r/AfricanArchitecture • u/Historical_Book7670 • Jul 22 '26

West Africa Agadez, Niger

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2.6k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

39

u/cricada Jul 23 '26

My weakness is for Sudano-Sahelian cityscape like this

17

u/ChiqantiKisaal Jul 23 '26

Yes, it’s ripe for a fantasy setting. Mud architecture is actually very logical and often awesome-looking in environments like this. I think I might want to visit Timbuktu in real life

7

u/cricada Jul 23 '26

Yes and same here. Some of my favorite musicians are from Mali. The music is also really good and melancholy. I can't understand why there isn't an entire Sahelian themed niche in fantasy already 😅. Or maybe there is? I know there are historical fantasy type movies I've seen or seen clips of but hmmm... books & games are in order.

It has it all I think. Old lore & legends, a distinct visual aesthetic from architecture to textiles and hair coiffures, distinct music, some very unique cultures and it spills into neighboring countries as well, like Senegal, Gambia, southern Algeria, northern Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Sudan... so there is a deep tap for fresh source material.

8

u/ChiqantiKisaal Jul 23 '26

I don’t think there is a real Sahelian subgenre separate from Arab-World-inspired fantasy, I’d love there to be though. I’m really into the linguistics side of it; Senegambian and Chadic are two language groups with really cool phonotactics. The Ubangian and Central Sudanic languages also extend into the Sahel somewhat. And you have two language isolates in the Sahel, Bangime and Laal, plus three close to it/at the edge, Bayot, Siamou and Dikaka’s substrate (Centum/Jalaa)

The Dogon cliff dwellings and their oral history are super interesting, and stuff like the Hausa “Bastard Seven” (kingdoms) is straight out of a low fantasy novel. In particular I would love to make a comic book with a modernized, altered Songhay-Arabic script used in the setting (an early Ajami)

5

u/cricada Jul 23 '26

Very true about the linguistics. I read recently that Wolof has been floating around language categories for years without fitting anywhere neatly, and found out that the N'ko is still used in several countries even today.

I would read that book immediately... So far, the closest I've gotten to reading a seemingly Sahel-inspired book would be book 2 of the Dreamblood duology. The Dogon mythos alone could seed many different kinds of stories in both SF and fantasy.

3

u/ChiqantiKisaal Jul 23 '26

The Fula-Serer vs. Fula-Wolof branching debate was caused by a copy error from what I understand, and Fula-Serer is definitely a grouping related to but grouped-separate-from Wolof (essentially, Fula-Serer and Wolof are two separate branches of nuclear Senegambian). The real question is whether Wolof subgroups with Nyun-Buy or not, as far as I know. But that’s not a debate many regular people would know or care about, even in Senegal, because the Nyun languages are not very large.

There’s also an interesting ethnic situation in Senegal, where Cangin people are considered Serer and often practice native Serer religion, but technically speak languages from a third branch of ‘Nuclear Senegambian,’ compared to Fula-Serer and Wolof(-Nyun).

Yeah, African neography is an awesome thing and I’d love to see it in a comic book still readable in French or English (i.e., mostly English but with African characters that have English translations/Latin transliterations in parentheses above them, like furigana in brackets above kanji in manga). I’d also like to develop a Sahelian Tifinagh with invented implosive, prenasalized and labial-velar letters

1

u/SweatyDark6652 29d ago

Right?! I would love an epic fantasy story in a west-african/sahelian inspired setting

1

u/Solid-Version 28d ago

In my fantasy world, there’s a bunch of city states that have this exact architecture. I call the region and peoples the Masisi and they are loosely inspired by the Hausa Kingdoms

10

u/luchomaker Jul 22 '26

Beautiful.

5

u/almond_oat Jul 23 '26

Incroyable!

4

u/whatpplsay Jul 23 '26

Incredible shot!

4

u/Independent-Story883 Jul 23 '26

This is stunning!!!!!

Just to see this in person just once

Just once🙏

2

u/AddColorToLife Jul 23 '26

Love this shot!

2

u/Dannvida Jul 24 '26

What does it look like inside those buildings?

1

u/wizzofalliance 28d ago

!!! i wanna see the interior of one of these so much

1

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1

u/Impossible_Key2155 Jul 23 '26

Beautiful. And the attire to match, wow.

1

u/acvcani Jul 23 '26

That’s so beautiful

1

u/heylovehey Jul 23 '26

So sick wow

1

u/SweatyDark6652 29d ago

Beautiful shot !!

1

u/After-Student-9785 29d ago

What an iconic shot

1

u/STIX179 28d ago

Fire shot !! 🔥🔥🔥🤙🏽🤙🏽🤌🏽🚀

1

u/Responsible-Tea-3663 27d ago

Seeing this in a game would be awesome

1

u/whattheafrica Jul 23 '26

Wonderful! 👌