Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
Mahmud Kati and the Hajj That Built Timbuktu's Library
This episode follows the extraordinary journey of Mahmud Kati, a 15th-century scholar from Timbuktu whose pilgrimage to Mecca transformed his city's intellectual life. We explore how Kati's hajj in the early 1500s led him to Cairo's Al-Azhar, where he studied theology, law, and astronomy before returning with hundreds of manuscripts. These texts formed the core of Timbuktu's famous libraries, including the Fondo Kati collection. The episode reveals the hajj as not just a religious duty but a crucial channel for the trans-Saharan exchange of ideas—connecting Timbuktu to the…
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