe a thriving city with several mosques, but do not call the goods that arrived in the South in exchange for gold. Al -Biruni (973-1048) mentions the trade of gold against materials from the north, but no salt. Al- Bakri describes in detail for the first time the mining and trading of salt in the Sahara. Let the generally low information about the salt trade in Arab sources suggest that salt was traded more regional and remote was for the Arab traders of minor importance, at least salt was not exchanged for gold.

After al - Bakri's description thrived in the oasis of the largest and most beautiful date palms and fig trees, there were sheep and cattle bred. Wheat fields were irrigated with leather buckets, next you 've grown cucumbers, figs and grapes. The goods on the vibrant market, including not only agricultural products was also salt were paid according to al - Bakri with gold dust. His description of lush oasis gardens may have been exaggerated when he mentioned elsewhere as an import item from the north wheat, dates and raisins. Other sources mention the transport of dates from the north to Sudan. Maybe enough at this time, the culture of date palms in the Sahara oases just for captive use and only reached later reaching to the 20th century of great importance.

Aoudaghost was the trading center of northern Ghana Empire until it was 1054/55 conquered and plundered by the Almoravids. Political unrest and drought slowed later development. Mid-12th century Aouaghost was described by al - Idrisi as a small settlement without merchants whose residents operated camel breeding. Aoudaghost part of the Mali Empire had become, probably in the 15th century came the agricultural production by the rainfall to a halt in the 17th century, the town was finally abandoned.

Cityscape

From 1960 to 1976 found, headed the French archaeologist Jean Devisse and Denise Robert excavations were carried out in which several settlement phases could be distinguished from the late 8th to the 14th century. The excavated house floor plans are similar in all phases. In the middle of a courtyard was a fountain, which was entered through a vestibule and a hallway. Up to three living spaces were accessed through doors from the courtyard, which was shaded by a pillared canopy partially. The house ruins the later phase are limited to a small part of the original city layout.

From the oldest known mosque Mauritania remained in the south-east wall in the prayer room massive square pillars, smaller column bases and the mihrab. Adjacent was a courtyard with a fountain for ablution ( wudu ' ) and another mihrab.

In the north of the city are below a rock overhang the remains of a necropolis with a stacked stone blocks tumulus from pre-Islamic times. The cemetery is about 700 meters long in north-south direction. The differently oriented in two areas skeletons in the graves can be seen as in temporal sequence varying degrees of Islamization or the existence of different religious traditions at the same time interpret. Residential town and necropolis together extend over an area of ​​twelve hectares.

400 meters south of the excavation area are in a rock cave rock paintings of pre-Christian times, hunting scenes and show horse-drawn chariot.

On 14 June 2001 Aoudaghost was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

Others

The science fiction author Bruce Sterling has the city in his collection Chrystal Express devoted a story that plays with the fact that the once thriving metropolis today is only a marginal note in history.