In Western and central parts In Africa, we have identified two tourist mesoregions, which are parts of the macroregion Central and Southern Africa. The West African tourist mesoregion includes nine countries (Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria), the Central African tourist mesoregion - seven countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, DR Congo , Congo, Angola). Both tourist mesoregions are characterized by natural and cultural exoticism, while West Africa also has World Cultural Heritage sites.

West Africa is characterized by a surprising interweaving of three cultures based on Islam, Christianity and local traditional beliefs. Central Africa is distinguished by the dominance of local traditional culture with the island nature of Christian (Catholic and Protestant) culture. In Western and Central Africa, the peoples of the Niger-Congo group (including Bantu) of the Niger-Kordofan family predominate. This group also includes the Fulani and Wolof peoples living in the far west of Africa - in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Since the 14th century The name of a large geographical region of Africa is known: Guinea. The most likely hypothesis is that this name is a corruption of the Berber iguawen (“dumb”) - this is how the Berbers called their southern black neighbors who did not understand their language. Currently, two West African states bear this name: the Republic of Guinea (245.9 thousand sq. km, 9.8 million people in 2008) and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau (36.1 thousand sq. km, 1.5 million people in 2008).

Republic of Sierra Leone(71.7 thousand sq. km, 6.3 million people in 2008), which declared independence in 1961, retains the name that appeared in the 15th century. Portuguese navigators called the country Sierra da Lioa (“ridge of the lioness”) for the resemblance of one of the local mountains to a lying lioness. The name was later corrupted into Sierra Leone ("lion mountains").

Republic of Liberia occupies an area of ​​97.8 thousand square meters. km, the population in 2008 was 3.3 million people. In 1822, in the United States, a colony of freed American blacks was founded on lands acquired in Africa and called it Liber (from the Latin liber “free, independent”). In 1847, the Republic of Liberia was proclaimed.

Republic of Cote d'Ivoire occupies an area of ​​322.5 thousand square meters. km, the population in 2008 was 20.2 million people. In the XVI-XVII centuries. Portuguese navigators gave one of the sections of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea the name Coast Ivory for his wealth in this valuable commodity. IN late XIX V. The French colony founded here received the name Côte d’Ivoire (“ivory coast”). The state that gained independence in 1960 retained the same name. However, other states used translated forms of this name, and the Russian version was adopted - Ivory Coast. Since 1985, the name of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire has been transcribed.

Republic of Ghana(238.5 thousand sq. km, 23.4 million people in 2008) after the declaration of independence in 1957, it took the name of the state that existed here from the 4th to the 13th centuries. One of the titles of the ruler of the state was gana (“military commander”). From this title he received his name main city states, and then the whole country. During colonial times, this territory was called the Gold Coast. It was given back in the 15th century. the Portuguese, who exported from here gold mined in neighboring lands.

Togolese Republic occupies an area of ​​56.8 thousand square meters. km, the population in 2008 was 5.9 million people. The name of the country, Togo, means “the area on the other side of the lagoon” in the Ewe language. The German colony founded here in 1884 began to bear this name.

Republic of Benin(112.7 thousand sq. km, 8.5 million people in 2008) accepted its modern name in 1975 in honor of the feudal kingdom of Edo-Bini (from the ethnonyms Edo and Bini), which existed in the 12th-19th centuries. Initially, the republic, which declared independence in 1960, bore the name Dahomey, known since the 17th century, the origin of which is not established.

Federal Republic of Nigeria(923.8 thousand sq. km, 146.3 million people in 2008) received its name from the Niger River, which flows through the territory of the state in its lower reaches. Moreover, the word negroes comes from Spanish and Portuguese languages(negro – “black”), and it became common name African peoples living south of the Sahara.

Republic of Cameroon(475.4 thousand sq. km, 18.5 million people in 2008) got its name from the hydronym. In the 1480s. Portuguese navigators landed at the mouth of the Vuri River, where they discovered
lived a large number of shrimp and therefore called the river Rio dos Camarones - “river of shrimp”.

