DJENN

also spelled Jenne, or Dienn, ancient trading city and centre of Muslim scholarship, in southern Mali. It is situated on the floodlands of the Niger and Bani rivers, 220 miles (354 km) southwest of Timbuktu. Djenn was founded in the 13th century and served as an entrept between the traders of the central and western Sudan and those of Guinea's tropical forests. It was captured in 1468 (or 1473) by the Songhai emperor Sonni 'Ali. The city benefited both from its direct connection by river with Timbuktu and from its situation at the head of the trade routes to the gold mines of Bitou (now in Cte d'Ivoire), to Lob, and to Bour; it was also an important entrept for salt. By the mid-17th century, Djenn was known as a centre of Muslim learning. The city was besieged after 1818 and subsequently subdued by the Fulani ruler of Macina, Shehu Ahmadu Lobbo, who expelled those inhabitants of whose form of Muslim worship he disapproved. About 1861 Djenn was conquered by the Tukulor emperor al-Hajj 'Umar and was occupied by the French in 1893. Thereafter, its commercial functions were taken over by the town of Mopti, which is situated at the confluence of the Niger and Bani rivers to the north. Djenn is now an agricultural trade centre, of diminished importance, with several examples of Muslim architecture, including a large mosque. Pop. (1987 prelim.) 11,792.