0:00:07 > 0:00:10This is the story of the rise and fall
0:00:10 > 0:00:14of a legendary city and its long-hidden legacy
0:00:14 > 0:00:17of hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Set against a backdrop of great empires and visionary leaders,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28it tells how trade routes from the East became ink roads,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31bringing writing into West Africa.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34And how Timbuktu became its leading light,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37and how invasions and conquest
0:00:37 > 0:00:40caused that story to be buried, literally.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Africa's storytellers, guardians of its history,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52have had their oral traditions dismissed as mere song and dance,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54and the assumed lack of a literary heritage
0:00:54 > 0:00:58interpreted as meaning Africa doesn't have
0:00:58 > 0:01:00its own intellectual traditions.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06But now a different truth is emerging that tells us the reading
0:01:06 > 0:01:10and writing of books has been as important a part of life in Africa
0:01:10 > 0:01:11as it has in Europe.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15And as Timbuktu's manuscripts are brought out of hiding,
0:01:15 > 0:01:17the conviction grows
0:01:17 > 0:01:22that what they have to tell us may forever rewrite Africa's history.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27This box looks like it's been buried.
0:01:27 > 0:01:28It's covered in dirt on the bottom.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Why was it put under the ground?
0:01:31 > 0:01:35TRANSLATION: Over the years we have protected the manuscripts
0:01:35 > 0:01:38from those who wanted to take them away.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41We have over 4,000 manuscripts in our collection.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47What's incredible is that I'm in a small village in Mali in Africa
0:01:47 > 0:01:49on the edge of the Sahara Desert.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53It's about the last place on Earth I'd expect to find
0:01:53 > 0:01:55manuscripts hundreds of years old.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57But this is where the search
0:01:57 > 0:02:00for the lost libraries of Timbuktu really begins.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Europeans dreamed of reaching Timbuktu ever since stories
0:02:12 > 0:02:16began to circulate in medieval times
0:02:16 > 0:02:19of a desert El Dorado whose streets were paved with gold.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25My journey was as mundane as any these days - several flights
0:02:25 > 0:02:28and an overnight in Mali's capital, Bamako,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31before the last leg to Timbuktu.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35It wasn't until the 19th century that European explorers set out
0:02:35 > 0:02:41to survey Africa and to search for the fabled city of Timbuktu.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43CAMEL ROARS
0:02:43 > 0:02:47Their journeys across deserts and along rivers took years,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50led to violent encounters with desert tribesmen and cost lives.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55So Timbuktu became for ever synonymous
0:02:55 > 0:03:00with remoteness and mystery, the farthest place on earth.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03I grew up in Sierra Leone
0:03:03 > 0:03:07and I've long known that Timbuktu was in Mali, in the Sahara Desert.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10But it was only passing through here a few years ago,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14I realised there was much more to Timbuktu than meets the eye,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17that this seemingly unremarkable desert town
0:03:17 > 0:03:21was once a splendid city of scholars,
0:03:21 > 0:03:23and, from the 13th century,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26West Africa's most important seat of learning.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31In Sierra Leone, I've often heard stories of the Alphas,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33learned men from the north
0:03:33 > 0:03:36who travelled south to spread the word of Allah.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39What I'd never realised before is that many of them
0:03:39 > 0:03:43would have started out right here in the deserts of Timbuktu.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Even Africans are just discovering the story
0:03:47 > 0:03:50of Timbuktu and its lost libraries.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Probably people educated in Arabic and Islam
0:03:53 > 0:03:56know something about the manuscripts,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00but I don't think that the general public are aware about manuscripts.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03I became aware of the existence of the manuscripts
0:04:03 > 0:04:04not longer than two years ago.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08It sounded like a joke, because my director called me
0:04:08 > 0:04:11and said, "Alexio, you've been requested to go to Timbuktu.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13"Do you know a place called Timbuktu?"
0:04:13 > 0:04:16And I said, "No, other than the fact that it's a small,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21"impossible place to get to in Mali in West Africa."
