Timbuktu, Mali Manuscripts, Libraries 1300 AD

Timbuktu, Mali Manuscripts, Libraries 1300 AD

Timbuktu (French: Tombouctou), Mali, was founded as a seasonal camp by Tuareg desert nomads in the 9th century during the dominance of the Ghana Empire.

Timbuktu means the well of Buktu, an old Tuareg woman. It held a strategic location along trans-Saharan caravan routes and as a river port on a northern bend in the Niger River. It grew and became a mixture of Arab and African merchants, scholars, workers, religions, and cultures.

The marketplace saw goods from Morocco, Algeria, and North Africa and salt from Taghaza and Taoudenni in the north traded for gold from the south.  This was the gold-salt trade.  Salt was traded by weight in Timbuktu almost equally for gold.

Other trade goods were slaves, ivory, copper, spices, and kola nuts from the south and slave beads, ceramics, cowry shells (used as currency), textiles, tea, and later, tobacco from the north.  But, the most profitable trade items in Timbuktu were books.

History of Mali

Domesticated camels were used for transportation in the Sahara region from the 3rd century by Berber traders. But, regular trade routes did not develop until the 7th and 8th centuries as West Africa began to convert to the Islam religion, brought by Muslim merchants.

The two main trade routes were from modern Morocco to Timbuktu and from modern Tunisia to Lake Chad. These were the shortest north-south routes across the desert and had essential oases along the way.

The Ghana Empire in West Africa was formed in the 8th century by the Soninke, a Mande-speaking people.

In 1230 AD, King Sundiata Keita of Muslim Mali conquered the Ghana Empire.

Mali Ships Crossing the Atlantic Before Columbus

Mansa Abubakari II, (also known as Mansa Qu), the Voyager King, studied maps created by Al-Masudi, ocean currents, and navigation at Sankore University.  In 1304, he sent an exploration fleet of 200 ships west into the Atlantic Ocean.

Only one ship returned, without discovering land. The surviving captain reported the other ships disappeared in a violent ocean current.

In 1311, he handed his throne over to his brother Mansa Musa and sailed west. But, no one from this fleet of 2,000 ships ever returned. Some stories claim they landed and founded a colony named Bourne Bambouk, after the empire’s famous gold fields, near Recife, in the northeastern state of Pernambuco in Brazil.

The journal of Bartolomé de las Casas was made during the third voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1498. It relates that Columbus had heard reports from native people that “there had come to Española from the south and south-east, a black people who have the tops of their spears made of a metal which they call guanín“.

Columbus had the spearheads assayed in Spain and they were found to be 18 parts gold, 6 parts silver, and 8 parts copper.  This matched the metal alloy used for spearheads by the Mali and Moors in West Africa.

Note: In 1970, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, sailed an Egyptian design papyrus reed boat named Ra II from Morocco to Barbados, 6,100 kilometers in 57 days. This proved that African ships may have crossed the Atlantic Ocean before Columbus by following the ocean currents and trade winds.

Mansa Musa, Richest Man in the World

The greatest leader after Sundiata was Mansa Musa, a Muslim ruler. He became the richest man in the world from the enormous wealth of the empire’s gold mines. He expanded the kingdom eastward into an empire.

The Mali Empire stretched from the city of Gao in the central Sahara Desert region to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. It was several times larger than France.

Mansa Musa made a renowned pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, accompanied by an entourage of 80,000 subjects, carrying two tons of gold dust and bars that he gave away on his journey.

He brought back many books, scribes, scholars, architects, and other professionals on his return home. Timbuktu became a center of commerce, learning, culture, and the book trade. Knowledge was valued and the book trade became more profitable than the gold trade. Arabic became the language and script of Islam and scholarship.

While the Black Death pandemic of bubonic plague killed millions in Europe, sub-Saharan Africa avoided the plague and the Mali Empire prospered and became rich.

The Sankore mosque (see photo), built around 1300, became Sankore University, one of the oldest universities in the world.  Along with the Djinguereber and Sidi Yahya mosques, they composed the University of Timbuktu.

After Mansa Musa’s death in 1332, the Songhai Empire (1355-1591), based in Gao, took control. The first king of Songhai was Dialliaman, meaning he has come from Yemen.

The Peak and Decline of Timbuktu

Walata and Djenne were also centers of learning, but by 1500, Timbuktu surpassed both of them. It was known for its solid institutions, political liberties, purity of morals, the security of its people and their goods, compassion towards the poor and strangers, as well as courtesy and generosity toward students and scholars.

