Timbuktu's Manuscript Libraries: The Private Collections That Saved History

Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History · Jun 4, 2026 · 6m · transcript

When jihadists occupied Timbuktu in 2012, they targeted the city's manuscripts for destruction. But a quiet network of librarians, archivists, and ordinary families had been hiding these texts for centuries — long before the crisis made global headlines. In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into the history of Timbuktu's private manuscript libraries: the Haidara family's sprawling collection, the Fondo Kati founded by Mahmud Kati, and the Ahmed Baba Institute. They explore how these libraries were built, how they survived French colonialism, and the ingenious smuggling…