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Until 1960, Mali was a French colony,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29and French has remained the official language.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34Only after independence did the custodians of Timbuktu's manuscripts
0:04:34 > 0:04:39feel it was safe to bring their cultural treasures out of hiding.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44This is one of around 30 libraries opened in Timbuktu in recent years.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49Between them, the libraries have over 70,000 manuscripts.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Timbuktu's libraries are run by families whose ancestors
0:04:53 > 0:04:57began collecting books and documents eight centuries ago.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01The new libraries house whatever remnants of those collections
0:05:01 > 0:05:04have survived the ravages of time.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07And their contents offer an invaluable source
0:05:07 > 0:05:10for a new understanding of West African history.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17At the Mamma Haidara Library, Abdel Kader Haidara has agreed
0:05:17 > 0:05:20to show me some of his collection -
0:05:20 > 0:05:24manuscripts on astronomy, medicine, and theology,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27including commentaries on the sayings of the Prophet.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30These particular manuscripts
0:05:30 > 0:05:33date from around the 16th and 17th centuries.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36'This one's been nibbled by termites.'
0:05:36 > 0:05:39TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: This is an interesting manuscript
0:05:39 > 0:05:41about astronomy.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46These are the astronomy drawings showing the position of all stars.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51I am not an expert but that is what they tell us.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54They knew more about it then than I do now.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59It shows you how to calculate position of the stars
0:05:59 > 0:06:01using these letters and numbers.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05'Next, he showed me a 16th-century manuscript.'
0:06:08 > 0:06:12So, this is a text of the Prophet's sayings.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16What's more, there are all these notes in the margin,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18they can be about anything.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21But this one talks about hygiene.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25"If you eat something unclean,
0:06:25 > 0:06:30"you will always have problems and complications with your health."
0:06:30 > 0:06:34So you must always wash your food, which is pretty good advice.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38And all that was written in the margins by people who came after.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46In the past there were very little papers and they were very expensive,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49so the margins of books were often used,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52just like today when we use a diary.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56I saw one example where the writer said,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59"Today there was an earthquake in Timbuktu."
0:07:06 > 0:07:10'And here's a 500-year-old recipe for toothpaste.'
0:07:12 > 0:07:14"You take some salt and some sugar
0:07:14 > 0:07:17"and mix that together with some charcoal
0:07:17 > 0:07:19"and brush it on your teeth every day,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21"and your teeth will become white.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27"And what's more, it will get rid of your bad breath."
0:07:31 > 0:07:34So how did the libraries first come into being? How were they lost?
0:07:34 > 0:07:38And how will their discovery alter perceptions of Africa?
0:07:41 > 0:07:45At the end of the 10th century, when Timbuktu was founded,
0:07:45 > 0:07:50a large part of West Africa was under the rule of the Ghana Empire.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53It was West Africa's first superpower,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56and its leaders were early converts to Islam.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00The spread of Islam was the compelling factor
0:08:00 > 0:08:04that changed history here and gave Africa its literary tradition.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14- TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH:- Islam spread from the Arabian Peninsula,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17from Egypt and along the coast of North Africa.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20But some other Muslims
0:08:20 > 0:08:25came from the north, the ones who founded Timbuktu, and being traders,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29spread Islam from the Sahara to the south coast.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Just as in Europe, where most early manuscripts
0:08:36 > 0:08:38were religious works written in Latin,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42in Timbuktu the bulk of the texts are written in Arabic,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and concern Islamic theology.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48The Ahmed Baba Institute, the only public library,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51holds Mali's National Collection.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56Set up in 1973, it now has over 40,000 manuscripts.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02The head librarian told me just how many turn up on a weekly basis.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04It's an impressive number.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: Every week we get about 700.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Six or seven hundred a week?
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Yes, per week.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16When the manuscripts arrive here
0:09:16 > 0:09:19the first thing we have to do is evaluate them
0:09:19 > 0:09:21to see what condition they are in.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23We pick out all the best ones
0:09:23 > 0:09:28but the ones that are too damaged we put to one side.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31For me, my favourite ones are the ones in the African languages,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33but written with Arabic characters.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38They are called Ajami texts.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Because I'm Sorai,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43when I see a manuscript in Sorai it makes me happy.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47You have some manuscripts in Sorai, Tamashek...
