These are 23 Little-Known Ancient African Houses and Structures. Which ones do you recognize?

Want to know about some little-known ancient African houses that every history buff should know about? These are 23 randomly-selected images of African homes and structures from the past.

Presently, the continent of Africa is not known for its architecture. Why is that? Africans live on soil with an extensive range of buildings, castles and houses that have emerged and sometimes decayed throughout human history. We have come across countless ancient African structures, however, to keep things short here are 23 need-to-be famous African buildings.

You will see fantastic ancient African traditional houses in pictures. But please remember that there are so many types of African architecture: Africa is such a vast continent that traditional African architecture cannot fit into a box (no matter how big the box!).

Enrich your knowledge on ancient African buildings. Among the buildings pictured below are all sorts of ancient African houses from across the continent. You might recognize some famous African buildings but you will surely see some widely-unknown structures like the 6th century Ethiopian monastery!

This post is all about ancient African houses for all people to learn about. 

Traditional African Houses

The first houses in Africa could have been caves or huts or spaceships, who knows? Throughout African history people have found and made houses out of and into all sorts of things. African architecture characteristics vary. Today we have the great chance to see them in images but also to visit some preserved ancient African houses (noted below are their locations). The history of African architecture has not ended.

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Somewhere in the text are hidden FACTS ABOUT AFRICAN HOUSES so be on the look out for the purple text!

23 Little-Known Ancient African Houses

23. Former Palace of the Sultan of Gaoui, Chad

This palace used to belong to the Sultan of Gaoui who ruled the Sao people. With a collection of more than 1,500 objects and artifacts, the Kotoko, who are the descendants of the Sao people, hold a tremendous amount of history between the walls of the palace. Unfortunately, this palace is at a high risk of collapsing and permanently closing its doors. Lack of funds and insufficient visitors to the Musée national de Gaoui might lead to the disappearance of the Kotoko culture.

Taarifa

Time period: 19th century

Country/Region of Origin: Chad, Central Africa

Location: Musée national de Gaoui, Chad

22. Tógu’nà, Mali

A Tógu’nà, or palaver hut, is a building commonly found in the center of the villages of the Dogon people of Mali. These palaver huts are built with a low roof so that visitors must be seated when inside. Tógu’nà’s are cool places to chill during the midday heat. They also serve as discussion rooms for elders, and the population to work out issues within the community.

Taarifa

Country/Region of Origin: Mali, West Africa

21. Palace of King Kwaku Dua of Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana

King Kwaku Dua of Kumasi was king over the Ashanti people of modern day Ghana. Today, not many buildings belonging to the Ashanti Empire stand. Pictured above in 1887 or 1896 is someone carrying produce and on the dampong is a European man. Commonly, on Ashanti land which was in West Africa houses were built with timber filled up with clay and thatched with sheaves of leaves.

Taarifa

Time period: 19th century

Country/Region of Origin: Ghana, West Africa

20. Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

Recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Great Zimbabwe is one of the more famous African buildings. Now ancient ruins, Great Zimbabwe was a strong kingdom in southern Africa.

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FACTS ABOUT AFRICAN HOUSES: some Germans and Portuguese believed that Great Zimbabwe had been a replica of the Queen of Sheba’s palace in Jerusalem!

Taarifa

Time period: 9th – 15 century CE

Country/Region of Origin: Zimbabwe, Southern Africa

Location: Great Zimbabwe Ruins

19. Ksour, Tunisia

There are many castles and large palaces like this one found in the Arab Maghreb, these ancient African houses were called: Ksour which generally means a Berber fortified village. The Berber of modern-day Tunisia lived in such places ever since the 1400s although Ksour may have been in existence ever since the 4th century!

Taarifa

Time period: 15th century or earlier

Country/Region of Origin: Tunisia, North Africa

18. The Sultan’s Palace, Tanzania

The Sultan’s Palace of Zanzibar was built in the 19th century to house the royal family of the sultanate of Zanzibar. The now semi-autonomous archipelagic province of Zanzibar was ruled for a time by the Omani sultanate. Following the 1964 Zanzibar revolution the palace was made into a government seat and renamed the Peoples’ Palace. Today, the African building serves as a museum of royal Zanzibari history.

Taarifa

Time period: 19th century

Country/Region of Origin: Tanzania, East Africa

Location: Peoples’ Palace Museum, Zanzibar, Tanzania

17. The Ancient Arsenal, Mozambique

This old building used to be an arsenal during Portugal colonial rule over modern-day Mozambique. Located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site this arsenal matches perfectly with the architecture on Ilha de Moçambique. Due to its long history as a trading port the island houses numerous cultures of African origins, notably Swahili but also of European and Asian origins.

