The DOGON People of West Africa

[Annie]

The DOGON people of West Africa were among the tribal groups that moved away from the Nile valley to settle in the mountainous areas of west Africa, over 3000 years ago. This had uttered the ancient way of life of the tribal nationality which is now part of Mali.

The initial settlements of the Dogan people was around the Bandiagara region. The Dogon people had in ancient times, excelled in many artistic cultures(like the Igbo Ukwu civilization), including architecture, mining, ancient science, especially astrology and medicine. According to the encyclopedia Britannica, " the earliest known textiles in sub-saharan Africa are the baste fibre fragments of/[from] Igbo Ukwu (9th century AD), and clothes found in Tellem caves of the Bandiagara region of Mali(11th century or earlier).
'None of these artistic manifestations appear as a beginning of any kind; each appears as fully developed in style.'

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The Dogon had moved away from the Nile civilization, wandering around the desert to settle in the Soudan(west Africa) , starting from 3100 BCE. This was as a result of the onslaughts of nomadic groups from western Asia, who had began to take over the coastal areas of north Africa from the Nile delta, moving westward, towards leptis magna, in what is today Libya and then Algeria.

It was around this time that the vast sea which was about the size of France, around where we have the Sahara today, eventually dried up, giving rise to unrest and wandering groups, that moved restlessly, not building settled societies in stone as they used to, but constructing makeshift shelters that over time became a part of the traditional architecture of some groups; a situation that was to remain a part of those who survived, into the early medieval era and at the time western Europe arrived Africa in search of proceeds to develop Western Europe, out of the remaining dire effects of the 'dark ages'; a period when, after the fall of Rome, Europe degenerated back to primitive life (c. 565-1095).

According to Historian, Chancellor Williams (in 'The destruction of black civilization', which is a book all Africans need to read), "these tremendous victories of the white men were not achieved by conquest. It was achieved by default, on the side of a race, too preoccupied with the immediate present and less with its future."

This situation has not changed very much with most of the tribal groups around Africa, that were dispersed from the Nile valley.

The Dogon people had(like the ancient Nabataean of what is present day Jordan) developed a culture of settling in secluded places like mountainous regions and Oasis around the Sahara, that were not linked to the trans-saharan trade routes from the 2nd century CE to the 12th century CE until the time of Askia Mohammed, Emperor of the Songhai empire.

Their seclusion was intentional; as they chose places that they might never be bothered again; probably going by their past experiences in the Nile valley.

[Homachi]

I've read about them somewhere, actually. They were constantly being attacked by tribal war lords so they intentionally separated themselves where no one could reach them.

Thanks for sharing.