Timbuktu Had 180 Schools. Then an Army Arrived

Timbuktu is famous as the city of books. About 180 schools, thousands of students, three great mosques, and no walls. In 1591 an army crossed the Sahara and took it. What happened to its scholars? And why are the people who wrote its history not neutral witnesses? Here is what the UNESCO General History of Africa says, and where it disagrees. The page for every claim is listed below. Tell me in the comments: which city's story should we tell after Benin? If a story moves you: like it, share it with one person, and subscribe for a new African history story every week. CHAPTERS 0:00 A city with no walls 1:02 The crossroads: why Timbuktu was rich 2:08 Sonni Ali: tyrant, or a king the scholars disliked? 3:30 The golden age: 180 schools 5:25 1591: the army crosses the Sahara 7:22 After the fall: the pashas and the chronicles 8:24 What survives 8:50 What the sources disagree about 9:35 Next story SOURCES (UNESCO General History of Africa; page numbers are the printed pages) The size of the city (about 80,000, "a very approximate figure"; another historian says 25,000), the towns of the Niger being unwalled, the tomb of Kadi Mahmud: Vol. IV, p. 206 and note 32 The caravan roads (Tuat, Ghadames, Teghazza), the port of Kabara, Leo Africanus, gold, salt, copper and cowries as money: Vol. IV, p. 203 Gifts and honours to the scholars; the three great mosques (Jingereber, Sidi Yahya, Sankore): Vol. IV, pp. 207-208 About 180 Koranic schools; "not an organized institution"; Kadi Mahmud (1463-1548); Ahmad Baba (1566-1627): Vol. IV, p. 209 "Virtually nothing" of the 15th and 16th century intellectual activity survived: Vol. IV, p. 210 Mansa Musa's minaret; the sack by the Mossi (about 1337); the Tuareg in 1433-4: Vol. IV, p. 212 Sonni Ali takes Timbuktu (1468): Vol. IV, p. 191 Sonni Ali, the scholars, and "has now been rehabilitated": Vol. IV, p. 193; Vol. III, p. 116 Askiya Muhammad's pilgrimage (1496-7), al-Suyuti, "caliph of the Sudan": Vol. IV, p. 194 The Songhay army at Tondibi (about 30,000 infantry and 10,000 horsemen), the massacre of the bodyguard, the Akit family and the post of kadi: Vol. IV, p. 201 The Moroccan expedition: al-Mansur, Djudar Pasha, 30 October 1590, the 60-day march, the Niger on 1 March 1591, Tondibi: Vol. V, p. 301 An empire already divided (struggles for the throne since 1529; the rebellion in Timbuktu): Vol. V, p. 303 Mahmud ben Zarkun, the scholars killed or exiled, Ahmad Baba: Vol. V, p. 304 The Arma, the 145 pashas (1646 to 1825): Vol. V, pp. 307-308 The two Ta'rikhs as "the fundamental source for the history of the Songhay": Vol. IV, p. 187, note 1 Also see, as quoted there: al-Sa'di (Ta'rikh al-Sudan), Mahmud Kati (Ta'rikh al-fattash), Leo Africanus. Spot a mistake? Tell me in the comments and I will pin the correction. Images (credits): A Timbuktu manuscript · Mark Fischer, CC BY-SA 2.0 [M08] Timbuktu manuscripts: astronomy and mathematics · public domain [M09] Timbuktu seen from a terrace, after Heinrich Barth, 1858 · public domain [P01] Heinrich Barth enters Timbuktu, 1853 · public domain [P02] Plan of Timbuktu by Heinrich Barth, 1858 · public domain [P03] The Djinguereber Mosque, photographed about 1905 · public domain [P04] The Sankore Mosque, photographed about 1905 · public domain [P05] The Sidi Yahya Mosque, photographed about 1905 · public domain [P06] The market of Timbuktu, about 1905 · public domain [P07] The market square of Timbuktu, about 1905 · public domain [P08] The oratory of Sidi Yahya, 1890s · public domain [P09] The Sankore Mosque, 2007 · public domain [P11] A page of the Ta'rikh al-Fattash (Mamma Haidara Library) · public domain [P13] A page of the Ta'rikh al-Fattash (Mamma Haidara Library) · public domain [P14] A Koran in Maghrebi script (Timbuktu) · public domain [P15] The Tomb of Askia, Gao, 1930 · public domain [P17] The Saadian Tombs, Marrakesh · C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0 [P18] Plan of the Saadian kasbah, Marrakesh (16th c.) · Antonio de Conçeyçâo, CC BY-SA 4.0 [P19] Sultan al-Mansur, engraving by Andre Thevet (not a measured likeness) · public domain [P20] Leo Africanus, Historie of Africa, 1554 · public domain [P22]