Aoudaghost

Aoudaghost was one of the great termini of the trans-Saharan trade, a city described by Arab geographers in the tenth and eleventh centuries as wealthy on gold coming north from the Ghana empire, taken by the Almoravids in 1054 and gone by the fourteenth century. What survives is stone foundations, wall lines and scatters of pottery and glass across a wide site excavated from the 1960s.

History

The earliest mention is by al-Yaqubi in his Kitab al-Buldan, completed in 889-890, who placed the town 50 stages south of Sijilmasa across the Sahara. Writing around 977, Ibn Hawqal put it 10 days' journey from Ghana for a lightly loaded caravan and noted that the kings of Ghana needed its goodwill for the salt that came through it (Wikipedia, Aoudaghost).

Highlights

• The wall lines - stone foundations marking out the city plan.
• The surface finds - pottery and glass scattered across the site.
• The gold trade - a terminus of the routes north from the Ghana empire.
• The 1054 conquest - the Almoravid capture recorded by Arab geographers.

When to go

November to February is the cool season and the only sensible window. Summer heat is extreme with no shade. Sand can obscure the site after wind.

What to expect

Only foundations survive and the site takes background to appreciate. Access needs four wheel drive and a guide who knows the location. There is no interpretation and no facilities whatsoever.

Nearby

Tidjikja is north, and Nouakchott is west.

Key facts