0:09:47 > 0:09:51all with Arabic characters, that recount the history of Africa.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57The manuscripts are being digitised so that they can be made available
0:09:57 > 0:10:00to a worldwide scholarship.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04But the first priority has to be the conservation
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and preservation of the manuscripts.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12In 2001, South Africa's then President, Thabo Mbeki,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15visited the institute and hailed the manuscripts
0:10:15 > 0:10:19as among the continent's greatest cultural treasures.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22He immediately gave funding for their preservation.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Alexio Motsi is a South African conservator,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30making regular visits to Timbuktu
0:10:30 > 0:10:34to work on delicate and often damaged manuscripts,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38and, equally importantly, to train local people in conservation skills.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42To come here to Mali to see what was here
0:10:42 > 0:10:47was a serious motivation for me because it was a dream come true
0:10:47 > 0:10:48for a conservator.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Must have been like finding the gold at the end of the rainbow.
0:10:52 > 0:10:53More than finding gold!
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Being aware of the historical background
0:10:56 > 0:11:00that Africa doesn't have documentary heritage, this for me
0:11:00 > 0:11:06was also another motivation, which made me become very passionate.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12At least 300,000 manuscripts are known to exist in the region.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17But so far only a tiny percentage have been translated
0:11:17 > 0:11:20or studied in any detail.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24A lot of them have not been read - 1,000 at most.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28So there are lots of manuscripts that we got, and that's really exciting.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32But it also gives us an idea of the challenge that lies ahead, you know,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36and how much work that, that must be done on the manuscripts.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41The conservation, cataloguing, translation and study
0:11:41 > 0:11:46of all the known manuscripts is a task which could take decades.
0:11:46 > 0:11:52But thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of manuscripts,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55are still out there, some hidden behind walls,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59some in cellars and some still buried in the sands of the desert.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06The last 300 years have dealt a succession of blows to Timbuktu.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11Morocco invaded at the end of the 16th century.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15Violent power struggles between rival fundamentalist Islamic sects
0:12:15 > 0:12:20created anarchy throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries,
0:12:20 > 0:12:25followed swiftly by the final indignity of French colonisation.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Like other victors, the French took away manuscripts
0:12:29 > 0:12:31as the spoils of victory.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34To protect their heritage, the owners of manuscripts
0:12:34 > 0:12:39hid their collections - Timbuktu's libraries went underground.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Over the last 50 years, the manuscripts have gradually been
0:12:42 > 0:12:47brought out into the open again, but their owners are still suspicious.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51TRANSLATION: Searching for manuscripts,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54it's a bit like prospecting for gold.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Before taking over his family library, Abdel Kader
0:12:58 > 0:13:02used to track down manuscripts for the Ahmed Baba Institute,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05seeking them out and persuading reluctant owners
0:13:05 > 0:13:08to hand over their treasures to the state for safekeeping.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16I went to do some prospecting in a village called Obamba.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19The family led me down a corridor that led to a bedroom,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22and in the middle of the bedroom was a well.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24They opened the cover of the well,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and with the help of a torch, we could see a pile of manuscripts.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34When we took them out, we found that about 60% of them were damaged
0:13:34 > 0:13:39but the rest was good, and they are now in Ahmed Baba Institute.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46But winning people's confidence could be difficult.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49The first director of the Ahmed Baba Institute
0:13:49 > 0:13:54went to see an imam once, who had a large collection
0:13:54 > 0:13:57of manuscripts stored in his bedroom.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02Every day the director went to chat with him and every day the imam
0:14:02 > 0:14:08promised they would work together and he would give some manuscripts.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13The director thought that everything was going great until one day,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15when he went to see the imam,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19only to find that he would build a huge wall in front of his manuscript.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24And the director said, "What's going on here, what this is all about?"
0:14:24 > 0:14:27And the imam said, "There is going to be no more library
0:14:27 > 0:14:29"and no more discussion."
