Timbuktu's learned history and legacy
November 16, 2017 9:36 AM Subscribe
Timbuktu has long been Africa's El Dorado. Located on the southern edge of the Sahara and north of the Niger river (Google maps), what was initially a small river-side settlement bloomed as a trading hub for salt, gold, slaves, ivory and later, books. While its academic prominence has never returned to its peak of centuries past, it is still a treasure trove of ancient manuscripts from western Africa, maintained and protected through the years by families who have kept these works safe from numerous regime changes. These are the lost (and found) libraries of Timbuktu (hour long documentary on Vimeo from documentary producer; more info from BBC Four and stream if you're in the UK).
The early history of this region is still being actively investigated and explored, which has expanded the understanding of pre-Islamic developments along the Niger river (thesis excerpt), identifying a major settlement 9 km southeast of modern Timbuktu, identified as what is now called the Tombouze Urban Complex (research abstract). The size of this pre-Islamic development rivaled that of other communities in early Mesopotamia, but the civilization, which appears to have been quite peaceful, disappeared for reasons that are currently unclear.
[Doug Park, one of the people recently researching in the area, posited in the BBC Four documentary that they might have depleted the native hard wood trees in the region, but UNESCO's short report The Iron Roads to Africa (PDF in black and white; French PDF in color; summary/press release web page) provides an explanation for how the acacia tree is used for making charcoal for iron smelting. I'll stop there, because iron metallurgy in Africa is a tangent too far for this post.]
The next empire of the region was the Ghana Empire, which lasted from the 6th to the 13th century CE, ruled by the Soninke people. The region prospered as a hub for trade, between gold, kola nuts, and ivory from the coast and the south, in exchange for salt from the north east, brought in by nomadic, camel-riding Berbers. In fact, Carthage's wealth as a Mediterranean trading city was likely built on centuries of Berber travel and trade (Google books), dating back as far as 500 BCE. Widely dispersed gold, mined or collected from the Ghana region, was taken north by the nomadic Berbers who traded Western Africa gold in Mediterranean markets for salt from north Africa, as well as European goods, later including paper.
When Ghana declined due to drought, changing trade routes, and possibly invasion by Almoravid Muslims (brief overviews of ancient Ghana; much more extensive history of Ghana on Wikipedia), the Mali Empire became the dominant power in the region, particularly in regards to gold production, founded by Sundiata Keita, the Lion King of Mali.
With this transition in regional power, Timbukto (Tombouctou) increased in prominence on the Saharan trade routes, and was annexed into Mali under the 10th Mansa or sultan of Mali, Musa Keita I, the grand nephew of Sundiata Keita, on his way back from his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca, when his generosity ruined Egypt's economy. Mansa Musa brought back scholars and architects whom he had convinced to help him build a well educated Islamic empire. His efforts expanded the existing prominence of Sankore Madrasah, an iconic structure, one of two universities in Timbuktu, which was founded in 989 CE. The Djinguereber mosque is another notable learning institution in Timbuktu, and its creation is credited to Musa.
While the once great city declined under Moroccan rule (Google books preview), its value as a trading hub was further diminished with the growth of trans-Atlantic trade routes, and has continued to decline.
Still, Timbuktu was a mythical location for Europeans, documented in the lavish Catalan Atlas from 1375 (BIG map with ability to zoom in [Big Map Blog, previously] and translated legends) that identified "Tenbuch" next to Mansa Musa with a large gold coin, then later thanks to writings by Leo Africanus that were originally published in 1600 and Shabeni via James Grey Jackson in 1820, as well as Mungo Park in 1799. Park was a Scottish explorer, and the first westerner known to have traveled along the Niger River, and is a relative of Doug Park, mentioned above.
