Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
The Timbuktu Siege of 1591 That Changed Everything
In 1591, the Songhai Empire crumbled when a Moroccan army crossed the Sahara to seize Timbuktu. This episode follows the Saadian invasion led by Judar Pasha, a Spanish-born eunuch commanding arquebusiers against Songhai cavalry at the Battle of Tondibi. We explore the role of European mercenaries, the devastating use of gunpowder, and how the fall of Gao and Timbuktu shattered centuries of trans-Saharan scholarship. Learn about the Arma—the mixed Moroccan-Songhai ruling class—and how their arrival ended the golden age of Sankore. The episode also covers the 1612 coup of the Arma leader Ali…
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