Content deleted Content added
→History: ce |
→History: format wl Tag: Disambiguation links added |
||
Line 75:
An important trans-Saharan route began at [[Sijilmasa]] and passed through [[Taghaza]] with its salt mines and ended at Oualata. The French historian Raymond Mauny estimated that in the [[Middle Ages]] the town would have accommodated between 2000 and 3000 inhabitants.{{sfn|Mauny|1961|p=485}}
Moroccan explorer [[Ibn Battuta]] found the inhabitants of Oualata were Muslim and mainly Massufa, a section of the [[Sanhaja]]. He was surprised by the great respect and independence that women enjoyed. He only gives a brief description of the town itself: "My stay at Iwalatan (Oualata) lasted about fifty days; and I was shown honour and entertained by its inhabitants. It is an excessively hot place, and boasts a few small date-palms, in the shade of which they sow watermelons. Its water comes from underground waterbeds at that point, and there is plenty of mutton to be had."{{sfn|Gibb|1929|p=320}} The town's original [[Mande]] name ''Biru'' had already shifted to the Berber ''Iwalatan'', a reflection of the changing identity of the residents. This would change again with the town's Arabization, and the development of the current name, Walata.{{sfn|Cleaveland|2002|p=37}}
From the second half of the fourteenth century [[Timbuktu]] gradually replaced Oualata as the southern terminus of the trans-Sahara route and it declined in importance, becoming an increasingly poor backwater in comparison to the previous wealth of the town.{{sfn|Levtzion|1973|p=80, 158}}{{sfn|Mauny|1961|p=432}} The Berber diplomat, traveller and author [[Leo Africanus]] visited the region in 1509–1510, and gives a description in his book ''[[Description of Africa (1550 book)|Descrittione dell’Africa]]'': "Walata Kingdom: This is a small kingdom, and of mediocre condition compared to the other kingdoms of the blacks. In fact, the only inhabited places are three large villages and some huts spread about among the palm groves."{{sfn|Hunwick|1999|p=275}} By that time, the composition of the kingdom seems to have changed to reflect a large [[Songhai language|Songhai]]-speaking population residing within the town. "The language of this region is called Songhai, and the inhabitants are black people, and the most friendly unto strangers." Oualata was a tributary of the [[Songhai Empire]]; also reflected within Africanus' book ''[[Description of Africa (1550 book)|Descrittione dell’Africa]]'' explaining "In my time this region was conquered by the king of Timbuktu and the prince of Oualata fled into the deserts, whereof the king granted him peace conditionally that he pay great yearly tribute and so the prince has remained tributary to the king of Timbuktu until this present."<ref>{{Cite book |author=Leo, Africanus |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/999621723 |title=The history and description of Africa and of the notable things therein contained |date=15 May 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-02892-5 |oclc=999621723}}</ref><ref>Today there is a deserted settlement called Tizert at a distance of 5 km from the town.</ref>
| |||