Since these writings, Timbuktu has been shorthand for a far-away, exotic land, symbolizing the blank spaces of our imagination, and a source of great wealth -- hard to reach but worth the journey, if you can make it. Part of the difficulty in reaching the city was due to people of the region protecting their trade route from outsiders, which is why René Caillié disguised himself as an Arab traveler to get inside the city. Unlike other early western explorers, including Mungo Park (whose disappearance Caillié's original reason for heading into west Africa), René was the first to return to Europe to claim the prize of 10,000 francs offered by the Geographical Society of Paris for the first European who reached the fabled city of Timbuktu and lived to describe it. Unlike prior praise for the wealthy city, described Timbuktu as a small, poor, and unimportant town. (If you're looking for a relatively recent writing, you might enjoy Timbuctoo the mysterious [1896; Archive.org], by Félix Dubois)
The ancient city of gold is (still) slowly turning to dust (previously), with the desert encroaching, water supplies disappearing, and decades of regional instability. Timbuktu was again in the news in 2013 when it was reported that fleeing Islamist insurgents burnt two libraries with ancient manuscripts and books. Luckily, Abdel Kader Haidara and others had been saving ancient texts for months (previously). He and his fellow conservators and activists moved 350,000 manuscripts from 45 different libraries in and around the historic city and hid them in Bamako, more than 400 miles from the AQIM-controlled north, as described in Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians': Checking Out Books Under Al-Qaida's Nose.
(The Circle and Region of Tombouctou were designated as a World Heritage Site in 1988, particularly the three great mosques, Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, which "recall Timbuktu's golden age. Although continuously restored, these monuments are today under threat from desertification.")
The early history of this region is still being actively investigated and explored, which has expanded the understanding of pre-Islamic developments along the Niger river (thesis excerpt), identifying a major settlement 9 km southeast of modern Timbuktu, identified as what is now called the Tombouze Urban Complex (research abstract). The size of this pre-Islamic development rivaled that of other communities in early Mesopotamia, but the civilization, which appears to have been quite peaceful, disappeared for reasons that are currently unclear.
[Doug Park, one of the people recently researching in the area, posited in the BBC Four documentary that they might have depleted the native hard wood trees in the region, but UNESCO's short report The Iron Roads to Africa (PDF in black and white; French PDF in color; summary/press release web page) provides an explanation for how the acacia tree is used for making charcoal for iron smelting. I'll stop there, because iron metallurgy in Africa is a tangent too far for this post.]
The next empire of the region was the Ghana Empire, which lasted from the 6th to the 13th century CE, ruled by the Soninke people. The region prospered as a hub for trade, between gold, kola nuts, and ivory from the coast and the south, in exchange for salt from the north east, brought in by nomadic, camel-riding Berbers. In fact, Carthage's wealth as a Mediterranean trading city was likely built on centuries of Berber travel and trade (Google books), dating back as far as 500 BCE. Widely dispersed gold, mined or collected from the Ghana region, was taken north by the nomadic Berbers who traded Western Africa gold in Mediterranean markets for salt from north Africa, as well as European goods, later including paper.
When Ghana declined due to drought, changing trade routes, and possibly invasion by Almoravid Muslims (brief overviews of ancient Ghana; much more extensive history of Ghana on Wikipedia), the Mali Empire became the dominant power in the region, particularly in regards to gold production, founded by Sundiata Keita, the Lion King of Mali.
With this transition in regional power, Timbukto (Tombouctou) increased in prominence on the Saharan trade routes, and was annexed into Mali under the 10th Mansa or sultan of Mali, Musa Keita I, the grand nephew of Sundiata Keita, on his way back from his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca, when his generosity ruined Egypt's economy. Mansa Musa brought back scholars and architects whom he had convinced to help him build a well educated Islamic empire. His efforts expanded the existing prominence of Sankore Madrasah, an iconic structure, one of two universities in Timbuktu, which was founded in 989 CE. The Djinguereber mosque is another notable learning institution in Timbuktu, and its creation is credited to Musa.