Public libraries were established and calligraphers were employed to copy books. The title, author, date of the copy, and the names of the scribes who copied it were stated at the end of each book.

Some books also named the proofreaders, vocalizers (who added vowels to Arabic), the recipient of the copy, the price, paper supplier, and the starting and ending dates of copying. Copyists wrote about 140 lines of text per day.

According to legend, Timbuktu is guarded by 333 renowned saints, buried in chapels surrounding the city.

The Songhai Empire eventually divided into several smaller kingdoms ending with the 1591 invasion of Moors from Morocco at the Battle of Tondibi, a cattle pasture north of Gao.  Morocco had depleted its funds to defeat an invasion from Portugal.  It was targeting the gold of Songhai.

They used muskets (arquebus) and cannons provided by England.  The defenders only had sabers, spears, and bows.  A herd of cattle was used as a barrier but it stampeded away because of the gunfire.  The gold source was never discovered by the invaders.

After that invasion, Timbuktu declined from its Golden Age. Scholars were arrested, killed, or exiled to Morocco. The small Moroccan garrisons were not adequate protection and the city was repeatedly attacked and conquered by the Bambara, Fulani, and Tuareg.

European Exploration and Colonization

During the Age of Discovery, starting in 1419, Portuguese explorers began methodical expeditions along the coast of West Africa under the sponsorship of Prince Henry the Navigator. But the mouth of the Niger River is south of Timbuktu and was not found until 1825.

As European powers established sea routes for trading, camel caravans lost importance. By the early 16th century, trade with more wealthy Europeans became more important than trade with North Africa.

European exploration of the West African interior first began around 1800.  But, foreign attention did not seriously focus on the region until the decline of the slave trade in the late 1800s.

In 1795, Scottish explorer Mungo Park reached the Niger River but turned back before reaching Timbuktu. He wrote a best-selling book about his adventure.  On his second attempt in 1805, his group disappeared forever.

French explorer Réné Caillé learned Arabic while living for 8 months with an Arab tribe near Senegal. He disguised himself as a Muslim merchant from Egypt and reached Timbuktu in April 1828. But, by that time, the former great empire, wealth, and markets of legend were several centuries past their glory days.

Former kingdoms had fractured into feuding factions and near anarchy. This gave explorers a biased disappointing impression of local politics and lack of development, inviting a colonial take-over. Caillé returned to Europe and told his discovery story.

French colonization lasted from 1894, as part of French Sudan, until the Republic of Mali gained independence in 1960. The French invasion led to the construction of railways for easier travel from the West African coast across the Sahel to the interior.

Modern Mali Languages

French remains the official language of Mali, with a population of 20 million. Many African languages are spoken, with Bambara the most common. The Moors and Tuareg speak Arabic.

The main religion is Islam, practiced by about 95% of the people.

Today, camel caravans are not common. Some Tuareg members still carry salt by camels along traditional trade routes. But, camels have been mostly replaced by trucks.  A 4,500 km north-south Trans-Sahara Highway, with 85% paved roads, now runs from Algiers on the Mediterranean coast to Lagos, Nigeria.

Timbuktu Manuscripts and Libraries

By 1450, the population of Timbuktu grew to about 100,000. There were about 25,000 scholars, many of whom had studied in Mecca or in Egypt.

Until recently, many commentators believed that African cultures had no tradition of writing. But, this perception is changing with the rediscovery of ancient manuscripts in many libraries, some dating from the 8th century.

National Geographic estimates that 700,000 manuscripts have survived in about 60 family and institutional libraries in Timbuktu alone.

The library at the Sakore mosque (madrasah) held the largest collection of books in Africa since the Library of Alexandria, Egypt.

The Ahmed Baba Institute, established in 1970, holds about 30,000 manuscripts that are being studied, preserved, and digitized.  During the French colonial period, many manuscripts were seized and burned. So, many families learned to hide manuscript collections in trunks hidden under floors, in mountain caves, villages, and secret locations buried in the desert.

Surviving manuscripts range from small fragments to single pages to hundreds of pages in varying conditions. Many have been damaged by fire, water, mold, decay, sand abrasion, poor storage and handling, rodents, termites, and other insects.

Scribes copied texts on camel shoulder blades, sheepskins, tree bark, and paper from Italy. Some are brightened with gold leaf.  Ink and dyes were extracted from desert plants. Covers were made from the skins of goats and sheep.

