Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
The Timbuktu Scholar Who Calculated the Moon's Orbit
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the astronomical legacy of Timbuktu, focusing on the 17th-century scholar Muhammad al-Wangari and his encyclopedia Mir’at al-‘Alam (The Mirror of the World). Al-Wangari synthesized the works of Islamic and classical astronomers like al-Zarqali and al-Battani, calculating the lunar cycle and planetary positions with remarkable accuracy—centuries before modern telescopes. The episode examines how Timbuktu’s scholars integrated mathematics, observation, and theology, and how manuscripts like al-Wangari’s survived in the city’s libraries. It also touches on…
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