…the Dogon people to the north. The…

…the Dogon people to the north.

The principal Dogon area is bisected by the Bandiagara Escarpment, a sandstone cliff of up to five hundred meters (sixteen hundred and forty feet) high, stretching about one hundred and fifty kilometers (ninety miles).

To the southeast of the cliff, the sandy Séno-Gondo Plains are found, and northwest of the cliff are the Bandiagara Highlands.

Historically, Dogon villages were established in the Bandiagara area in consequence of the Dogon people's collective refusal to convert to Islam a thousand years ago.

Dogon insecurity in the face of these historical pressures had caused them to locate their villages in defensible positions along the walls of the escarpment.

The other factor influencing their choice of settlement location was water.

The Niger River is nearby and in the sandstone rock, a rivulet runs at the foot of the cliff at the lowest point of the area during the wet season.

Among the Dogon several oral traditions have been recorded as to their origin.

One relates to their coming from Mande, located to the southwest of the Bandiagara escarpment near Bamako.

According to this oral tradition, the first Dogon settlement was established in the extreme southwest of the escarpment at Kani-Na.

Over time, the Dogon had moved north along the escarpment, arriving in the Sanga region in the fifteenth century.

Other oral histories place the origin of the Dogon to the west beyond the river Niger, or tell of the Dogon coming from the east.

It is likely that the Dogon of today combine several groups of diverse origin who migrated to escape Islamization.

It is often difficult to distinguish between pre-Muslim practices and later practices, though Islamic law classifies them and many other ethnicities of the region, (Mossi, Gurma, Bobo, Busa and the Yoruba) as being within the non-canon dar al-harb and consequently fair game for slave raids organized by merchants.

As the growth of cities has increased, the demand for slaves across the region of West Africa has also increased.

The historical pattern has included the murder of indigenous males by Islamic raiders and enslavement of women and children.