Retired headmaster and local historian Salem Ould Elhadje says no one knows where Kankou Moussa – the “king of kings” as he is known in Mali – established his capital, or even if he had one. But the trading centre Timbuktu – and in particular Djinguereber mosque – were certainly his pride and joy: “He established administrative buildings here, centres of scholarship and universities. He brought an Andalucian architect from Cairo to build Djinguereber. The protruding beams are a reminder of European buttresses. The conical minaret recalls the Egyptian pyramids.”The University prospered and became a very significant seat of learning in the Muslim world, especially under the reign of Mansa Musa (1307-1332) and the Askiya Dynasty (1493-1591).
By the 12th century, Timbuktu became a celebrated center of Islamic learning and a commercial establishment. Timbuktu had a university with three main renown departments and 180 Quranic schools. These are the department of Sankore, the department of Jingaray Ber and the department of Sidi Yahya.After the reign of Mansa Musa, Timbuktu was sacked three times: by the Mossi, Sunni, and Pasha Mahumd b. Zarqun (Gbp). Mali lost control of Timbuktu in 1433, and the Songhay empire seized Timbuktu in 1468. The city declined sharply during the reign of Sonni Ali Ber, both as a place of learning and trade. Subsequent rulers of the Askiya dynasty adopted a gentler approach, and again the city flourished.
This was the golden age of Africa. Books were not only written in Timbuktu, but they were also imported and copied there. There was an advanced local book copying industry in the city. The universities and private libraries contained unparalleled scholarly works. The famous scholar of Timbuktu Ahmad Baba who was among those deported to Morocco said that his library of 1600 books had been plundered, and his library, according to him, was one of the smaller in the city.
Askiya Daud (r. 1549–82), the fifth ruler of the Askiya dynasty, established public libraries and employed calligraphers to copy books for him, some of which were then given as gifts to scholars. The book-copying industry was well structured and extensive. At the end of each book was stated the title, the author, the date of the manuscript copy and the names of the scribes who copied it. Some books also named the proofreaders and the vocalisers (i.e. scholars who added vowels to Arabic), and often they mentioned for whom the manuscript had been copied, the monies involved, who provided the blank paper, and the dates of the beginning and ending of the copying of each volume.Ahmad al-Mansur was Sultan of the Saadi dynasty from 1578 to his death in 1603, the sixth and most famous of all rulers of the Saadis, which ruled Morocco from 1549 to 1659.
Ahmad al-Mansur was an important figure in both Europe and Africa in the sixteenth century; his powerful army and strategic location made him an important power player in the late Renaissance period. He has been described as "a man of profound Islamic learning, a lover of books, calligraphy and mathematics, as well as a connoisseur of mystical texts and a lover of scholarly discussions."Yet he also had great ambitions, including rule of the Muslim community in Africa. Though his campaign against the Songhai Empire was successful, and his small army, armed with gunpowder weapons, bested a larger force with inferior weaponry and a thousand head of cattle, which were either to be used as shields against gunfire or create sufficient dust and confusion to gain the upper hand. Except cattle don't like cannon fire, so the plan backfired, and the Moroccan forces ransacked the Songhay capitol of Gao, and the trading centers of Timbuktu and Djenné. This was the end of the Songhay empire, and in the end, controlling the territory was too difficult and the invasion swallowed up both the conqueror and the conquered (abstract).
While the once great city declined under Moroccan rule (Google books preview), its value as a trading hub was further diminished with the growth of trans-Atlantic trade routes, and has continued to decline.
Still, Timbuktu was a mythical location for Europeans, documented in the lavish Catalan Atlas from 1375 (BIG map with ability to zoom in [Big Map Blog, previously] and translated legends) that identified "Tenbuch" next to Mansa Musa with a large gold coin, then later thanks to writings by Leo Africanus that were originally published in 1600 and Shabeni via James Grey Jackson in 1820, as well as Mungo Park in 1799. Park was a Scottish explorer, and the first westerner known to have traveled along the Niger River, and is a relative of Doug Park, mentioned above.
