Kumbi Saleh – Ghana Empire Harbour City, Mauritania
Kumbi Saleh entrepôt · Ghana Empire capital harbour
Ghana to Almoravid (c. 500–1200 CE)·Soninke Ghana / Almoravid / Wagadu·🇲🇷 Hodh Ech Chargui, Néma, Mauritania
About
About Kumbi Saleh – Ghana Empire Harbour City, Mauritania
Kumbi Saleh, reputed capital of Ghana (Wagadu) at the southern Sahara, was a caravan harbour city linking Aoudaghost to Niger with moated stone harbour town 15 ha and silted sahel lake harbour basin 300×200 m now dune-sealed 2 km east. Thomassey–Bonnet (1914–1980) mapped dry-stone mosque, Al-Bakri–described king's town 6 km away, and harbour basin with Almoravid coin hoard and 11th c. CE glass at 1 m under sebkha silt. The Dar Tichitt–Aoukar lake system that fed harbour dried after 1200 CE, stranding caravan harbour 40 km from water; the city's 50-ha outer settlement anchors Sahel urbanism.
Why it mattersOnly Ghana Empire harbour with intact moated stone town; Al-Bakri–matched basin anchors Sahel–Sahara caravan and lake-level chronology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether Kumbi was capital or southern merchant harbour of Ghana
Theories
- 01Sahel lake drying after 1200 killed harbour and forced Koumbi shift to Walata
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 500 CE (Ghana harbour city); mosque 9th c.
- Period
- Ghana to Almoravid (c. 500–1200 CE)
- Culture
- Soninke Ghana / Almoravid / Wagadu
- Purpose
- Trans-Saharan harbour – gold from Bure, salt from Aoukar, traded via Aoudaghost to Sijilmasa
- Abandoned
- c. 1200 CE (sahel desiccation and Almoravid conquest)
- Rediscovered
- 1914 Bonnel de Mézières; 1970s Berthier stone town; 1980 Bonnet harbour basin
- Excavation
- Buried
500 CE
Kumbi Saleh caravan harbour town founded
1076 CE
Almoravid sack per Al-Bakri; harbour silt pulse
1914
Thomassey maps stone mosque and harbour basin
On the ground
Structures & features
15.7670° N · 7.9670° W · 88 m · 3 mapped features
Moated Stone Harbour Town
harbour15 ha moated stone town – dry-stone enclosure with mosque at Kumbi Saleh – Ghana Empire Harbour City, Mauritania
15.7670° N · 7.9670° WSebkha Harbour Basin
harbour300×200 m sebkha basin dune-sealed 2 km east – Almoravid coin hoard at Kumbi Saleh – Ghana Empire Harbour City, Mauritania
15.7690° N · 7.9650° WOuter Settlement (King's Town)
complex50 ha outer settlement 6 km away – Al-Bakri king's town at Kumbi Saleh – Ghana Empire Harbour City, Mauritania
15.7720° N · 7.9700° W