Hamdullahi (; also ''Hamdallahi'' or ''Hamdallaye''. From the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: ''Praise to God'') is a town in the

Mopti Region Mopti (Fula language, Fulfulde: 𞤁𞤭𞥅𞤱𞤢𞤤 𞤃𞤮𞥅𞤩𞤼𞤭𞥅, transliterated ''Diiwal Moobti'') is the fifth administrative region of Mali, covering 79,017 km2. Its capital is the city of Mopti. During the Mali War, ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. In the 19th century, it was the capital of the Fula empire of Massina. Founded around 1820 by Seku Amadu. On March 16, 1862, the town fell to the Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall after three major battles that claimed over 70,000 lives. Umar Tall destroyed the city, marking the effective end of the Massina Empire. The ruins of the abandoned town are located 21 km southeast of Mopti, at a site lying to the east of the Bani River and to the west of the Bandiagara plateau. The link is to a pdf containing the whole issue. Need to scroll down to page 24 for article. The town was encircled by sun-dried

mudbrick Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

walls and covered an area of 244 hectares (604 acres). The town walls and some of the street layout are clearly visible on satellite images provided by Google. The mosque and Seku Amadu’s palace were located side by side in the centre of the town. They were also constructed of sun-dried bricks, except for the enclosing walls of the palace, which were of stone. The mosque has been rebuilt and reopened in 2004. In French.

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