Koumbi Saleh

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Koumbi Saleh was the capital of the Ghana Empire. It lies in what is now south east Mauritania.

Koumbi Saleh dates back to the third century CE, when its Mandé founders and neighboring Sanhaja Berbers controlled the trade routes between Koumbi Saleh, Aoudaghost, and Timbuctu. In the seventh century, the Ghana Empire rose to dominate the region, with Koumbi Saleh as its capital.

By the eleventh century, it had a population of about 30,000, making it one of the largest on the continent. It consisted of two centres. The northern centre was known for its twelve mosques, while the southern, known as al-Ghala, was home to the royal palace surrounded by a small, planned settlement. Residential suburbs lay between the two centres. However, in 1076, the Sanhaja Berbers again moved south to the city, this time razing it, and with it, most of its documented records. As a result of this destruction, accounts of the city of Ghana as it were, are mainly those of Arab or Berber visitors and travellers.

In the early thirteenth century, the Sosso king Soumaoro Kanté of the Takrur region used the city as a base of operations for his army. The city was later abandoned, then rediscovered in 1913 and opened as an archeological site.