Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
Timbuktu's 19th-Century Ordeal: The Fulani Jihad and the Fall of a Scholarly City
When we think of Timbuktu, we picture its golden age under the Mali and Songhai empires, a beacon of scholarship and trade. But the city faced a devastating turning point in the 19th century, when the Fulani jihad led by Seku Amadu swept through the Sahel. In 1826, Seku Amadu's forces captured Timbuktu, imposing a strict interpretation of Islam that clashed with the city's scholarly traditions. This episode explores the ideological conflict between the Kunta Sufi leaders and the Fulani reformers, the destruction of manuscripts, the resistance of scholars like Ahmad al-Kunti, and the…
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