Taarifa

Time period: c. 16th century

Country/Region of Origin: Mozambique, Southern Africa

Location: The Ancient Arsenal, Island of Mozambique

16. M’zab Valley Ksour, Algeria

These ancient African houses were homes to numerous Ibadites over 1000 years ago! Made to accommodate family and community, these structures in the M’zab valley were built around five ksour (Berber fortified cities). Twenty years after Algeria gained its independence, the area was made into a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Taarifa

Time period: 10th century

Country/Region of Origin: M’zab Valley, Algeria, North Africa

Location: M’zab Valley

15. Ghadames Edifices, Libya

The Old Town of Ghadamès, found in Libya, is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities. It is said that the area has been settled since the 4th millennium B.C.! In Ghadamès, many ancient objects and structures as well as a Roman- period defences and a grand mausolea remain intact today. Though, this “pearl of the desert” has been added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger due to natural impacts and neglect and the Libyan Civil War.

Taarifa

Time period: 4th millennium B.C. – 

Country/Region of Origin: Libya, North Africa

Location: Old Town of Ghadamès

14. Mogadishu Fishing Harbor, Somalia 

 

This is a photo of the old Mogadishu fishing harbour seen from the once treasured Aruba Hotel. Here it was photographed on the 6th of August in 2012, a year after the Al Shabaab terrorist organization withdrew from Mogadishu. Today, many coastal Somalians heavily rely on fishery. Re-building and re-generation work on such ancient structures in Somalia has long been put off because of ongoing conflict in certain regions of the country.

Taarifa

Country/Region of Origin: Somalia, East Africa

Location: The Mogadishu Fishing Harbour, Somalia

13. Zinder Courtyard of Sultans Palace Zinder, Niger

Here is an image of the courtyard of the Sultan’s Palace in Zinder. Founded in 1731, The Sultanate of Damagaram emerged out of the Kanem-Bornu Empire. It had conquered the entire region of western Bornu and became an important center of the Trans-Saharan trade. The Sultanate of Damagaram prospered for close to 200 years until, in 1899, French troop took its capital. During colonialism, peoples from all over Niger lost much of their heritage and culture. However, the Sultanate has continued to exist in a ceremonial function.

Taarifa

Time period: 18th century

Country/Region of Origin: Niger, West Africa

Location: Zinder, Niger

12. Massive hand hewn door cut from acacia trees, Mauritania

This is a door to the entrance of a Chinguetti building.Imagine if modern African houses were made using doors like these! In the past these African houses were made of acacia trees. This one is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata in Mauritania. Chinguetti was a Ksar and Trans-Saharan trading center for a long time since the 13th century. Now the territory’s ancient buildings are at a high risk of being swallowed by the Sahara desert sand.

Taarifa

Time period: c. 13th century 

Country/Region of Origin: Mauritania, West Africa

Location: Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata, Mauritania

11. A Notable’s Home, Mali

This building was the home of a notable in Djenné, present-day Mali. Here it is appears on a postcard photographed in 1906 during France’s colonial rule over the territory. The building has Toucouleur–style facade, of the Tukulor people.

Taarifa

Time period: c. 14th-17th century

Country/Region of Origin: Mali, West Africa

10. Tamnougalt Village, Morocco

The Tamnougalt Village in Morocco is an ancient dwelling found in the Atlas Mountains. The buildings make what is called a kasbah which is a citadel or the fortified quarter of a city. Pictured above, behind the kasbah, is a date palm oasis and  further back the magnificent mountain range. The period in time the Tamnougalt Village was built is unknown though it is suspected to have emerged during the 16th and 17th century.

Taarifa

Time period: unknown

Country/Region of Origin: Morocco, North Africa

Location: Tamnoulgalt, Morocco

9. Village on the Rock, Burkina Faso

This is a village built on a rock, in the West-African country of Burkina Faso. It is found near Mount Tenakourou ( Dyula: the hill of Tena) which is that highest point in the country. It is located at the border of the Cascades region near the source of the Black Volta River or Mouhoun. From the top of the mountain the countries of Mali, Ivory Coast and of course Burkina Faso can be seen.

