Historical manuscripts The Timbuktu manuscripts, written moslty in Arabic, but also in indigenous languages such as Songhai and Hausa, cover topics as diverse as justice, religion, philosophy, history, medicine and the arts and include mathematical and scientific texts on astronomy. The texts clearly reflect Africa’s pre-colonial tradition of written academic excellence. Some of the manuscripts date back to the 13th century when the city was an important stop along the lucrative gold and salt trade route between West Africa and the Middle East. Timbuktu 500 years ago was not only a wealthy trading port, but also an important centre of learning and spiritualism and home to the renowned Koranic Sankore University. Scholars flocked to the city from all over the Islamic world. The city which was founded in 1100 in West Africa on the edge of the Sahara desert and on the northern-most
bend of the Niger River was named a World heritage Site in 1998.
Widening horisons While Timbuktu has long-since been a symbol of a remote and exotic destination in Western popular imagination, few people have actually known where this ancient city was located and fewer still ascribed any kind of civilization to this historic area. The Timbuktu library project and the media coverage which the project and the opening of the library facility generated have put paid to this ignorance. The awareness created of the manuscripts also put an end to the misconception that Africa relied solely on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;oral traditionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to pass on its history and knowledge. The written records reflect a long tradition of learning and a rich historical and cultural heritage. <
formation