Fractals in African Culture.

Fractal designs appear frequently in cultural art facts across the continent of Africa. They are found in textiles, architecture, sculpture, village layout, etc. Continent wide studies conclude that the high frequency of the use of fractals in Africa is by both conscious and unconscious design. The scaling and recursion aspect of fractals are employed by african architects with the interest if creating a focus of mind and spirit.

The first image is of the layout of an individual house. This is the seed shape. The second iteration shows the same configuration of a family compound. The third iteration shows the layout of the entire village made up of several compounds.

An aerial view of the city of Logone-Birni in Cameroon. This is the largest building complex, the palace of the chief.

Fractal model for palace

First three iteration of the fractal model

Architectural diagram of Mokoulek, a village in Cameron, from Seignobos(1982).

Fractal model for Mokoulek

First three iterations of fractal model

reference from Ron Eglash