Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History / The Timbuktu Astronomer Who Measured the Stars
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Timbuktu's scholars — the jurists, the historians, the manuscript collectors. But there's one figure who worked in a completely different field, and his story is barely known even among people who love this history. Luna: Oh? Who's that? Lucas: Muhammad al-Wangari. Born in the late 16th century in the town of Wangara — that's in the gold-producing region south of Timbuktu. He became one of the most accomplished astronomers of his time, working entirely within the Songhai tradition. Luna: Wait — Timbuktu had astronomers? I thought the main focus was law and theology. Lucas: That's a common impression, but no — the curriculum at Sankore and the other mosques included mathematics, geometry, astronomy, even medicine. Al-Wangari wrote a massive compendium called the Mir'at al-'Alam — that's 'Mirror of the World' — which covered astronomy, astrology, geography, and timekeeping. It's one of the most sophisticated scientific works produced in West Africa. Lucas: The Mir'at al-'Alam draws heavily on earlier Islamic astronomers like al-Zarqali from 11th-century Andalusia, who created the Toledan Tables — those were astronomical tables used to predict planetary positions. Al-Wangari adapted them for West Africa, adjusting for local latitude and longitude. Luna: So he wasn't just copying — he was actually recalculating for his own location. Lucas: Exactly. That's the key. He didn't just transmit knowledge — he applied it. He calculated the width of the Red Sea using a lunar eclipse method. He wrote about the astrolabe, the water clock, and the gnomon — that's a simple sundial. He even discussed the astrological implications of planetary conjunctions, which was standard for the time. Lucas: And he wasn't working in isolation. We know from his writings that he corresponded with scholars in Fez, Cairo, and even Granada. The Sahara was not a barrier — it was a highway for ideas. Luna: So how did a scholar in Timbuktu get access to the Toledan Tables? Those were originally compiled in Spain. Lucas: Through the manuscript trade. We've talked about how books moved across the desert — caravans carried not just gold and salt, but crates of books. al-Zarqali's works were studied in Cairo, and from there they made their way south to Timbuktu. Al-Wangari probably had a copy of the Toledan Tables that had been copied by hand, maybe with marginal notes from previous readers. Lucas: He also used the Almagest of Ptolemy — the Greek astronomical work that was translated into Arabic in the 9th century. So his learning stretched back to ancient Alexandria, through Baghdad, through Cordoba, and finally to Timbuktu. Luna: That's an incredible chain of transmission. Lucas: It really is. And al-Wangari wasn't just an astronomer — he was also a mathematician. He wrote about arithmetic, geometry, and what we'd call trigonometry. He solved problems related to inheritance law, which required sophisticated fractions. And he taught at Sankore for decades. Luna: Was there any tension between astronomy and religion? I mean, studying the stars — was that seen as acceptable in Maliki Islam? Lucas: That's a great question. There was definitely debate. Some scholars argued that astronomy was useful for determining prayer times and the direction of Mecca, so it was religiously permissible — even praiseworthy. Others were suspicious, especially of astrology, which claimed to predict the future. Al-Wangari himself wrote both astronomical and astrological sections, but he was careful to frame astrology as a tool for understanding God's creation, not for divination. Lucas: He also argued that studying the heavens was a form of worship — that by contemplating the order of the cosmos, you came closer to God. That's a position that goes back to early Islamic philosophers like al-Farabi and Ibn Sina. Luna: So he was navigating a fine line between science and faith. Lucas: Very much so. And he wasn't alone. There were other astronomers in Timbuktu — we know of Muhammad al-Kabari, who designed a water clock, and there's evidence of a whole tradition of astronomical observation. But al-Wangari's Mir'at al-'Alam is the most complete surviving work. Lucas: Now, I should mention — we don't have the original manuscript of the Mir'at al-'Alam. It's been lost, probably destroyed during the Saadian invasion or the later conflicts. But we have references to it in other works, and fragments survive in the Fondo Kati and Mamma Haidara collections. Luna: So we only know about it because other scholars quoted it? Lucas: Exactly. It's like reconstructing a fossil from bone fragments. But from those quotations, we can see that al-Wangari was doing original work — he corrected errors in the Toledan Tables for the latitude of Timbuktu, for instance. And he calculated the timing of lunar eclipses with remarkable accuracy. Luna: That's amazing. And it makes you wonder what else was lost. Lucas: It does. And that's part of why documenting and preserving these stories matters. You know, a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you've gotten something out of them. It helps us keep researching these overlooked figures. Luna: Yeah, it's a small thing that adds up. And it keeps the show ad-free. Lucas: Right. So back to al-Wangari. One of his most impressive achievements was calculating the width of the Red Sea. He used a method that involved observing a lunar eclipse simultaneously from two locations — one in West Africa and one in Egypt — and then using the difference in timing to estimate the longitude difference. Luna: That's literally cutting-edge science for the 17th century. Lucas: Absolutely. It's the same method that European astronomers like John Flamsteed were using at the same time. Al-Wangari's result was remarkably close to the modern value. He was operating at the same level as his contemporaries in Europe and the Middle East, but he's been almost entirely forgotten. Luna: Why do you think that is? Lucas: Partly because of the decline of Timbuktu after the Saadian invasion, partly because the manuscripts were scattered or destroyed, and partly because Western histories of science have focused on Europe. But scholars like al-Wangari show that Africa was not a passive recipient of knowledge — it was an active center of research and innovation. Luna: So the next time someone says 'African science didn't exist,' we have a counterexample. Lucas: Exactly. Al-Wangari and his colleagues at Sankore were doing real, original scientific work. They were building on a global tradition and contributing to it. And that's a story worth telling.