In the central part of the West African state of Mali, a mountainous region known as the Bandiagara Plateau or Dogon Country stretches in a narrow strip along the middle course of the Niger in the middle of a vast savanna. The only passable road leading here from the "African Venice" of Mopti to the main city of the Dogon Country, Bandiagara, winds between low hills covered with thorny bushes and coarse grass. A completely different impression is created for the traveler when entering the Dogon Country from the south: among the flat, like a flat table, the Gondo plain suddenly grows a majestic stone wall a hundred meters high, which stretches from southwest to northeast for 200 kilometers. On the plateau, surrounded by a chaotic jumble of rocks, on ledges and at the foot of a stone ridge, there are picturesque villages of one of the most interesting peoples of Africa - the Dogon. Dogon (self - named-dogo) received from their Muslim neighbors-Fulbe the name habe (singular-kado), that is, pagans. It was as a hub that they became known to Europeans. Now the term "dogon" is generally accepted. The question of the Dogon language identity has long been debated. Some experts attributed their language to the Mande group. Others, recognizing the significant cultural and possibly ethnic affinity of the Dogon with Mande, nevertheless included their language in the Voltian language family1 . Now their language is considered to belong to the Mosigur group, which is spoken by the majority of residents of Upper Volta 2 . But there are also other points of view3, especially since the inhabitants of remote Dogon villages do not understand each other, and they have to explain themselves in the languages of their neighbors - Fula and Bamana. The number of Dogons cannot be determined with sufficient accuracy due to the lack of statistical data. The existing sources are quite contradictory .4 The closest thing to reality 1 Н. Baumann, D. Westermann. Les peuples et les civilisations de l ... Read more