Technically, manuscripts are hand-written texts while books are printed texts. Although Gutenburg invented the printing press in 1450, hand-written manuscripts remained the main publishing method used by Islam until the early 20th century.

Subject matter includes the Quran, Islamic law, grammar, logic, philosophy, botany, medicine, mathematics, physics, chemistry, art, music, geography, astrology, and astronomy.  Original works from the region include contracts, history, commentaries, poetry, and notes.

Commercial documents include the names of the buyer and seller, a detailed product description, a declaration that the sale was legal, a confirmation that payment was made, and the name of the drafter and date.

Legal documents also state that the contract was valid, that the parties were legally and mentally competent, signed freely, and the transaction was lawful under Islamic law, typically ending with ‘Praise to God and blessings upon the Prophet.’

Timbuktu also received many navigational maps and logs from geographers around the world.

Caravan Scribes and Notaries

Caravans included a leader with experience (khabir), like the captain of a ship; muezzins and imams who called and led the Muslim prayers, and a scribe or notary to formalize transactions and legal documents.

Most members of the caravan were traders but might also include pilgrims, the ’ulama (Muslim religious scholars), and travelers. It often moved to the beat of kettle drums, chanting, singing, or reciting the Quran.

Tarikh al-Sudan (History of Sudan)

Abderrahman Sadi (1569-1655) was a notary, scholar, advisor, and traveler in Timbuktu who became an administrator at the University of Sankore. Around 1629, he wrote the Tarikh al-Sudan, a masterpiece history of the West African region.

By the 8th century, he noted, entire merchant classes consisting of citizens and foreigners were able to carry on a thriving commercial enterprise. There was a well-circulated currency, fixed market days, a well-organized tariff system, and an extensive trade route system.

Tarikh al-Fattash (The Chronicle of the Seeker of Knowledge)

Mahmud (Mahmoud) Kati (1468-1593), another scholar, wrote Tarikh al-Fattash (The Chronicle of the Seeker of Knowledge). It provides an account of the Songhay Empire from the reign of Sonni Ali (ruled 1464-1492) up to 1599. Together with the Tarikh al-Sudan they are known as the Timbuktu Chronicles.

Ibrahim Al-Sahili

The earliest scholar from the Mediterranean region to settle in Timbuktu was Ibrahim Al-Sahili. He met Mansa Musa on his great pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 and accompanied him back to Mali with many other scholars and professionals.

He was born in Granada, Andalusia, where he received training in law and was also a notary public. Under the direction of Mansa Musa, he introduced Islamic architecture and built several mosques.

New Ahmed Baba Institute

In 2009, the new building housing the Ahmed Baba Institute was officially opened. It is a joint project between the South African and Malian governments to promote the conservation, research, and promotion of the manuscripts as African heritage.

It contains state-of-the-art resources for the proper storage and preservation of the manuscripts, facilities for researchers, conference rooms, a lecture theatre, library, and accommodations for researchers from abroad.

Ahmed Baba (1556-1627), Timbuktu’s greatest scholar, wrote more than 40 books.

Timbuktu Manuscripts Destroyed by Militants

In 2012, Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants captured northern Mali and destroyed thousands of manuscripts.  To protect the irreplaceable documents, brave librarians risked torture, injury and death and smuggled thousands of manuscripts from Timbuktu to the capital in Bamako for safekeeping.

Militants also destroyed mausoleums of some of the 333 Sufi saints surrounding the city.  French and Mali troops drove them out.  So far, one Tuareg rebel has been jailed for 9 years, by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, for war crimes for the destruction of cultural sites. He was also found liable for $3.6 million in damages.

The deliberate destruction of the records helped to bring global attention to the Timbuktu manuscripts, the preservation work being done, and the need for digitizing records and more security from future attacks.

Image Credits
1. Color illustration, Mansa Abubakari II, the Voyager King, Leo and Diane Dillon, Fair Use for education, from 2001 children’s book Mansa Musa
2. Map, Mali Empire, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
3. Photo, Sankore Madrasah, Timbuktu, Mali, Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.5 NL
4. Photo, pirogue dugout boat, Niger River, Malta, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.5
5. Mali flag, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
6. Photo, Timbuktu Manuscripts, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain PD-US
7. Painting, Ahmed Baba
8. Photo, Tuareg rebels in Mali 2012, Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0

Visit our website for Colorado Springs Mobile Notary services or Colorado Notary Training classes.

© Copyright 2020  ABC Legal Docs, LLC  All rights reserved.  Do not copy.  Citations welcome.  Terms of Use apply.