Since these writings, Timbuktu has been shorthand for a far-away, exotic land, symbolizing the blank spaces of our imagination, and a source of great wealth -- hard to reach but worth the journey, if you can make it. Part of the difficulty in reaching the city was due to people of the region protecting their trade route from outsiders, which is why René Caillié disguised himself as an Arab traveler to get inside the city. Unlike other early western explorers, including Mungo Park (whose disappearance Caillié's original reason for heading into west Africa), René was the first to return to Europe to claim the prize of 10,000 francs offered by the Geographical Society of Paris for the first European who reached the fabled city of Timbuktu and lived to describe it. Unlike prior praise for the wealthy city, described Timbuktu as a small, poor, and unimportant town. (If you're looking for a relatively recent writing, you might enjoy Timbuctoo the mysterious [1896; Archive.org], by Félix Dubois)
The ancient city of gold is (still) slowly turning to dust (previously), with the desert encroaching, water supplies disappearing, and decades of regional instability. Timbuktu was again in the news in 2013 when it was reported that fleeing Islamist insurgents burnt two libraries with ancient manuscripts and books. Luckily, Abdel Kader Haidara and others had been saving ancient texts for months (previously). He and his fellow conservators and activists moved 350,000 manuscripts from 45 different libraries in and around the historic city and hid them in Bamako, more than 400 miles from the AQIM-controlled north, as described in Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians': Checking Out Books Under Al-Qaida's Nose.
(The Circle and Region of Tombouctou were designated as a World Heritage Site in 1988, particularly the three great mosques, Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, which "recall Timbuktu's golden age. Although continuously restored, these monuments are today under threat from desertification.")
Thanks for the book recommendation! There's another on the same topic, covered in the NPR link (Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians'): The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts (Amazon link).
I started with articles that I found were already posted, then I found the documentary, so I shifted the content. And from the documentary, I went in search of more content, and here we are ;)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:20 AM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
I started with articles that I found were already posted, then I found the documentary, so I shifted the content. And from the documentary, I went in search of more content, and here we are ;)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:20 AM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
When I was a kid, adults used 'Timbuktu' as shorthand for 'as far as you can get from civilization'. When I was hanging around the State Department decades later, they used Ouagadougou for that purpose.
Not like there's lots to unpack there...
Ouagadougou is a city with millions of people and an international airport. It was once the capital of the Mossi Empire, and is now the capital of Burkina Faso.
As far away from "civilization..."
(Sorry, I am kind of irritated at the persistent belief that Africa is not civilized, or was not civilized before colonization. It comes up a lot; I've had students unfamiliar with the idea that Africa had a history before Europeans arrived.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 10:24 AM on November 16, 2017 [14 favorites]
Not like there's lots to unpack there...
Ouagadougou is a city with millions of people and an international airport. It was once the capital of the Mossi Empire, and is now the capital of Burkina Faso.
As far away from "civilization..."
(Sorry, I am kind of irritated at the persistent belief that Africa is not civilized, or was not civilized before colonization. It comes up a lot; I've had students unfamiliar with the idea that Africa had a history before Europeans arrived.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 10:24 AM on November 16, 2017 [14 favorites]
Amazing! Thanks, filthy light thief . I've been fascinated by the history of this region for a long time. And now you've posted days' worth of stuff to read. I guess I'm going to be mostly absent from politics threads for a while.
posted by nangar at 10:25 AM on November 16, 2017
posted by nangar at 10:25 AM on November 16, 2017
I've had students unfamiliar with the idea that Africa had a history before Europeans arrived.
I think there are a number of reasons that significant parts of Africa's present and history are not well known, and in the documentary, one point is made that because oral histories are discounted as unreliable and not suitably scholarly, and until the re-discovery of Timbuktu's extensive private libraries, written records from Africa, particularly western Africa, were limited.
There are various efforts to remedy these misunderstandings, and one is the The Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town (UCT), whic is dedicated to research various aspects of writing and reading the handwritten works of Timbuktu and beyond. Training young researchers is an integral part of its work.
(I came across this site when putting together this post, but I left it out due to oversight)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:33 AM on November 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
I think there are a number of reasons that significant parts of Africa's present and history are not well known, and in the documentary, one point is made that because oral histories are discounted as unreliable and not suitably scholarly, and until the re-discovery of Timbuktu's extensive private libraries, written records from Africa, particularly western Africa, were limited.
