WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TIMBUKTU UNIVERSITY.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TIMBUKTU UNIVERSITY.

By Oluwatoyin Magbagbeola.

  Mansa Musa, the great ruler of the Mali empire between 1307 to 1332, gained control of the whole of Mali and its territories, and became the world's richest person in the history of mankind. The Mali empire was widely known for its abundant natural resources such as gold, gold dust, and other commodities. History will forever be told on how the greatest journey ever made by a king. Mansa Musa, known for his curiosity and wealth, set on a journey to Mecca in order to complete the hajj. He was the only man to ever crash the gold market due to his benevolent nature. It was reported that Mansa Musa gave out all his gold to people he met on his way, and built a mosque everywhere he and his men made a stop. This got the attention of the whole of Europe on him and his great empire. 

 He returned to Mali with Architects and scholars whom he had encountered along the way. He employed these people to establish mosques and Universities in Timbuktu that quickly gained fame. As a result, more scholars from varied backgrounds and places traveled to the city from Egypt, Awjila, Ghadames, and Tuat. 

In the University of Timbuktu, there were several independent schools, each having its own principal instructor. Students often paid their tutors via either Money, goods or services. The university boasted approximately 25,000 students out of a total 100,000 of the city's population. Subjects studied in the University included geography, astronomy, medicine, and even history.  Hundreds of thousands of manuscripts were written in Timbuktu. In this a mass of books was established and became one of the most profitable industries in the city. The manuscripts were produced in the Arabic script, and were primarily written in the Arabic language, but other local languages such as Fulfulde, Songhai, Soninke, and Bambara were featured. 

The golden age of Timbuktu came to an end with the collapse of the Songhai empire (Mali), whose sultan Ahmad al-mansur had established an alliance with Elizabeth 1 of England. The English agreed to provide the Moroccan military with forearms and men skilled in the use of these weapons. This Arab- European army invaded Songhai in 1591, and destroyed it. The Invaders confiscated gold, and other resources, enslaved the many scholars, and attempted to confiscate Timbuktu's Archives. 

  In collaboration with SAUAMA-DCL and Google art and culture, over 40,000 digitized manuscripts from the endangered Timbuktu collection will be released. The collection includes manuscripts about Art, Medicine, Philosophy, Science, as well as copies of the Quran. 

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