Your name Central African Republic(622.4 thousand sq. km, 4.4 million people in 2008) received thanks to its geographical location in the center of the African continent. During colonial times, as a possession, this land bore the name Ubangi-Shari (until 1958) after the names of two local rivers flowing into the Congo River and Lake Chad.

Republic of Equatorial Guinea(28.1 thousand sq. km, 616 thousand people in 2008) carries given name since independence in 1968. Before that, it was a possession and was called Spanish Guinea. The territory of the state is part of the geographical region of Guinea and, at the same time, its island part is intersected by the equator.

Gabonese Republic occupies an area of ​​267.7 thousand square meters. km, the population in 2008 was 1.5 million people. The name Gabon is of Portuguese origin. Portuguese navigators in 1472 named one of the local bays and the river flowing into it Gabao (“cloak”). This name is associated both with the shape of the bay and with the river, which flowed under the canopy of dense thickets. Later this name, in the form Gabon, came to be applied to the entire territory.

Democratic Republic of the Congo(capital - Kinshasa) occupies an area of ​​2 million 345 thousand square meters. km, the population in 2008 was 66.5 million people. The Republic of Congo (capital - Brazzaville) occupies an area of ​​342.0 thousand square meters. km, the population in 2008 was 3.9 million people. The name Congo, which is used by two republics in Central Africa, comes from the river that flows through both states. The Kongo (Bakongo) people live in the lower reaches of this river. There is also a second name for the river – Zaire, which means “big river”. This river name was used from 1971 to 1997 in modern Democratic Republic Congo (with its capital in Kinshasa), at that time called the Republic of Zaire, and in colonial times - the Belgian Congo (Kinshasa was then called Leopoldville). Congo, with its capital in Brazzaville, was called French Congo before gaining independence in 1960.

Name Republic of Angola(1 million 246.7 thousand sq. km, 12.5 million people in 2008) comes from the state that existed on its territory in the 15th-17th centuries. and called by the name of its supreme ruler Ngola. The Portuguese, who invaded in the 16th century, began to call their colony Angola.

Total within Western and Central Africa 18 sites are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, of which only 6 are cultural monuments.

105. World Heritage Sites in Africa

Africa had 115 World Heritage sites in 2008, or 12.8% of the world's total. According to this indicator, it was inferior not only to foreign Europe and foreign Asia, but also Latin America, however, in terms of the number of countries in which they are identified (33), it ranks second. In terms of the number of World Heritage sites on the continent, Tunisia and Morocco (8 each), Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa (7 each), and Tanzania (6) stand out.

Africa is also dominated by objects cultural heritage, of which there are 75. It is most expedient to distribute them into the following four eras: 1) ancient, 2) Ancient Egypt, 3) antiquity in North Africa and 4) the Middle Ages and modern times.

Ancient era is represented here by four archaeological sites located on the territory of Ethiopia and Libya.

Heritage civilizations of ancient egypt on the UNESCO List is reflected in three world-famous historical and architectural monuments. Firstly, this is the area of ​​​​the city of Memphis, which was the capital of the country during the era of the Old Kingdom, with the necropolises surrounding it. Its core is the three “Great Pyramids” on the Cairo outskirts of Giza. Secondly, these are the remains of the second capital of Egypt - the city of Thebes, which was the capital during the eras of the Middle and New Kingdoms. This complex includes the temples of Karnak and Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs were buried. Thirdly, these are the monuments of Nubia from Abu Simbel to Philae, dating back to the era of the New Kingdom. Most of them had to be moved to another location during the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Actually, this is where the compilation of the List of World Heritage Sites began.

Ancient Heritage of North Africa represented by objects located in all countries of this subregion. They can be divided into Phoenician (Carthage and Kerkuan in Tunisia), ancient Greek (Cyrene in Libya) and ancient Roman, which include the ruins of cities in Algeria (Tipasa, Timgad, Dzhemila), in Tunisia (Dugga), in Libya (Sabratha, Leptis- Magna), in Morocco (Volubilis).