There are various efforts to remedy these misunderstandings, and one is the The Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town (UCT), whic is dedicated to research various aspects of writing and reading the handwritten works of Timbuktu and beyond. Training young researchers is an integral part of its work.
(I came across this site when putting together this post, but I left it out due to oversight)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:33 AM on November 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
One final link: many books and manuscripts in Timbuktu are written in Anjami script, which comes from the Arabic root for "foreign" or "stranger," has been applied to Arabic alphabets used for writing African languages, especially those of Hausa and Swahili, although many other African languages were written using the script, among them Yoruba.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:41 AM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:41 AM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Thanks for the book recommendation! There's another on the same topic, covered in the NPR link (Timbuktu's 'Badass Librarians'): The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts (Amazon link).
The first thing I searched for when I opened up this post. Great book.
Ouagadougou is a city with millions of people and an international airport. It was once the capital of the Mossi Empire, and is now the capital of Burkina Faso.
Yeah, it is weird to think of it as being far from civilization, it's a big place with a lot going on. It's not hard to find places in Burkina that you feel far removed from everywhere else, but that's not one of them. It is arguably the most fun capital in the world to say, though.
posted by solotoro at 11:57 AM on November 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
The first thing I searched for when I opened up this post. Great book.
Ouagadougou is a city with millions of people and an international airport. It was once the capital of the Mossi Empire, and is now the capital of Burkina Faso.
Yeah, it is weird to think of it as being far from civilization, it's a big place with a lot going on. It's not hard to find places in Burkina that you feel far removed from everywhere else, but that's not one of them. It is arguably the most fun capital in the world to say, though.
posted by solotoro at 11:57 AM on November 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Very nice post. The history of the ancient empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai were and most likely still are the basis of the secondary school history curriculum across West Africa. We all struggled drawing maps of their expansion and contraction in class.
The Travels of Mungo Park is well worth reading. He became destitute early on in his adventures and spent two years relying on the kindness of strangers, which means the book is not your typical colonial narrative. As he drew closer to to the coast at the end of his journey the clash between his received ideas and what was going on around him gets more pronounced for the reader. It's available on both Archive.org and Gutenberg.
I'd love to go to Burkina Faso and I'd love most of all to visit the biannual film festival in the area, FESPACO, in Ouagadougou.
posted by glasseyes at 12:25 PM on November 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
The Travels of Mungo Park is well worth reading. He became destitute early on in his adventures and spent two years relying on the kindness of strangers, which means the book is not your typical colonial narrative. As he drew closer to to the coast at the end of his journey the clash between his received ideas and what was going on around him gets more pronounced for the reader. It's available on both Archive.org and Gutenberg.
I'd love to go to Burkina Faso and I'd love most of all to visit the biannual film festival in the area, FESPACO, in Ouagadougou.
posted by glasseyes at 12:25 PM on November 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
Argh! "biennial"!
And those librarians are heros.
Seriously, this is a great post.
posted by glasseyes at 12:33 PM on November 16, 2017
And those librarians are heros.
Seriously, this is a great post.
posted by glasseyes at 12:33 PM on November 16, 2017
Peter Thonemann's article on the bad-ass librarians suggests that there are reasons to be sceptical:
Every element of the story clicks together with the neatness of myth: the hero’s childhood; the days of tribulation; the librarians’ miraculous good fortune; books against guns, moderates against fanatics; the final victory of enlightenment over barbarism. Can it really all have happened like this? [..] In the end, the story of the librarians of Timbuktu demands our attention, not as an exemplary struggle of good against evil, but as a model illustration of the treacherous workings of oral history.posted by verstegan at 1:13 PM on November 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm skeptical of the skepticism, in part because of this post (that I failed to link before), about Germany's 2014 Africa Prize for rescuing Timbuktu manuscripts.
