Hamdallahi

Hamdallahi was built from 1820 as the capital of the Macina Empire, a theocratic state that Sekou Amadou founded across the inner Niger delta, and it was laid out to a plan with a walled enclosure, a palace and a great mosque, then destroyed in 1862. What survives is the outline of the walls and the foundations of the buildings in banco, eroding steadily on an open plain. Sekou Amadou's tomb stands within the enclosure.

Background

The name comes from the Arabic for praise to God, and it is also written Hamdullahi or Hamdallaye. The ruins lie 21 kilometres southeast of Mopti, east of the Bani River and west of the Bandiagara plateau. Walls of sun-dried mudbrick once enclosed 244 hectares, and their line and parts of the street plan show clearly on satellite images. The mosque and the founder's palace stood side by side at the centre, both of sun-dried brick, though the palace's enclosing walls were of stone. One researcher, counting the people who prayed at the mosque, put the population at around 11,200. The mosque was rebuilt and reopened in 2004.

Source: Wikipedia, "Hamdullahi"

What you'll find

• The wall circuit - the outline of the fortified enclosure on the plain.
• The palace foundations - the remains of the governing buildings.
• The mosque site - the ground where the great mosque stood.
• The founder's tomb - Sekou Amadou's grave within the enclosure.

When to go

November to February is the comfortable season. Rain accelerates the erosion of the banco remains. March to May is very hot with no shade.

Practical notes

Everything is eroded mud brick and the site reads as low mounds without a guide. There is no shade or interpretation. Erosion is severe and continuing.

Nearby

Mopti is northwest, and Djenné is southwest.

Key facts