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- What is African architecture?
- What materials are commonly used in African architecture?
- How do different climates in Africa shape the way buildings are designed?
- What are some famous examples of traditional African buildings?
- How does African architecture reflect cultural beliefs and traditions?
- How has modern African architecture incorporated both traditional styles and new technologies?
African architecture, thearchitecture of Africa, particularly ofsub-Saharan Africa. InNorth Africa, where Islam and Christianity had a significant influence,architecture predominates among the visual arts. Included here are the magnificent mosques built of mud inDjenné andMopti inMali, the rock-hewn churches ofEthiopia, and the Islamic monuments of coastaleastern Africa. Discussions of architecture in sub-Saharan Africa focus chiefly on housing in villages, rural mosques, and the mélange of colonial and modern influences that characterize urban areas.
This article addresses the range of architectural styles in sub-Saharan Africa. For a technical exploration of architecture as an art and as a technique,seearchitecture. For a discussion of the visual art of Africa,seeAfrican art. For a discussion ofancient Egyptian architecture,seeEgyptian art and architecture. For atreatment of the later architecture ofEgypt and other parts of North Africa, which were heavily influenced by Islam,seeIslamic arts: Visual arts.
Of thebuildings of the continent south of theSahara, the ruins ofGreat Zimbabwe are perhaps the best known. This complex of stone enclosures, particularly those popularly termed the elliptical building and the acropolis, was built on sites established as early as the 3rd centuryce. The firstShona phase of building was probably begun six centuries later and continued until the 15th century, when, under theMwene Matapa, or “Ravager of the Lands,” Zimbabwe reached its peak.
The architectural forms of Great Zimbabwe, however, areatypical of many African architectural styles. The site has a massive defensive wall and, included in the elliptical building, a conical tower of unknown purpose. It is also monumental in scale, having functioned as a royalcitadel, and it has become a national symbol. While some of these features can be found in other examples of African building, they are rare, and the emphasis on Zimbabwe has overshadowed the greatdiversity of materials, forms, purposes, and uses characteristic of architecture elsewhere in Africa.
The Arab and Amazigh (Berber) architecture of Egypt and North Africa has had an impact on African architecture south of the Sahara. Similarly, the states of thePersian Gulf and theRed Sea have influenced architectural types inSudan, theHorn of Africa, and the coasts ofKenya and Tanzania, where the Muslim presence has also been strong. These influences are discussed below (see belowInfluences of Islam and Christianity).
General characteristics
African architecture reflects the interaction of environmental factors—such as natural resources, climate, and vegetation—with the economies and population densities of the continent’s various regions. As stone is the most durable of building materials, some ancient stone structures survive, while other materials havesuccumbed to rain, rot, or termites. Stone-walledkraals from earlySotho andTswana settlements (South Africa and Botswana) and stone-lined pit circles with sunken kraals for pygmy cattle (Zimbabwe) have been the subject of archaeological study. Stone-corbeledshelters and circularhuts with thatched roofs were also recorded in the 20th century among the southern Sotho. Rectangular and circular stone farmhouses, unusual in being two stories, have been built by theTigre of Eritrea and Sudan for centuries, while inNiger someTuareg build square houses in stone.
Such exceptions apart, theoverwhelming majority of Africa’s thousands of peoples in rural areas build in grasses, wood, and clay. Because of the impermanence of many of these materials, existing buildings, though based on forms many centuries old, are of relatively recent date. Where vegetation is largely confined to thin grazing cover, peoples are often nomadic, using tents of animal skins and woven hair for shelter. In theveld and less-forested areas, grasses are used as building material as well, being employed widely for thatch and mat roof coverings. Hardwoods in forest regions are used for building, as are bamboo and raffiapalm. Earth and clay are also major building resources. Characteristic soils of Africa include semidesert chestnut earths andlaterites (reddish residuals of rock decay), which are often low in fertility but easily compacted. Earth-sheltered houses are made by the Iraqw of Tanzania, and a number of peoples in Mali andBurkina Faso have partly sunken dwellings.
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- Africa
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- African arts
Ecological anddemographic factors play an important part in building design. Soil erosion and overgrazing, as well as pressure on land as a result ofpopulation growth, have also contributed to migratory movements. The growth of urban centres led to wide-scale migration in the 20th and 21st centuries, and these migrations have had a profound effect on the dispersal of house types.