Perhaps the number of books and manuscripts saved, and the heroism required in those acts, has been greatly exaggerated, but calling this "a model illustration of the treacherous workings of oral history" seems an exceedingly harsh view of oral histories.
I posit that few accounts of historic events beyond the relatively recent past (let's say 100 to 150 years ago) are as accurate as we expect stories to be now. The author of that skeptical review seems well-versed in "western" history, extending to Asia Minor, which I feel is distinctly different than African history, but I could be wrong.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:31 PM on November 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
Perhaps the number of books and manuscripts saved, and the heroism required in those acts, has been greatly exaggerated, but calling this "a model illustration of the treacherous workings of oral history" seems an exceedingly harsh view of oral histories.
I posit that few accounts of historic events beyond the relatively recent past (let's say 100 to 150 years ago) are as accurate as we expect stories to be now. The author of that skeptical review seems well-versed in "western" history, extending to Asia Minor, which I feel is distinctly different than African history, but I could be wrong.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:31 PM on November 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
In my grandparents attic when I was a wee armchair explorer there was a book telling the story of the first guys to fly a plane across the desert to visit Timbuktu. I still occasionally try to find a copy, it seemed very exotic and far away at the time. Probably not a good time to visit but I expect there will be wifi in some hotels or such at least the probability of a mall with forever 21 is low.
posted by sammyo at 1:36 PM on November 16, 2017
posted by sammyo at 1:36 PM on November 16, 2017
protected through the years by families who have kept these works safe
These sort of people are the unsung heroes of the human story. I hope that someday the aliens come and they're sifting through the bits that are left and they make statues and name star systems in honor of these kind of folks.
posted by freebird at 2:14 PM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
These sort of people are the unsung heroes of the human story. I hope that someday the aliens come and they're sifting through the bits that are left and they make statues and name star systems in honor of these kind of folks.
posted by freebird at 2:14 PM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Magnificently informative post. Thank you
posted by adamvasco at 2:15 PM on November 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by adamvasco at 2:15 PM on November 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
sammyo: a book telling the story of the first guys to fly a plane across the desert to visit Timbuktu
Do you remember more details about that book, or the names of those explorers? This Wikipedia list of Saharan explorers doesn't include anyone flying. While searching, I also found Neil Laughton and trip via flying car from London to Timbuktu (BBC, 2009).
And one more bonus link: What Happened to the Mysterious Humans of the Sahara 7,000 Years Ago? Annalee Newitz summarizing two investigations to the age and duration of the Sahara's prehistoric wet period:
posted by filthy light thief at 2:57 PM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Do you remember more details about that book, or the names of those explorers? This Wikipedia list of Saharan explorers doesn't include anyone flying. While searching, I also found Neil Laughton and trip via flying car from London to Timbuktu (BBC, 2009).
And one more bonus link: What Happened to the Mysterious Humans of the Sahara 7,000 Years Ago? Annalee Newitz summarizing two investigations to the age and duration of the Sahara's prehistoric wet period:
What they suggest is that after a long arid period during the last ice age, the Sahara began to experience heavy monsoons starting about 8500 years BCE. The whole region became a grassy savannah, full of edible plants and animals, and people moved from the Nile valley deep into the eastern Sahara. As the monsoons grew milder, about 7000 BCE, people moved south too. But then, about 5300 BCE, the monsoons began to dry up. That's when people began to cluster back around the Nile again.The first hypothesis was that the change was abrupt, only taking a century, while later core samples from a dry lake bed in Chad indicate the change occurred over five centuries.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:57 PM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
unfortunately, train service has been rather discontinued - i go downtown to the train station and they don't know what the hell i'm talking about
guess i'm stuck in kalamazoo
posted by pyramid termite at 6:20 PM on November 16, 2017
guess i'm stuck in kalamazoo
posted by pyramid termite at 6:20 PM on November 16, 2017
This post is *amazing,* and so are the follow up comments by everyone. Thank you filthy light thief. Also for defending oral history, in as much as it can be defended. It's not as though written history is a one-hundred percent fortified, leak-proof method of record from the wearing winds of human fallibility. But like, I get why the first impulse is to doubt oral history. This is a post partially about libraries, after all. It's largely through word of mouth that White traveler-explorers got to know Timbuktu toooo~ We should use both oral and written stories, from many languages and peoples, to piece together a more thorough story, yes?
