Askia Muhammad I, also known as Askia the Great, was one of the greatest rulers of the Songhai Empire, establishing the Askia Dynasty, greatly expanding the borders of his empire across much of Mali, and transforming the capital city of Gao into a great centre of learning.
Allegedly inspired by the pyramids of Egypt on his pilgrimage to Mecca, Askia decided to build himself a 17 meter tall stepped pyramidal tomb built entirely from mud brick in the 1490’s.
However, it should be noted that the tomb is also in keeping with the ancestral tradition of building tumuli, or burial mounds over the graves of important individuals, and the architecture of Askia’s tomb is essentially Sudano-Sahelian in nature. As the site also features a mosque, the tomb doubles as a minaret, and other examples of historical pyramidal shaped minarets exist in the region, such as the minaret of the Sankore Madrasah in Timbuktu.
Several other rulers of the Askia Dynasty are also buried in the courtyard of this compound.
No comments:
Post a Comment