There is evidence that the Western model of cities, a stratified social system, centralized control, monument building et al is not the only way to manage increasingly complex human interaction. The history of a people exploiting the inland Niger River Delta at Jenne-jeno suggests that there is a unique and totally African alternative.

At Jenne-jeno the specialist groups - fishermen, weavers, potters etc - occupied distinct districts. These clusters were separate but in proximity and collectively functioned as a city whose people supplied diverse goods and services to the surrounding hinterlands in return for food. The groups retained their ethnic identities, sustained by shared beliefs and activities. They left no monuments, elaborate burial sites, or inscribed tablets praising kings or recording conquests, hallmarks of Western civilization. But the record speaks eloquently nevertheless. This large, complex society of the inland Niger Delta was peaceful, egalitarian, and without apparent disaster, for 1600 years. (next photo)