Much, much gratitude to those preserving written works through the ages. Especially in this day & age.
I don't own a timbuktu bag, but I love bags and the city of Timbuktu is a place of trade. One has to start somewhere, with an inkling of awareness made, perhaps a thing-a-majig under the name of a word from an unknown language? It's cool.
posted by one teak forest at 6:03 AM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Much, much gratitude to those preserving written works through the ages. Especially in this day & age.
I don't own a timbuktu bag, but I love bags and the city of Timbuktu is a place of trade. One has to start somewhere, with an inkling of awareness made, perhaps a thing-a-majig under the name of a word from an unknown language? It's cool.
posted by one teak forest at 6:03 AM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Let's have alook at the place we are talking about -Pbase
posted by adamvasco at 8:42 AM on November 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by adamvasco at 8:42 AM on November 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Thanks for those, adamvasco!
posted by filthy light thief at 10:09 AM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:09 AM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Awesome post, filthy light thief! Thanks!
posted by homunculus at 1:42 PM on November 17, 2017
posted by homunculus at 1:42 PM on November 17, 2017
Very nice post. The history of the ancient empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai were and most likely still are the basis of the secondary school history curriculum across West Africa. We all struggled drawing maps of their expansion and contraction in class.
When I was in West Africa last year, I mentioned to a colleague that I reading about the Mali Empire, and he was kind of confused. To him, it was a boring subject that he had to learn about in school and he didn't know why I was so into it. But to me, the history of West Africa is still pretty new, and I was excited to learn things that are probably super basic to kids from West Africa.
I don't think that my public school education covered the history of Africa at all, except with respect to the slave trade. And popular portrayals of "historical" Africa are still pretty much in the ahistorical, undifferentiated "primitive* tribes" category. There isn't an awareness of this history the same way that there is, for example, ancient China. Not that most people really understand the history of China either, but we know that there is a history.
I could probably poll 10 college freshman right now asking them "What do you know about the Mali Empire?" and the answer would mostly be, "Where's Mali?"
* Asterisk because I don't think small societies are primitive either.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:46 AM on November 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
When I was in West Africa last year, I mentioned to a colleague that I reading about the Mali Empire, and he was kind of confused. To him, it was a boring subject that he had to learn about in school and he didn't know why I was so into it. But to me, the history of West Africa is still pretty new, and I was excited to learn things that are probably super basic to kids from West Africa.
I don't think that my public school education covered the history of Africa at all, except with respect to the slave trade. And popular portrayals of "historical" Africa are still pretty much in the ahistorical, undifferentiated "primitive* tribes" category. There isn't an awareness of this history the same way that there is, for example, ancient China. Not that most people really understand the history of China either, but we know that there is a history.
I could probably poll 10 college freshman right now asking them "What do you know about the Mali Empire?" and the answer would mostly be, "Where's Mali?"
* Asterisk because I don't think small societies are primitive either.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:46 AM on November 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Yes, Kutsuwamushi, that was my favorite part about my Islam in Africa class, taught by a professor who specialized in Malian Sufis. Lots of reading Ibn Battuta and other primary sources in that class.
Anyway, favorite part: I learned that Africa had empires in addition to tribes. It's a big continent with a long history. I have no idea why this in the US needs to be a revelation available to a select number of college students. Dear western educators, please fix your curriculum.
As for Timbuktu, yes such a cool place and I'm so glad to have this post so I can learn more. The Great Mosque is so amazingly distinct architecturally.
posted by librarylis at 11:39 AM on November 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
Anyway, favorite part: I learned that Africa had empires in addition to tribes. It's a big continent with a long history. I have no idea why this in the US needs to be a revelation available to a select number of college students. Dear western educators, please fix your curriculum.
