Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
Timbuktu's 1468 Tuareg Expulsion: A City's Turning Point
In 1468, the Tuareg rulers of Timbuktu were overthrown by the rising Songhai Empire under Sunni Ali, a conquest that transformed the city from a Berber trading outpost into the intellectual heart of a new empire. This episode explores the political and social upheaval of that year, drawing on the Tarikh al-Sudan and other chronicles to reveal the complex factions—Tuareg, Songhai, and the scholars of Sankore—who shaped the city's fate. We discuss the fragile alliances, the siege, the massacre that followed, and the long-term consequences for Timbuktu's scholarly community. How did…
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