Cultural heritage sites Middle Ages And new times most numerous. Among them, one can highlight objects of Arab-Muslim culture in North Africa (Fig. 165). The most famous are the numerous Muslim monuments of Cairo in Egypt, Tunis and Kairouan in Tunisia, Algeria and the oasis of Mzab (Ghardaya) in Algeria, Marrakesh and Fez in Morocco. Another group is formed by the Christian monuments of Ethiopia - Axum, Gondar, Lalibela. And in sub-Saharan Africa, two more groups of objects stand out. One of them relates to West Africa and reflects the cultural heritage of the medieval civilizations of this part of the continent (for example, Timbuktu and Djenné in Mali) or the legacy of the colonial era with its slave trade (More Island in Senegal, Elmina in Ghana). Another group of objects belongs to Southeast Africa (Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Mozambique). The most famous of them is Great Zimbabwe.

Rice. 165. Objects of Arab-Muslim culture in North Africa

Objects natural heritage in Africa 36. These are mainly national parks and reserves, including such famous ones as the Serengeti, Ngoro-Ngoro and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Rwenzori in Uganda, Mount Kenya in Kenya, Virunga, Garamba and Okapi in the DR Congo, Nikolo-Koba in Senegal, Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa.

There are also facilities in Algeria, Mali and South Africa cultural and natural heritage. The most famous of them is the Algerian Tassilien-Ajjer with rock paintings of the ancient inhabitants of the Sahara.

AFRICA. UNESCO World Heritage

NATURAL HERITAGE

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

1 National Park Garamba.

Savannahs with swamps. Elephants, giraffes, hippos, white rhinos.

2 Virunga National Park.

From swamps to eternal snow (at an altitude of 5000 m), 20 thousand hippos. Wintering site for Siberian birds.

3 Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Thickets of tropical forest with two volcanoes. Mountain gorillas (250 individuals).

4 Victoria-Mosi-oa-Tunya Falls.

On the Zambezi River. Splashes of falling water form a curtain visible 20 km away.

ZIMBABWE

5 Mana Pools National Park, Sapi and Chevore reserves. Flooded plains along the banks of the river. Zambezi, home to elephants, buffalos, and leopards

6 Dja National Park. Wet virgin forests. There are 107 species of mammals.

7 Parks of Lake Turkana, the saltiest of the large African lakes. Habitat of the Nile crocodile.

COTE D'IVOIRE

8 Mount Nimba Nature Reserve.

22 thousand hectares of mountainous forested area, rising to a height of 1752a

9 Comoe National Park. One of the most extensive protected areas on the mainland (more than 1 million hectares).

10 Thai National Park. Virgin tropical forests. Inhabited by the pygmy hippopotamus and 11 species of monkeys

MAURITANIA

11 Banc d'Arguin National Park.

Sand dunes, marshy coasts, small islands.

12 Lake Malawi National Park

Several hundred species of fish.

13 Bandiagara Rocks. A unique landscape of a steep sandstone plateau, one of the most exotic places in all of West Africa.

14 Dzhuj Ornithological Reserve.

Delta river Senegal (16 thousand hectares). Millions of birds (white pelican, purple heron, etc.).

15 Niokolo-Koba National Park.

A fertile area characterized by a rich fauna: antelopes, lions, chimpanzees.

TANZANIA

16 Serengeti National Park.

wild nature savannas (1.5 million hectares). Antelopes, zebras, gazelles.

17 Ngorongoro territory. A huge crater is a haven for wild animals. The remains of a human ancestor (Homo habilis) were found nearby.

18 Ishkol National Park.

Lake Ishkol is a haven for migratory birds.

19 Rwenzori Mountains Park.

Rwenzori ridge with a height of 5109 m. Glaciers, waterfalls, lakes.

20 Bwindi National Park.

160 species of trees, 100 species of ferns. Mountain gorillas live.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

UNESCO WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES

1 Kasbah (old part) of the city of Algiers.

Ruins of the citadel, old mosques and palaces in the Turkish style (IV century BC,

2 The ancient city of Tipaza. A unique group of ruins of Phoenician, Roman, early Christian and Byzantine origin.

3 The ancient city of Dzhemila. An example of ancient Roman urban planning in a mountainous area.

4 Kala Beni Hammad. 1007-1152 The largest mosque in Algeria has survived.

5 Traditional buildings of the Ashanti people, a fairly advanced civilization. Houses made of wood, clay and straw (XVIII century).

