The Famine That Almost Erased Timbuktu

Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History · Jul 8, 2026 · 6m · transcript

In the 1730s and again in 1747, Timbuktu was struck by devastating famines that killed thousands and nearly depopulated the city. This episode explores the causes, the 1747 famine in particular, how the city's scholars and religious leaders (like the Kunta sheikhs of the Qadiriyya) organized relief, the role of the Arma military caste in hoarding grain, and the long-term social and economic scars left on the city. We look at contemporary manuscript sources from the Tarikh al-Fattash and European traveler accounts to reconstruct this forgotten catastrophe.

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