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Timbuktu's Paper Trail: The Scribes Who Kept Knowledge Alive
Long before the printing press reached the Sahara, Timbuktu's scholars relied on an army of scribes who hand-copied manuscripts across the centuries. This episode uncovers the trade of the warraq — the paper sellers, bookbinders, and copyists who made Timbuktu a city of books. We follow the journey of a single manuscript, from the paper makers of Medieval Europe and the Islamic world to the bustling markets of the Niger Bend. We meet the men and women who sat for hours with quills and ink, preserving works of astronomy, law, and poetry. Through the archives of the Ahmed Baba Institute…
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