Jenné-Jeno

About 3km from Djenné are the ruins of Jenné-Jeno, an ancient settlement that dates back to about 300 BC. Implements and jewellery discovered here suggest that it may have been one of the first places in Africa where iron was used, and exposed the myth that no organised cities existed in West Africa before trade began and external influences were brought to bear upon it.

In the 8th century AD, Jenné-Jeno was a fortified town with walls 3m thick, but around 1300 it was abandoned. Today, there's nothing much to see - some mounds and millions of tiny pieces of broken pottery - so a visit is of greater historical rather than aesthetic interest.