6 Forts and castles of Ghana. Fortified cities founded in 1482-1786. by the Portuguese.

7 Early Christian monuments in Abu Mena. “Holy” city (III century) above the burial place of the martyr Menas of Alexandria.

8 Memphis and its necropolises - the region of the pyramids from Giza to Dahshur. A unique funerary complex (pyramids, tombs, temples carved into the rocks). One of the seven wonders of the world.

ZIMBABWE

9 Great Zimbabwe National Monument. Ruins of an ancient city (Xl-XVee.).

10 Ruins of Khami - a large trading city. Reached its heyday (XVI century) after the inhabitants left Great Zimbabwe.

11 Archaeological sites of Sabratha.

Phoenician trading city. Rebuilt by the Romans in the 11th-111th centuries.

12 Archaeological sites of Cyrene.

Before the earthquake of 365, a Greek colony. Its ruins were discovered in the 18th century.

13 Old part city ​​of Ghadames. One of the oldest cities in the region, built in an oasis.

14 The old part of the city Jen is not.

A 2,000-year-old Muslim city that grew rich from the gold trade.

15 Bandiagara Rocks (land of the Dogon).

Unique rock architecture (dwellings, altars, sanctuaries, etc.). Ancient Dogon traditions - holidays, rituals.

16 Islamic city of Tetouan. Tetouan

with Vllie. was link between Morocco and Spain.

17 Archaeological sites of Volubilis. In the 3rd century. BC e. the city was an outpost of the Roman Empire in Africa. The ruins of that time have been preserved.

18 Historical part of Meknes. Founded in the 10th century. In 1672-1727. was the capital of Morocco.

19 The old part of the city of Fez. Urban development of the 9th century. (madrassas, palaces, caravanserais, mosques, fountains).

20 Old part of Marrakech. Monuments of the XI-XII centuries. (Al-Kutubiya mosque, kasbah, fortress walls, gates, gardens, etc.), as well as later architectural buildings (Bahiya Palace, madrassah, Saadian tombs, etc.).

21 Island of Gore. In the XV-XIX centuries. was the largest slave trading center!

TANZANIA

22 Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songa Manara. Remains of two large ports that flourished in the 13th-16th centuries.

23 Islamic city of Tunisia. There are about 700 monuments in this part of the city. Palaces, mosques, mausoleums.

24 Ruins of Carthage. Based

in the 9th century BC e. The center of a powerful trading empire. In 146 BC. e. destroyed by the Romans.

25 The historical city of Kerkuan and its necropolis. Pristine ruins of a Phoenician city (250 BC).

26 Historic city of Kairouan. Founded in 670. Great Mosque and Mosque of the Three Gates (1X6.).

27 Amphitheater in El Jem.

Ruins of the largest (35 thousand spectators) amphitheater in North Africa (III century).

28 The ancient city of Aksum. Ruins of the capital of the Aksumite kingdom (I-XIII centuries).

29 Fasil Gebbi, near the city of Gondar. Residence of Ethiopian emperors in the 16th-17th centuries.

30 Rock churches in Lalibela.

Christian churches XIII V. Place of pilgrimage.

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

31 Remains of an ancient man

in Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdray and surrounding areas.

Africa is a huge continent with an area (with adjacent islands) of more than 30 million km2, which accounts for more than 22% of the inhabited landmass. Africa's population, which continues to grow rapidly due to the population explosion, will approach 900 million people in 2000. Such a scale in itself provides a very extensive springboard for the formation of World Heritage sites - both natural, especially taking into account the specifics of this continent, and cultural, reflecting the features of its historical development.

There are a total of 46 cultural heritage sites in Africa, located in 26 countries. All of them belong to the periods of ancient, ancient and medieval history of Africa. In this regard, it seems most logical to distribute information about these objects into the following four headings: 1) ancient era, 2) Ancient Egypt, 3) the era of antiquity in North Africa, 4) the era of the Middle Ages. In some cases, especially when describing the Middle Ages, it may be appropriate to adopt a sub-regional approach to presentation, reflecting primarily the differences between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Monuments of antiquity in North Africa

Ancient Heritage of North Africa

In the 2nd millennium BC. e. North Africa was inhabited by Libyan tribes living in a tribal system. At the end of the same millennium, the “peoples of the sea” appeared on its coast - first the Phoenicians, then the Greeks, who founded a number of their colonies here. Almost no material evidence remains from those ancient times. However, the World Heritage Sites include the ruins of the Phoenician Carthage and Kerkouan and the Greek Cyrene.

