Loropéni
1100 CE – 1800 CE
A mysterious complex of massive dry-stone walls in southwestern Burkina Faso, the best-preserved of ten fortified stone enclosures scattered across the region and once linked to the trans-Saharan gold trade that made medieval West Africa fabulously wealthy. Its precise builders, exact founding date, and original purpose remain genuinely unresolved, making it one of the more enigmatic UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.
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