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Mansa Musa's Timbuktu Fire: The Library That Survived artwork

Mansa Musa's Timbuktu Fire: The Library That Survived

The Mali Empire: The Richest Civilization in History — Fexingo History
S2 E6308:08
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Show notes

Mansa Musa is famous for his hajj and gold, but what happened to the libraries he built? In 1329, a mysterious fire swept through Timbuktu's Sankore district, destroying hundreds of manuscripts. This episode untangles what we actually know from the Tarikh al-Sudan and Tarikh al-Fattash about that night: Was it an accident, arson, or political sabotage by the Sonni dynasty? Lucas and Luna explore how the fire reshaped Timbuktu's scholarly community, the rivalry between the Keita and Sonni clans, and the legacy of that loss — still felt today in efforts to preserve Timbuktu's surviving manuscripts. Along the way, they touch on the role of jeliw in transmitting the story, the qadis who rebuilt, and what the fire reveals about the fragility of knowledge even in the richest empire on earth. #TimbuktuFire #MansaMusa #TarikhAlSudan #TarikhAlFattash #Sonni #Keita #Sankore #jeliw #qadi #Manuscripts #HistoryOfAfrica #MaliEmpire #1329 #Timbuktu #Sahel #Podcast #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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