In the II century. BC e., after the collapse of Carthage, all of North Africa step by step fell under the rule of Rome. Both Numidia and Mauretania1 pass to it from Carthage, and in the east Cyrenaica joins, in the place of which the overseas provinces of the empire are created. This is how Roman Africa arose, stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea for two thousand kilometers. It was one of the most prosperous regions of the Roman Empire, reaching its peak in the 2nd century. n. e. The Romans built roads, bridges, aqueducts, dams, reservoirs and water pipelines in North Africa and, naturally, their cities. Most of them were either on the coast Mediterranean Sea and specialized in maritime trade, or on the southern borders of Roman possessions, which needed to be protected from attacks by local tribes.

The ruins of the Roman baths in Carthage have survived centuries

In total, there were several dozen such cities, and 11 of them, located on the territory of modern Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Libya, were included in the World Heritage List. Of course we're talking about about the ruins of these once flourishing cities, which is explained by the subsequent history of North Africa, which after the Romans was successively ruled by the Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, and Ottoman Turks. But what remains of these cities is of even greater historical and cultural value.

Monuments of Tunisia. Four Tunisian monuments dating back to Phoenician-Roman times are included in the World Heritage List. These are Carthage, Kerkuan, El-Jem and Dougga (Tugga).

Ruins of Carthage. Back in 1100 BC. e. The colony of Utica was founded by Phoenicians from the city of Tire on the shores of the Gulf of Tunisia they discovered. In 825, another group of colonists from Tire founded another colony nearby, which received the name New City (Kartadasht) and went down in history under the name of Carthage. The very birth of Carthage is surrounded by many legends associated with the Tyrian princess Dido (Elissa), which Virgil also talks about in his “Aeneid”.

Initially, the city arose on the coastal hill of Birsa, but then, as its size increased, it occupied the adjacent lands. Advantageously located on the isthmus between the sea and the lake, it quickly turned into the largest slave-owning city-state of the Western Mediterranean, which conducted extensive trade on this sea and itself owned many colonies on its shores. Ancient historians claimed that during its heyday the number of inhabitants reached 700 thousand people. Polybius, Strabo, Appian left descriptions of Carthage at that time.

However, three Punic (the Romans called the Carthaginians Punics) wars with Rome undermined the power of Carthage. During the third of these wars in 149-146. BC e. The Roman army of Scipio Africanus besieged Carthage for three years, and after its capture, by order of the Senate, destroyed the city to the ground. According to historical sources, it burned for sixteen days. Then, on the site of the destroyed city, a furrow was drawn with a plow, sprinkled with salt, as a sign that this place was cursed and from now on should never be reborn.

It is difficult to expect that after all this, and even after more than two millennia, any tangible traces of ancient Carthage could be preserved. They remained either under a thick layer of later sediments, or under the buildings of the modern city of Tunisia. Nevertheless, excavations that began here at the end of the 19th century have revealed some of the ruins of the original Carthage, primarily in the area of ​​Byrsa Hill and its old military harbor.

However, already under the Romans, Carthage experienced what is called the “second coming.” In 122 BC. e. The Roman Senate, at the suggestion of the people's tribune Gaius Gracchus, decided to restore Carthage, giving it a different name - Junonia. Already under Emperor Augustus, a new Roman city actually arose on the ruins of the Punic city, which then became the administrative center of the province of Africa. A few more traces of this city have been preserved - these are the ruins of the baths of Emperor Antoninus Pius, a large amphitheater, in the arena of which gladiators once fought, and now international arts festivals are held. Part of the 70-kilometer water pipeline that supplied the city also survived. drinking water.

