A visit to the house Barth lived in

In October 1850 Heinrich Barth (1821-1865), the German traveller and explorer, spent 20 days in Agadez, a city which was founded in the early 15th Century, and was at the height of its prosperity around 1500 AD, when it functioned as outpost for Gao, then the centre of the gold trade. David Lyon, commenting on […]

In October 1850 Heinrich Barth (1821-1865), the German traveller and explorer, spent 20 days in Agadez, a city which was founded in the early 15th Century, and was at the height of its prosperity around 1500 AD, when it functioned as outpost for Gao, then the centre of the gold trade.
David Lyon, commenting on the subsequent history of Agadez, writes that “by 1790, Agadez had declined in importance, and in 1850 the population was about 7,000. Much of the town was in ruins. Only a few mosques had been conserved, dominated by the minaret of the grand mosque.”
 The account of Barth’s stay there is captured in his Barth’s Travels In North and Central Africa. The city has changed just a little one must say. A building code which emphasises mud dwellings guarantees this, and if Barth were to visit today, it is unlikely that he will get lost. He will certainly have the Minaret as a guide, and he became rather fond of the tower while there.
Anyone on a visit to Agadez who makes an inquiry will be shown the modest mud house Barth lived in, while he sojourned in the city. He will see the room he lived in as well as the bed he slept on, or maybe the sort of bed he slept on. He will also take a look at the kitchen utensils he might have used while there. There is a handsome plaque at the front of the house which announces the fact that Barth once lived there. The plaque is dated 1966, and the name B.Schoofs accompanies it. It has easily survived the decades, and the effects of weather.   Hannatu, the lady who looks after the room, who is a descendant of Barth’s host in the city, tells us that the descendants of   Barth in Germany do send money from time to time, which helps her to look after the property, and therefore keep Barth’s name and memory alive. She said three years ago, the walls of the building were renovated by the Barth family. She implies that little or no help has come from the Niger government in terms of maintaining the property. 
The building is located in the Umar Dan Maggas quarter of Agadez. On Barth’s trip to Agadez, David Lyon states that ‘from T’intellust, Barth journeyed south on his own to Agadez by a road running west of the Bagezan mountains. The journey took 12 days and the caravan includes six camels, 35 donkeys and two cattle.
Barth stayed at Annur’s house in Agadez from October 10 to 30. “Inside the room within the house are photocopies from Barth’s writings on Agadez, which are in French, and pinned to a board. There are also small artist’s impressions of Barth, as well as pictures of the Sultan of Agadez.
It will be nice to actually read Barth’s private and not so personal views on Agadez as well as the Agadesawa (people of Agadez), as recounted in his work referred to above. His words, which reflect so much of his humour and eye for detail “Agades is in no respect a place of resort for wealthy merchants, not even Arabs, while with regard to Europe its importance at present consists in its lying on the most direct road to Sokoto and that part of Sudan. In my opinion it would form for a European agent a very good and comparatively healthy place from which to open relations with central Africa.
“The native merchants seem only to visit the markets of Katsina, Tasawa, Maradi, Kano and Sokoto, and as far as I was able to learn, never go to the northern markets of Ghat or Murzuk, unless on a journey to Mecca which several of them have made …My stay in Agades was too short to justify my entering into detail about the private life of the people, but all that I saw convinced me that, although open to  most serious censure on the part of the moralist, it presented many striking features of cheerfulness and happiness, and nothing like the misery which is often met with in towns which have declined from their former glory. It still contains many active germs of national life, which are most gratifying to the philosophic traveller (210)….We at length left Agades. I felt as if I had enjoyed a glimpse of a totally different world, a new region of life, many relations of which were as yet obscure to me. (211).  On the minaret of the great mosque of Agadez, he writes’my companions with a certain feeling of pride, showed me in the distance the high “Messalaje”, or minaret, the glory of Agades”. (p.174).
Later, Barth comments on the same minaret: “there was one very characteristic building in the town which, though a most conspicuous object from the terrace of our house, I had never yet investigated with sufficient accuracy. This was the Messalaje or high tower rising over the roof of the mosque.” (p.198).