Monuments are important parts of our lives as they let us into several historical facts. There are several monuments in Africa that you probably never had an idea about. In this article, we have brought you a few monuments you should know about.
The great wall of Benin
This wall is considered by historians as the most important architectural works in the history of man. If you are wondering why, here are a few reasons. Here’s one, it was 16,000km long, this means it was four times longer than the Great Wall of China. It was constructed by the people of Edo Civilization between 800 and 1890 AD in the southern part of Nigeria. The Great Wall of Benin has a lot of history you should definitely check out. The wall was destroyed during the Punitive Expeditions by the British when a lot of artifacts were looted or burned.
Kano City Walls
These walls were built by the people of Kano, Nigeria between 1095 and 1134 AD as a means of protection against enemies. It was later expanded in the fourteenth century to a height of 50 feet. Kano is a very important city when it comes to the history of the Hausa tribe of Northern Nigeria. This wall is one of UNESCO’s heritage sites. Some parts of the over a thousand-year-old wall are currently destroyed.
Debre Damo monastery and church
This is one of Ethiopia’s most cherished monasteries and it was built in the sixth century during the reign of King Gebre Meskel. You have to scale a cliff of 15m to get to the monastery. You have a thick leather rope you can climb with and a second line is tied around your torso by the monks so they can help pull you up. Actually, everything about the Debre Damo was magnificent, especially with respect to its location.
Library of Alexandria
This library used to be one of the largest in the world. It was constructed between 285 and 246 BC in Egypt and at that time it had about 400,000 books. The works of several European greats found their way to this library, including Plato, Homer, and Socrates. The fire is suspected to have been burnt down accidentally by Julius Caesar during the 48 BC civil war. It is amazing that no architectural remains that could link up to the library have been found.
