Au heart of sub-Saharan Africa of the XVe and XVIe centuries, Timbuktu is a flourishing city that attracts teachers and students, protected by the Emperor of Songhaï. This is where knowledge is shared and spread. Teaching and books flourished and all trades took advantage: copyists, booksellers, repeaters, bookbinders, translators, illuminators. We come from Egypt, Andalusia, Morocco or the Ghana Empire to take courses at the University of Sankoré. Thus, in full glory, the city welcomed in the XVe century more than 25 000 students.
On parchments, oriental papers, camel shoulder blades or sheepskins, everything is noted, commented on, referred: the price of salt and spices, legal acts, sales, pharmacopoeia details (including a treatise on the harmful effects of tobacco), advice on sexual relations, grammar or mathematics notes.
After the collapse of the Songhai empire in the XNUMXth centurye century, these manuscripts have been forgotten, kept in rusty canteens and dusty cellars, eaten up by salt and sand. But things are changing: the heirs of great families are opening private libraries, the Ahmed Baba Institute is created, Unesco and researchers around the world are interested in it. Professor Georges Bohas estimates that only 1% of the texts are translated and 10% cataloged. In this book, which combines the history of Timbuktu, the images of these precious texts and the contributions of five of the greatest Africanists, Jean-Michel Djian asks himself: why such an oversight? What are these manuscripts hiding? What can they teach us?
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The manuscripts of Timbuktu
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Part Number | 9782709639545 |
Release Date | 2012-10-10T00:00:01Z |
Language | Français |
Number Of Pages | 192 |
Publication Date | 2012-10-10T00:00:01Z |