Qualla: Oualata https://qualla.com/oualata en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/e/g/5/4/oualata-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Oualata https://qualla.com/oualata Oualata: Introduction https://qualla.com/oualata/ Photo credit Kurt Dundy at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0. In Oualata the walls are written on. Across the reddish earthen facades, the women of the town trace white and ochre patterns by hand: looping arabesques, geometric bands, motifs framing every door and window. Pass through one of those painted doorways and you may find a wooden chest holding manuscripts copied centuries ago, in a town that was once the southern gate of the Sahara. Oualata has been called the big sister of Timbuktu, and for a few medieval centuries it was richer.

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Image: Kurt Dundy at English Wikipedia | CC BY 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/g/5/4/oualata-wp/eg54-oualata-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Oualata: The End of the Road https://qualla.com/oualata/ Photo credit c.hug, CC BY-SA 2.0. Oualata, also written Walata and known as Biru in old chronicles, stands at the eastern end of the Aoukar basin in southeast Mauritania. It rose because geography made it a destination. At the beginning of the 13th century it replaced Aoudaghost as the principal southern terminus...

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Image: c.hug | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/g/5/4/oualata-wp/eg54-oualata-the-end-of-the-road.mp3 0:06 2 full Oualata: A Traveler's Wonder https://qualla.com/oualata/ Photo credit Kurt Dundy at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0. In 1352 the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta crossed the desert and stopped here for about fifty days. He found the inhabitants Muslim, mostly Massufa Berbers, and he was honored and entertained, though he complained of the heat and the modest fare of mutton, dates, and watermelons ...

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Image: Kurt Dundy at English Wikipedia | CC BY 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/g/5/4/oualata-wp/eg54-oualata-a-travelers-wonder.mp3 0:06 3 full Oualata: Painted by Hand https://qualla.com/oualata/ Photo credit c.hug, CC BY-SA 2.0. Oualata's fame today rests on its decorated houses. Built largely of earth rather than the bare stone of Tichit, the homes are finished by the town's women, who paint their facades and interiors with intricate patterns in white, red, and indigo drawn from natural pigments. The de...

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Image: c.hug | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/g/5/4/oualata-wp/eg54-oualata-painted-by-hand.mp3 0:06 4 full Oualata: Libraries in the Sand https://qualla.com/oualata/ Photo credit Totoff35, CC BY-SA 4.0. Behind the painted walls lies an inheritance of paper. Oualata's family libraries preserve ancient manuscripts of Quranic science, law, astronomy, and poetry, some reaching back to the 14th century, and the town keeps a manuscript museum displaying scrolls in fine calligraphy. Th...

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Image: Totoff35 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/g/5/4/oualata-wp/eg54-oualata-libraries-in-the-sand.mp3 0:06 5 full