However, we can also talk about the “third coming” of Carthage, which came after this city was taken by the Vandals in 429, who made it the capital of their kingdom. And even about his “fourth coming” - after in 553 he was again taken by storm by the Byzantine commander Belisarius and turned into the capital, this time of Byzantine Africa. And only in 698 Carthage was completely destroyed by the Arabs. They used the stones of dismantled ancient buildings to build the city of Tunisia, in the modern buildings of which traces of Carthage are no longer clearly visible. Although one of its oldest quarters, Tophet, considered sacred because it was here that the sacrifice of young children to the god Baal took place for centuries, has recently been partially restored in exact accordance with the original. Excavations in the suburbs of the city of Tunis continue.

El Jem Amphitheater. On the site of modern El Jem, located between the cities of Sousse and Sfax, during the era of the Roman Empire there was the city of Tisdrus, which reached its heyday in the 3rd century. n. e. Residential buildings with mosaics testify to that time, but first of all - a huge, well-preserved amphitheater, designed for 35 thousand spectators and second in size only to the Roman Colosseum. Constructed from large blocks of pink tuff, it is 150 m long and 36 m high. Three tiers of arcades, a podium, an arena, and underground galleries are well preserved. Scientists believe that due to the beginning of the crisis of the Roman Empire, the construction of this amphitheater was not completed.

Monuments of Algeria and Morocco. To the world cultural heritage includes three “dead” cities in Algeria. The most ancient of them is Tipasa, which existed in pre-Roman times, while Timgad and Dzhemila trace their ancestry back to the reign of Emperor Trajan. In Morocco there is the Roman city of Volubilis, which is in many ways similar to them.

Archaeological sites of Tipasa. Tipasa, located on the Mediterranean coast west of the city of Algiers, was first one of the first Phoenician colonies, then passed to Carthage, from it to Mauretania, and at the beginning new era began to belong to Rome.

From the Punic era, the remains of burials have been preserved here, from the Mauretanian era - a large royal mausoleum and fragments of fortress walls. But the Roman era is especially richly represented here: the structures of the city forum with the buildings of the curia, capitol and basilica, the main street - cardo, theater, large and small baths, amphitheater, residential buildings, necropolis were excavated. The ruins of rich Roman villas contain remains of frescoes.

Destroyed by the Arabs in the 7th century, Tipasa was never revived to a new life. Now its past can only be judged from the remaining ruins of the city and from the exhibits collected in the local museum.

Archaeological sites of Timgad. Timgad (ancient name Tamugadi, Roman - Colony of Marcian Trajan) was founded in 100 BC. e. under Emperor Trajan on the slope of the Ores mountain range to protect the southern borders of Roman Africa; its first inhabitants were veterans of one of the empire's legions. Timgad reached its heyday in the 2nd-3rd centuries. It was then that its architectural appearance took shape.

Initially, the city occupied a rectangular area surrounded by walls measuring 330 x 360 m and was laid out according to the usual model of a Roman military camp with intersecting main streets cardo and decuman, with a clear division into six blocks-quarters, each of which included 24 houses-insulas, with triumphal arches at the entrances to the main thoroughfares, with a forum, a capitol, a theater, and baths. The improvement of Timgad is evidenced by the fact that under its streets there were laid sewer pipes. The city had a large public library with a book depository and a reading room. Gradually, development began to expand beyond the fortress walls, behind which temples, markets, trade and craft districts also appeared, and in the 3rd century. These walls were completely demolished.

At the end of the Roman Empire, the city of Timgad became an important center of Christianity. A whole complex of early Christian buildings appeared here, including a basilica and a baptistery. However, in the 5th century. Timgad was destroyed by the Berbers. In the VI century. The Byzantines tried to restore it and built their fortress here. But in the 7th century. Timgad, finally destroyed by the Arab conquerors, was abandoned by its inhabitants. And what survived began to collapse under the influence of sand and wind.

Excavations in Timgad were started by French archaeologists in 1880, and now its ruins provide a fairly clear idea of ​​the appearance of this provincial Roman city. Here you can see the remains of the city forum, once decorated with statues, and the adjacent public buildings, a theater with 4 thousand seats. The thermal baths, which had pools for cold and hot water with mosaic floors. The same can be said about Trajan's three-span triumphal arch. It is not surprising that in terms of visibility and preservation, Timgad is often compared to the famous ruins of Pompeii in Italy. Many artifacts from Roman antiquity are exhibited in the local archaeological museum.

