The rise of Djenné-Djenno
An early West African city with no palaces or foreign model
The settlement in the Niger floodplain, 3 km from modern Djenné, arose around 250 BC. Excavations by Roderick and Susan McIntosh in 1977 and 1981 overturned the view that West African towns appeared only with Arab trade: by the 9th century it covered 33 hectares, smelted iron and traded in copper, gold and grain. Around 1400 the town was abandoned.
Wikipedia (English) · 3rd century BC
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Asia
- c. 261 BC Kalinga War — 11 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Archimedes (aged 37)
- Qin Shi Huang (aged 9)
- Ashoka (aged 54)
- Eratosthenes (aged 26)
- Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu of Han) (aged 6)