The Hidden Story of the Great African Library of Timbuktu Long before the Renaissance bloomed in Europe, Timbuktu in Mali was a thriving center of knowledge, trade, and culture. The city housed the Sankoré University and several other madrasas, with a collection of over 700,000 manuscripts covering medicine, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, law, and poetry. Many of these texts were written in Arabic, but some were in local languages like Songhai and Tamasheq, offering insights into African history, science, and spirituality that predate Western discoveries. The scholars of Timbuktu debated complex ideas, from the motion of planets to the ethics of leadership. When Moroccan forces invaded in the 16th century, the library was scattered. Families secretly preserved thousands of manuscripts, hiding them in cellars, walls, and even desert caves to protect them from destruction. Some of these documents are still being rediscovered today. The world often overlooks this intellectual legacy, portraying African history as mainly oral and primitive — but Timbuktu’s lost library tells a different story: one of a sophisticated, literate, and pioneering civilization.
The Hidden Stories Of Africa Hidden From Us.....