Timbuktu's Herbalists: The Medical Manuscripts of the Sahel

Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History · Jun 3, 2026 · 7m · transcript

Long before modern medicine reached the Sahara, Timbuktu's scholars compiled detailed herbal remedies that blended Islamic medicine with West African traditions. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the medical manuscripts of the Sahel, focusing on the work of 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di, the 17th-century historian and physician who recorded treatments for malaria, dysentery, and snakebites using local plants like balanites and acacia. They discuss the influence of Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine on Sankore's curriculum, the role of female healers known as…