10 Cities That Were the New York of Their Time

可与纽约媲美的十大古城

New York City is a world capital in every sense of the word — it’s a cultural and economic powerhouse, and arguably the most influential city on the planet. But it wasn’t always this way, as the following cities once dominated the world around them.

无论以什么标准衡量，用什么眼光来看，纽约城都堪称世界中心。她文化深厚，经济实力强盛，说是地球上最具影响力的城市一点也不夸张。但从前的纽约并不能高居榜首，因为以下十大古城曾傲视群城。

1. Djenne-Djenno

1.杰内（Djenne-Djenno）

In the flood lands of the Niger delta people have been building houses and other structures with clay for centuries. The town of Djenne-Djenno is made entirely out of clay. It was inhabited as far back as 250 BC, and became an important link in the trans-Saharan gold trade. Constructed on hills called “toguere,” the city managed to escape the marshy landscape and annual floods produced by the rainy season. Djenne-Djenno is believed to be one of the earliest settlements in the sub-Saharan region, and is considered by some to be “the typical African City.”

几个世纪以来，在尼日尔三角洲的河滩上，人们一直用粘土建设房屋和其他建筑。杰内古城就是完全由粘土建成的。早在公元前250年，杰内就有人居住了，并成为跨撒哈拉黄金交易的一个重要交通枢纽。建在山上的“摩尔式”房子使得杰内成功摆脱了因雨季而造成的沼泽地形和每年的洪水。杰内被认为是撒哈拉以南地区最早的聚居地之一，更有甚者认为它是个“典型的非洲城市”。

Archeological evidence shows us a continuous human presence in the area up until the 14th century AD, when people moved to the nearby town of Djenne, founded in the 11th century. Further evidence points out that even before the city’s construction, the Bozo people were growing wild rice in the region. In the 13th century AD, with King Koumboro’s conversion to Islam, its palace transformed into a mosque.

考古证据显示，居民于11世纪（杰内城建成后）搬迁到其附近的城镇，并在这里生活繁衍，一直持续到14世纪。进一步的证据则指出，早在城市建成前博若人就已经在此种植野生稻了。公元13世纪，国王Koumboro皈依伊斯兰教，宫殿也随之被改造成一座清真寺。

This mosque stood until 1830, but was rebuilt in 1907 and is the largest mud-brick building in the world. Because clay is easily washed away during the rainy season, the Grand Mosque needs to be maintained. And so each year at the beginning of April, the people of Djenne gather for a local ritual of adding a fresh layer of mud, covering it from top to bottom.

这座清真寺一直支撑到1830年，1907年重建后成为了世界上最大的泥砖建筑。粘土在雨季很容易被冲刷掉，因此大清真寺需要悉心的维护。每年四月初，杰内人就会聚集到一起，从上到下给大清真寺加上一层新的粘土保护层。