Numerous well preserved ancient monuments architecture in Djemila

Archaeological sites of Djemila. Jemila - locality in the northeastern part of Algeria, located on the site of an ancient Roman city with the Berber name Kuikul. This city, like Timgad, was founded under Emperor Trajan to protect the empire's possessions from the Berber tribes. Therefore, it was located at an altitude of 900 m above sea level, with its “back” to the mountain range. In the II-IV centuries. Cuicul became a fairly large city in the Roman province of Numidia, becoming rich thanks to the cultivation of barley. In the VI-VIII centuries. it also turned out to be one of the centers of Christianity in North Africa, and was later destroyed.

The territory occupied by the ruins of the ancient city has elongated shape and follows the topography of the area, so that its usual regular plan is combined with freer development. Nowadays, the main street, the cardo, framed by colonnades, can be clearly seen here. The remains of two forums, several temples, baths, a theater located on a high mountain ledge, the triumphal arch of Caracalla, a market square, old city walls and gates have also been preserved. In the Djemila Archaeological Museum you can see ancient mosaics and sculptures.

Archaeological sites of Volubilis. The ruins of this Roman city are located in Morocco. At first there was a Berber settlement here, which in the 3rd century. BC e. was strongly influenced by Carthage. When in 40 AD. e. under Emperor Caligula, Mauretania became part of the Roman Empire, Volubilis became one of its westernmost outposts in Africa. It was a prosperous city with 20 thousand inhabitants who were mainly engaged in production olive oil. Volubilis retained its economic and cultural significance until the end of the 8th century, until Idris I, the founder of the Arab Idrisid dynasty in the Maghreb, established one of his residences in its place. Much later, already in the 18th century. one of the sultans removed from here all the remaining marble to build his palace in Meknes.

The excavations of Volubilis began back in 1915, and now here you can also see the ruins of a Roman city with a regular layout and an unusually wide central cardo street running from north to south, the remains of powerful fortress walls with gates and rounded towers, baths, the arches of Caracalla, numerous arcades, porticoes, pedestals. In the houses on the cardo, right behind the Arch of Caracalla, mosaics depicting Bacchus on a chariot, the Nereid, the sleeping Ariadne, the abduction of Ganymede, and the labors of Hercules have survived. And in the so-called “house of Orpheus” two magnificent mosaics have been preserved, one of which depicts the legendary Orpheus. Particularly valuable finds are kept in the local museum and in the museum of the city of Rabat.

Monuments of Libya. Of the ancient cities on the territory of modern Libya, three are included in the World Heritage List. All of them are located on the Mediterranean coast: Sabratha and Leptis Magna in Tripolitania, Cyrene in Cyrenaica. Nowadays these are “dead” cities, ruins, the special value of which, like most cities of the Maghreb, lies in the fact that since ancient times they have never been built up again.

Archaeological sites of Sabratha. The ancient city of Sabratha, located west of the current Libyan capital of Tripoli, was founded by the Phoenicians in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. e. and served as their trading post through which goods were exported from Africa. Then it came into the possession of the Roman Empire and reached its peak in the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. After the Romans, the city fell into the hands of the Byzantines and, finally, in the middle of the 7th century. was destroyed by the Arabs. As a result, the ruins of Sabratha preserved traces of three historical layers: Punic-Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine.

Excavations near the port of Sabratha are interesting for architectural monuments of the Roman and Byzantine eras

The first of them is now only reminiscent of the remains of the mausoleum, the third is the Basilica of Justinian, but the Roman period is represented richer. During the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius, a virtually new Roman city was built next to the old Phoenician city. It was from him that the ruins of a forum with columned porticos, a curia, a temple of Jupiter, an amphitheater, a cistern pool, an aqueduct, and residential buildings. The decoration of Sabratha was the theater built in 180, which at the beginning of the twentieth century. underwent restoration. Accommodating 5 thousand spectators, it was decorated with arches and a two-tier colonnade of the Corinthian order.

