The Jenne-jeno is located in the Niger River Valley in the country of Mali. It is one of the oldest urbanized centers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
During the first millennium b.c.e. it served as a transportation point where goods were shifted from the Niger river to donkey caravans and vice versa.
It is suspected that it grew to such big size as a result of the regional and local trade. There is archeological evidence that supports that this place was part of a pre-Arab trans-Saharan trade network, in which commodities such as salt, copper and dried fish were exchanged.