As for Timbuktu, yes such a cool place and I'm so glad to have this post so I can learn more. The Great Mosque is so amazingly distinct architecturally.
posted by librarylis at 11:39 AM on November 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
librarylis that got me to google and I found this lovely article
Climate change is making tesoration difficult
But some things have changed in the last 690 years, says the head of the carpenters’ corporation, 55-year-old Diadjé Mahmane Maiga. “The climate has changed and borassus palms do not grow here any more. They provided our hardwood beams and the timber for our traditional doors, whose design our forefathers brought from Yemen. Now we have to import hardwood from Ghana at great expense.”
Interesting about "our forefathers from Yemen".
posted by adamvasco at 12:24 PM on November 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
Climate change is making tesoration difficult
But some things have changed in the last 690 years, says the head of the carpenters’ corporation, 55-year-old Diadjé Mahmane Maiga. “The climate has changed and borassus palms do not grow here any more. They provided our hardwood beams and the timber for our traditional doors, whose design our forefathers brought from Yemen. Now we have to import hardwood from Ghana at great expense.”
Interesting about "our forefathers from Yemen".
posted by adamvasco at 12:24 PM on November 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
librarylis: Anyway, favorite part: I learned that Africa had empires in addition to tribes. It's a big continent with a long history. I have no idea why this in the US needs to be a revelation available to a select number of college students.
Probably a mix of institutional racism and old "facts" perpetuated despite more recent "discoveries" and expanded understandings ("Africa is was a backwards place when slaves were brought to the United States, with people living in mud huts and not even having a written language" type of "history"), like how Columbus' "discovery" of "America" is the first thing many kids learn(ed) about Europeans in the "new world."
adamvasco: Interesting about "our forefathers from Yemen".
From that article: Emperor Moussa I built Djinguereber after returning from Mecca in 1327
...
[The volunteer team of 20 carpenters and masons] are the proud descendants of the tradesmen from Yemen and Egypt who completed the building in 1327.
Mansa Musa brought back architects (and likely builders, too) from his Hajj, and it seems that their descendants are still maintaining the work of their forefathers.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:30 PM on November 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Probably a mix of institutional racism and old "facts" perpetuated despite more recent "discoveries" and expanded understandings ("Africa is was a backwards place when slaves were brought to the United States, with people living in mud huts and not even having a written language" type of "history"), like how Columbus' "discovery" of "America" is the first thing many kids learn(ed) about Europeans in the "new world."
adamvasco: Interesting about "our forefathers from Yemen".
From that article: Emperor Moussa I built Djinguereber after returning from Mecca in 1327
...
[The volunteer team of 20 carpenters and masons] are the proud descendants of the tradesmen from Yemen and Egypt who completed the building in 1327.
Mansa Musa brought back architects (and likely builders, too) from his Hajj, and it seems that their descendants are still maintaining the work of their forefathers.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:30 PM on November 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Today I asked an undergraduate class of about 16 freshman how many of the had learned about the history of Africa in high school - before the European slave trade or colonialism.
Around five hands went up. One of them said she learned about it in a human migrations elective - so only very ancient "out of Africa" history. The others learned about it in AP World history.
No one else remembered anything. These are (mostly) high-achieving students at an R1 university. Some of them had heard of the Mali empire from other sources, so I was pleased about that.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:56 PM on November 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
Around five hands went up. One of them said she learned about it in a human migrations elective - so only very ancient "out of Africa" history. The others learned about it in AP World history.
No one else remembered anything. These are (mostly) high-achieving students at an R1 university. Some of them had heard of the Mali empire from other sources, so I was pleased about that.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:56 PM on November 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
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I was reading (but haven't finished) The Storied City, which is mostly about trying to save the manuscripts from jihadists, if you want more on that aspect.
When I was a kid, adults used 'Timbuktu' as shorthand for 'as far as you can get from civilization'.
When I was hanging around the State Department decades later, they used Ouagadougou for that purpose. Both fun to say.
posted by MtDewd at 10:07 AM on November 16, 2017 [2 favorites]