Ep. 44 - Timbuktu, Mali
From here to Timbuktu? Join us on a quest to the El Dorado of Africa. A city nearly 1,000 years old shrouded in history and mystery. Join in on our 44th adventure to learn more about the very real city that was a beacon of scholarship, religion, wealth, and more!
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Transcription:
*Intro music*
Hey hey, it’s time for another installment of The Friday Take Five. I’m Mark Moran, and we’re hitting a new place, with a new story. Sit back, relax, and get your adventure itch scratched. This… Is episode 44.
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As a youngin, I distinctly remember heading on trips from “here to Timbuktu”, meaning we had a long journey ahead of us. Timbuktu didn’t really mean anything, other than the fact that we were headed a long, long way away. To us, and to many, Timbuktu wasn’t a real place, but was instead just a metaphor for a place in the middle of nowhere.
It would be years before I realized that Timbuktu actually is a real place, and it’s one that’s loaded with history.
Timbuktu, for those unaware, is in modern day Mali, in the Western part of Africa, and at the southern edge of the Sahara desert.
The city was founded in roughly 1100 AD as a seasonal trading post between African kingdoms of the west and the Tuareg people spread out across the Southern Sahara region.
The Tuareg people, influenced by Islam from the East, introduced the religion in the area.
With the help of developments by Mansa Musa I, only a few hundred years after the city’s founding, Timbuktu became a major center of religion, scholarship, and commerce, helping the empire of Mali become one of the most influential during the Golden Age of Islam.
Mansa Musa’s contributions helped build the Koranic Sankore University, which still stands today roughly 700 years later as the oldest facility of higher learning in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In addition to Sankore, Timbuktu during its height was littered with approximately 80 other universities and the city was home to tens of thousands of scholars from all over the world.
Mansa Musa took advantage of the abundant gold and precious metal deposits near Timbuktu and invested those resources in the Kingdom which resulted in the Kingdom’s growth.
Fun fact about Mansa Musa I: All that mining made the dude insanely wealthy. Well, at least those are the rumors. Modern estimates peg his wealth at roughly $400 billion USD, and while Elon Musk is on his way there, he still has quite a way to go.
Rumors of the wealth of Mansa, Timbuktu, and the Kingdom of Mali eventually made their way north to Europe, turning the Sub-Saharan city into Europe’s “El Dorado” of Africa. The city was viewed as far off, hard to reach, and shrouded in gold and mystery, which undoubtedly has contributed to some of the connotations of Timbuktu today.
Though there likely was a fair amount of monetary wealth in and around the city at its peak, I mean come on, the place was surrounded with mines, the city was also rich in literature.
Despite attacks and destruction of literature with the collapse of the kingdom of Mali and more recently with destruction driven by extremist organizations, hundreds of thousands of the city’s manuscripts miraculously survived thanks to the work of preservationists and were put into a new library and tens of thousands of the ancient manuscripts have now even been digitized, preserving the history of the city for generations to come.
Though seemingly Timbuktu would be an obvious destination for tourism, unfortunately it’s gotten the stamp of disapproval from the US government and many other governments due to violence and unrest in the country since 2012.
It’s really a shame. I hope for the people of Mali stability is restored in the coming years and that Mali is able to build itself up again. Timbuktu has such an incredible history. I’d love to be able to experience that history along with the culture of Mali if given the chance, but we’ll see.
Though you might not be traveling to Mali soon, I hope you still enjoyed being whisked away on a quick, five minute adventure. Furthermore, I hope I was able to help you learn something new and get you considering Timbuktu when you eventually do get the chance. That’s all this week folks. I hope you have a great one.
*Transition music*
Hey Fivers! Thanks for coming along on our 44th adventure. If you haven’t already, be sure to give the show a 5 star rating on podcasting platforms, and share this episode with a friend. Have your own stories about Timbuktu, feedback on the show or suggestions on new episodes? I’d love to hear it so follow me and DM me on socials @FridayTakeFive or email me at thefridaytakefive@gmail.com. Stay curious, stay adventuring, and have a great weekend!
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