Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
Timbuktu's Secret Archive: The Fondo Kati Library
In 1618, a Spanish-Moroccan captive named Mahmud Kati completed a chronicle that would become one of the most precious documents of the Sahel—the Tarikh al-Fattash. This episode follows Kati's extraordinary life: born in Timbuktu around 1468, he studied at Sankore, performed the hajj twice, and served as a close advisor to Askia Muhammad, the great Songhai ruler. But his true legacy lies in the Fondo Kati, a private library of manuscripts he assembled and annotated, now preserved by his descendants in Timbuktu. We explore how Kati's family survived the Saadian conquest of 1591, the…
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