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Timbuktu's Astrolabe: The Sahel's Lost Science
In this episode of Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge, we explore the sophisticated astronomical tradition of the Sahel. Lucas and Luna discuss a surviving brass astrolabe from 18th-century Timbuktu, now housed in the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire in Dakar. They trace how scholars like al-Wangari adapted Islamic astronomical tools to the Sahara, using the stars for navigation, prayer times, and agricultural calendars. The conversation delves into the Sankore curriculum, which included mathematics and optics, and the controversy over whether Timbuktu's…
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