Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
The Timbuktu Astrolabe That Measured the Stars
In 15th-century Timbuktu, scholars used astrolabes and hand-crafted instruments to chart the heavens. This episode follows the story of a single brass astrolabe — likely brought from Muslim Spain — that ended up in the Sankore Madrasa library. We explore how Ahmad al-Wangari and other Sahelian astronomers calculated prayer times, predicted lunar eclipses, and navigated the Sahara by starlight. The episode also touches on the Fondo Kati manuscript collection, which preserves star catalogs from al-Suyuti and al-Battani. And we examine the debate: were these scholars merely copying Islamic…
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