An archaeological museum has been opened near the ruins of Sabratha.

Archaeological sites of Leptis Magna. This is another ancient city on the Mediterranean coast near the modern city of Homs. It was founded in the 7th century. BC. Phoenicians, from VI to late III V. BC. was under the rule of Carthage. After the second Punic War 218-207. BC e. was captured by the Numidians, and in 107 BC. e. - by the Romans. Before the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, it was part of it, and it was at this time that it reached its greatest prosperity. Emperor Septimius Severus, who was born here in 146, did especially a lot for the prosperity of Leptis Magna. But in the 7th-11th centuries. Arab conquests and the gradual covering of the harbor with sand led to the city being depopulated. As a result of excavations that began here only in the 20s of the 20th century, the majestic ruins of Leptis Magna were discovered.

In the most ancient part of the city, adjacent to the harbor, you can now see the ruins of the old forum with a curia, a basilica and several temples. To the south of the forum there was a market with two pavilions and a large theater facing the sea, built under Emperor Augustus. Under Emperor Hadrian, a majestic ensemble of baths with mosaic floors, an outdoor swimming pool, a palaestra for gymnastic exercises, and numerous statues was erected. The city was crossed by the main street (cardo), decorated with triumphal arches of the emperors Tiberius and Trajan.

Timgad, once a fortified city, was founded in 100 BC.

And in the Severan era, a new one was actually built next to the old city, to the southeast of it. What remained of it were the impressive ruins of the second forum measuring 200 x 100 m, which was surrounded by the buildings of the basilica with a huge hall, the Temple of Septimius Severus, porticoes and arcades. From this forum to the port ran a new cardo street twenty meters wide, decorated with 250 columns of Aswan granite. A lighthouse, embankments, other temples, porticos, and rich villas were also built in the surrounding area.

Many of the marble reliefs, facings and mosaics found here are now kept in the archaeological museum at the excavations and in the Tripoli Museum.

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Africa is considered by some to be the ancestral home of all humanity. This continent is full of mysteries and secrets; its history is literally filled with legends. Natural and architectural monuments of Africa Every year they attract hundreds of thousands of tourists who want to plunge into the world of the unknown ancient world.

Pyramids and tombs - Africa's greatest monuments

Africa is the second largest continent by area. Its banks from different sides washed by the waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The continent has many cultural and historical attractions of world significance. It is worth noting that for the most part monuments of Africa are under the protection of UNESCO. Crowds of vacationers visit the famous pyramids in Giza, Ancient Axum or Abu Simbel every day, look at the unique rock art of Tassilien Ajjer, go to Great Zimbabwe, etc.

The Three Great Pyramids are the most remarkable historical landmark located in Egypt, in Giza. The largest pyramid is the Pyramid of Cheops, built in the 26th century BC. Its height reaches almost 139 meters, and the length of each side is 230 meters. The pyramid has been preserved practically untouched to this day, and even a hole in the wall, which was made by treasure hunters in the 9th century, serves as an entrance for tourists. The second largest pyramid is the pyramid of Cheops' son Khafre. It is only a few meters lower than the Cheops pyramid and is less popular among tourists. And the third one was built in the 26-25th century BC. The attraction is the Pyramid of Mykerinus, 66 meters high and each side 108.4 m long.

Describing the Greatest monuments of Africa, it is impossible not to mention the mysterious and legendary tomb of Tutankhamun. It was discovered only in 1922. All the treasures buried with the pharaoh are now on display in the Cairo Museum.

The largest monolithic statue is the Sphinx

Almost everything monuments of Africa carry behind them an interesting legend that takes tourists out of reality and immerses them in the mysterious world of the “dark” continent. One of such monuments can rightly be called the monument to the Great Sphinx. Scientists still cannot name the exact date of its creation. According to some sources, the statue was erected in honor of Pharaoh Khafre, and the facial features of the stone lion were taken from him. But according to other sources, the monumental sculpture was built long before the reign of the pharaohs. And that’s not all, read our portal about tourism and travel – Set-Travel, and you will learn a lot of new things.