Region of Mali and Burkina Faso
Dogon country (French: Pays Dogon) is a region of eastern Mali and northwestern Burkina Faso populated mainly by the Dogon people, a diverse ethnic group in West Africa with diverse languages. Like the term Serer country occupied by the Serer ethnic group, Dogon country is vast, and lies southwest of the Niger River belt. The region is composed of three zones: the plateau, the escarpment and the Seno-Gondo plain.
In Mali, this historic region belongs to the Mopti Region and extends on either side of the Bandiagara Escarpment. Dogon country in Mali is the most visited tourist area of the country, due to the Dogon people's rich cultural heritage. Sangha, Mali is the heart of Dogon country with its rich history of Dogon religion, shrines and temples.
Landscapes.
Starting from the Niger River in a south-eastern direction, towards Burkina Faso, we successively meet three types of landscapes in Dogon country: plateau, cliff and plain.
Plateau.
The region is a vast sandstone plateau rising gradually from the river to the cliff. It is on this plateau that Bandiagara, the “capital” of Dogon country is established.
Cliff.
Its often almost vertical wall faces Burkina Faso. With a height varying from 100 to around 400 m, it overlooks the Seno plain, which is between 250 and 300 m above sea level.
It is about 200 km long and oriented from southwest to northeast starting from Ségué in the south, and ending in Douentza in the north. The altitude increases from south to north until it reaches 791 m near Bamba, Koro.
It is the emblematic place of the country and its main center of tourist attraction.
Plain.
Located at the foot of the cliff, the Séno-Gondo plain stretches to the Burkinabé border.
Archeology.
The Dogon country has many vestiges of ancient habitat from successive periods of occupation. From the ancient Toloy and Tellem, to the Dogon.
There is the rocky channel located near Sangha where the remains of the Toloy were found, such as granaries, skeletons, pottery and plants, with a carbon-14 dating of 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
Religion and festivals.
The Dogon religion is the traditional African beliefs of the Dogon of Mali. Those who follow this spiritual path believe in one Supreme Creator, Amma (or Ama), the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent Creator.
They also believe in ancestral spirits such as the Serpent Ancestor Lebe, and the "Water Spirits" Nommo. Veneration of the ancestors forms an important aspect of Dogon religion. They hold ritual mask dances immediately after the death of a person and sometimes long after they have passed on to the next life. Twins, "the need for duality and the doubling of individual lives" (masculine and feminine principles) is a fundamental element in their belief system. Like other traditional African religions, balance, and reverence for nature are also key elements.
Many Dogons have also converted to Islam recently despite centuries of fleeing persecution and Islamization from other dominant communities.
Villages.
Most Dogon villages are located within Mopti Region, Mali. The tables below list the number of villages by Dogon language group as of 2004. All of the villages and cercles listed below are located within Mopti Region, with the exception of Tominian Cercle in Ségou Region. However, due to the presently ongoing Mali War that had begun in the early 2010s, some of the villages in the region may have already been abandoned.
In addition, there is one Tomo-kan village in Djenné Cercle.
Biodiversity.
The irregularities of the rocky plateau generate very high concentrations of water, which means that, beyond a typical Sahelian vegetation, extremely arid zones can rub shoulders with all kinds of lush green oases, pockets of extraordinary biodiversity.
Each microclimate in the region offers a unique assortment of medicinal plants and tree species with significant value for the population, such as shea, the locust bean, "Faidherbia albida", the tamarind, African palmyra palm, and the baobab.
The Dogon country also has many bird species.
Insects.
Dogon ethnoentomology has been thoroughly documented by Jeffrey Heath. The following are various types of insects that are well known to the Northern Dogon people.
Mantises (such as "Eremiaphila reticulata"), earwigs (such as "Forficula senegalensis"), termites (such as "Macrotermes subhyalinus"), and many other types of insects are also found in Dogon Country. Lepidopteran species are diverse, including "Agrius convolvuli" and many pearl millet and sorghum pest species.
Among non-insect arthropods, the scorpions "Androctonus amoreuxi" (a common house scorpion) and "Pandinus imperator" (black emperor scorpion, locally called the "horse scorpion"), which are non-insect arthropods, are also common in the region. Spiders include "Galeodes olivieri". Ticks include "Hyalomma impeltatum" and "Rhipicephalus turanicus". Millipedes include "Archispirostreptus" sp., and centipedes include "Scolopendra" sp.
References.
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