Takedda

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Location of Takedda in Niger

Takedda , also Tegidda ( Tamascheq , "source"), is a ruined city 140 km west-northwest of Agadez in Niger near the present-day town of Azelik , which is in the municipality of Ingall . In the Middle Ages, the place next to the Fessan was the most important stage of the Trans-Saharan route between Gao and Egypt .

According to radiocarbon dating , as early as the 1st millennium BC Chr. Or even earlier in Takedda copper processed. The city was visited by Ibn Battuta in 1353 on the occasion of his return from Mali to Morocco . The world traveler characterizes the place as a trading town, ignores the nearby salt pans , but mentions the export of copper . According to his report, the copper was exported from here to Gobir , Zaghay ( Katsina ) and Bornu . According to the news from al-Umari and Ibn Chaldun , the place was part of the Mali Empire in the 14th century . It is likely that the medieval sources confused Takedda with Tadmekka, today's Essouk in Mali ( Kidal region ) and that the Mali Empire never extended to Takedda.

The establishment of Agadez around 1430 led to a competitive situation between the two cities. Takedda was finally attacked and completely destroyed by Agadez in the second half of the 15th century. The inhabitants withdrew to Ingall, 80 km further south. Copper processing also ended around this time, either because the ore deposits were exhausted or there was no more fuel.

The name of the trading town survives in that of the village of Tegguida-n-Tessoum , 16 km west-southwest of Azelik. In 1957 a uranium deposit was discovered near Takedda , which has been exploited by the Azelik uranium mine since 2010 .

Today's track from Tamanrasset in Algeria to Tahoua and Niamey in Niger leads via Tegguida-n-Tessoum and Ingall.

literature

  • Pierre Gouletquer and Suzanne Bernus (eds.): Program archéologique d'urgence: In Gall-Tegidda n Tesemt , Niamey 1979.
  • Djibo Hamani: Le sultanat touareg de l'Ayar , Niamey 1989 (here pp. 95–190).
  • Dierk Lange: Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa , Dettelbach 2004 (here pp. 522-534).
  • Rudolf Fischer: Gold, Salt and Slaves. The history of the great Sudan empires of Gana, Mali and Son Ghau . Edition Erdmann, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-522-65010-7
  • Raymond Mauny: Tableau géographique de l'Ouest Africain au Moyen Age, d'après les sources ècrites, la Tradition et l'archéologie . Dakar 1961.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rudolf Fischer, Gold, Salz und Sklaven, p. 146 f.
  2. ^ Répertoire National des Communes (RENACOM) . Institut National de la Statistique website, accessed November 8, 2010.
  3. ↑ so the French prehistoric , Raymond Mauny, who assumes that there is coincidence between the ancient city of Takedda and today's Azelik.
  4. ↑ Raymond Mauny, Tableau géographique de l'Ouest Africain, p. 140 f.
  5. ↑ Roland Oliver (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Africa. Volume 3, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1977, p. 265
  6. ^ Eugenia W. Herbert: Red Gold of Africa. Copper in Precolonial History and Culture. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1984, p. 16
  7. ^ Uranium in Niger. World Nuclear Association, June 2013, accessed June 26, 2013 .
  8. ^ First uranium from Niger mine. World Nuclear News, January 4, 2011, accessed June 26, 2013 .

Coordinates: 17 ° 31 '  N , 6 ° 46'  E