The Library of Timbuktu: Songhai's Lost Manuscripts

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the manuscript tradition of Songhai's Timbuktu, focusing on the vast private libraries that held thousands of scholarly works in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and Islamic jurisprudence. They discuss how the Sankore Madrasa and other institutions produced works like the Tarikh al-Sudan and Tarikh al-Fattash, the role of scholar Ahmed Baba, and the fate of these manuscripts after the Saadian invasion of 1591. The episode highlights recent efforts to preserve surviving manuscripts and what they reveal about West Africa's intellectual history. Listeners will learn about specific texts, the impact of the Saadian occupation on scholarship, and the ongoing work of digitization in Timbuktu. #SonghaiEmpire #Timbuktu #Manuscripts #AhmedBaba #SankoreMadrasa #TarikhAlSudan #TarikhAlFattash #Saadian #WestAfrica #IslamicScholarship #LibraryOfTimbuktu #Digitization #History #FexingoHistory #MedievalAfrica #NigerRiver #Gao #MaliEmpire Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo