The City of Timbuktu
on the southern edge of Sahara Desert
Timbuktu = popular trading centre until discovery of Americas
Mali = Main producer of gold
Timbuktu = very wealthy city
inhabitants wanted fine printed goods imported from Europe
King = Mansa Musa
shipped across the Mediterranean sea
to port of Morocco and on camelback to Timbuktu
salt value = gold value
gold from Taghaza mines
Timubtu had a double tax system in and out
wealth used to build = 180 schools + 3 Universities + many mosques teaching the Koran
centre of Islamic learning
Sankore University = 25000 people = named after very wealthy muslim woman
Books
Many people write and copy books
Students from Saudi Arabia, Europe ect
making ink + paper, illustrating and binding books
hand written manuscripts
Arabic manuscript know as Timbuktu manuscrips
decorated with gold and kept in leather covers
after Mansa Musa
died 16th century
Golden age came to and end
different leaders fought each other
Morocco invaded
took all the wealth
burnt down famous libraries
many scholars killed or sent to Morocco
The manuscripts become lost and fell apart and became brittle = dry season and mouldy = wet season
insects eating pages
People started selling manuscripts for money to feed their families
some manuscripts were hidden away
2001 Thabo Mbeki visited Mali
promised to rescue the manuscripts + let the world know about African History
Started his African Renaissance project
Project
Aimed to collect, conserve and catalogue the documents
Make digital copies of all manuscrips
300000 would be safe for future generations
of Africans
Timbuktu was declared a world heritage site in 1988
to protect its architecture, culture and history