Taarifa

Country/Region of Origin: Burkina Faso, West Africa

Location: Near Mount Tenakourou, Burkina Faso

8. Odumata’s Sleeping Room, Ghana

Written on this drawing of an ancient African house is: Odumata’s Sleeping Room. Odumata was an old Ashanti aristocrat at the time of this drawing, which was in 1818. The bedrooms of Ashanti people like Odumata, were decorated in gold and silver ornaments. On their five-foot high beds were found piles of large silk-cotton pillows. The artist even described the room of a certain King of Gaman having steps of solid gold to ascend to his bed.

Taarifa

Time period: c. 17th – 19th century

Country/Region of Origin: Ghana, West Africa

Current Location (of the drawing): American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA

7. The Friday Mosque of Chinguetti, Mauritania

The Friday Mosque of Chinguetti is one of the oldest structures of the modern world. This building was constructed in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Its minaret, towers on which islamic prayers are said, is said to be the second oldest (still in use) in the muslim world. Both the mosque and minaret are widely considered national emblems of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Today the place has an oilfield named after it.

Taarifa

Time period: 13th or 14th century

Country/Region of Origin: Mauritania, West Africa

Location: Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata, Mauritania

6. King Andrianampoinimerina’s Palace, Madagascar

MAURO Didier © Wikipedia – Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Pictured above is the entrance to King Andrianampoinimerina’s Palace found in present-day Madagascar. This gate was part of the fortified town in the kingdom of Imerina. The stone disk, or vavahady, served as a door to protect the town wall. At the time, the gate could only be operated by a team of men ready to roll the vavahady every day and night.

Taarifa

Time period: 18th century

Country/Region of Origin: Madagascar, East Africa

Location: The Royal Hill of Ambohimanga

5. Manyema Settlement, Tanzania

A drawing made in 1876 of a Manyema village. The WaManyema, as they are also called, originated from the southeast of the Congo Basin. In 19th century, because of the growing market for trade, slave trade in particular, many Manyema people started to migrate to Dar es Salaam in the coast of colonial Tanzania.

Taarifa

Time period: 1876

Country/Region of Origin: Tanzania, East Africa

4. Ingoro Yumwami, Rwanda

This building is located in the Rwandese town of Nyanza. It is a reconstruction of the traditional royal residence of King Mutara III. In the 19th century the King, and his kingdom, had settled in Nyanza which used to be the heart of Rwanda. There is a time when the village had close to 2,000 inhabitants!

Taarifa

Time period: 19th century

Country/Region of Origin: Rwanda, East Africa

Location: King’s Palace Museum, Nyanza, Rwanda

3. Church of the Debre Damo Monastery, Ethiopia

Pictured here is one of the oldest African buildings still standing! This is a Church of the Debre Damo Monastery in the Ethiopian Tigray Region. It was founded by the Abuna Aregawi in the 6th century! The monastery has an extensive collection of manuscripts and is known to be the most ancient authentic Ethiopian church.

Ulijua? 

FACTS ABOUT AFRICAN HOUSES: You can only get to the Debre Damo monastery by climbing up a cliff with a rope!! The Debre Damo is also the name of a flat top mountain in the region.

Taarifa

Time period: 6th century

Country/Region of Origin: Ethiopia, East Africa

Location: Debre Damo, Tigray Region, Ethiopia

2. Besakana, Madagascar

Besaka was an ancient African house found in the Highlands of Madagascar. Such homes were reserved for the aristocratic population of the time, the Marina aristocrats. This one in particular was located in the Rova complex in Antananarivo. Unfortunately, the besakana destroyed by fire in 1995.

Taarifa

Time period: 18th century

Country/Region of Origin: Madagascar, East Africa

1. House of Wonders, Tanzania

The House of Wonders was a palace built by the Sultan Barghash in 1883. It is the tallest biulding of Stone Town, Zanzibar. Today the house serves as the Museum of History and Culture of Zanzibar and he Swahili Coast. In the House of Wonders are found histories of East Africa, and most of all of the Swahili and Zanzibari cultures of the region.

Taarifa

Time period: 1883 

Country/Region of Origin: Tanzania, East Africa

Location: Museum of History & Culture of Zanzibar & the Swahili Coast, Zanzibar, Tanzania

 

This post was all about Ancient African Houses.

 

13. Zinder Courtyard of Sultans Palace Zinder, Niger

8. Odumata’s Sleeping Room, Ghana

4. Ingoro Yumwami, Rwanda

King’s Palace – Visit Rwanda. www.visitrwanda.com/interests/kings-palace/.