0:14:29 > 0:14:34And to this day those manuscripts are still behind that wall.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38At the height of its golden age in the mid-1500s,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Timbuktu's population had grown to 100,000.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46That's massive by the standards of the day.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48And a good 25,000 of them
0:14:48 > 0:14:53comprised the city's community of scholars and their students.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57But if Timbuktu was once a town of 25,000 scholars,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00there's not much sign of it now.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Frankly, Timbuktu today feels like a dusty, if elegant, backwater,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08a place that's been crumbling for centuries.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14Nevertheless, it's wonderful to think that behind any of these walls
0:15:14 > 0:15:17could be yet another cache of undiscovered manuscripts,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21though there's already more than enough to ensure a re-think
0:15:21 > 0:15:26of the history of this part of Africa in a new and dramatic way.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33To me, it has actually changed my understanding.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35I'm much more proud to be an African
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and I'm much more proud to be an African conservator,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42and more proud to be contributing towards the re-correction
0:15:42 > 0:15:45or re-writing of the African history.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48- TRANSLATION: - The Ahmed Baba Institute was born
0:15:48 > 0:15:52from the international conference organised by UNESCO in 1967.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55And the topic was the origins of African history.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59I repeat, the origins of African history.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01What's the origins? It's the manuscripts.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04So, with the Arabic manuscripts,
0:16:04 > 0:16:08the intention is to re-write the history of Africa.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Still, future historians should be wary
0:16:14 > 0:16:18of dismissing existing African sources, including oral ones.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22The challenge lies in weighing all the sources against each other.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26African history has been for a long time
0:16:26 > 0:16:29built on oral tradition.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Of course,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36a lot of people think that oral tradition is not credible,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40but then I think that it is an important source
0:16:40 > 0:16:42for African history.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45So the question is, how you approach the source
0:16:45 > 0:16:49and how you criticise the source to write the history.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54A crucial source of evidence in any new appraisal of Africa's past
0:16:54 > 0:16:59are archaeological discoveries being made along the Niger near Timbuktu.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03The Niger has always been the life blood of this region,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06just as the Nile was to the eastern Sahara.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Its waters provided fish and allowed agriculture to develop.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15The river was a long-distance trade route
0:17:15 > 0:17:19connecting the myriad communities along its banks.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23The Niger river rises in the hills of what was once the ancient kingdom
0:17:23 > 0:17:27of Futa Djallon - 150 miles from the West African coast.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32And, but for a quirk of geology which caused the river flow inland,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35the Niger would have been a very short river
0:17:35 > 0:17:37instead of one of the world's longest.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45Nearly 3,000 miles long, the river first flows north towards Timbuktu.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47It then curves eastward
0:17:47 > 0:17:51before turning southeast, through Nigeria to the Atlantic Ocean.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Between Djenne and Timbuktu, the Niger is yielding
0:17:58 > 0:18:02new revelations to equal the discovery of the manuscripts.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07From as early as 500 BC,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09this area was one
0:18:09 > 0:18:11of the most densely urbanised parts
0:18:11 > 0:18:13of the world,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17rivalling other early urban civilisations such as Mesopotamia.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22Doug Park is part of an American team that over recent years
0:18:22 > 0:18:25has extensively surveyed the region's wealth
0:18:25 > 0:18:27of archaeological sites.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31When we met, Doug was about to begin excavating a huge city site
0:18:31 > 0:18:34ten miles south of Timbuktu.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40So how typical is a site like this in Mali? How many might there be?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Well, there is a lot.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47There are accounts that say that if someone from Djenne
0:18:47 > 0:18:50wanted to send a message to a village or a city
0:18:50 > 0:18:53a few hundred kilometres away, he just had to shout,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and the message would be carried
0:18:55 > 0:18:58across the flood plains and along the Niger
0:18:58 > 0:19:00until it reached that village.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Because so many people were living here in close proximity.
0:19:03 > 0:19:09So the picture at that time was just of...was of an urban landscape
0:19:09 > 0:19:13all across, all along the borders of the Niger river.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15- Exactly. - So read this landscape for me.
0:19:15 > 0:19:21Here, what you look for are these grey, these grey areas.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25- Where it looks kind of earthy. - That is this massive pottery carpet.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30It spreads around an area somewhere between 70 and 100 hectares.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34- Which is enormous.- This city rivals the size of the great cities
0:19:34 > 0:19:36of Mesopotamia, like Ur or Uruk.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39How does that compare to modern Timbuktu?
0:19:39 > 0:19:45Well, to the old medina of Timbuktu, er, it's maybe...
0:19:45 > 0:19:48maybe twice the size.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51If you put that in comparison to the size of Timbuktu in regards
0:19:51 > 0:19:54to the rest of the world's cities during the Middle Ages,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56Timbuktu was twice the size of London.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Timbuktu was twice the size of London...
0:19:59 > 0:20:02- And this site is twice the size of Timbuktu.- Wow!
0:20:03 > 0:20:05One fascinating fact to emerge
0:20:05 > 0:20:10is that these people lived together peacefully for centuries.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Now, that looks very much like a skull.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14That IS a skull.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19What we can tell from him is that, you know it's probably not
0:20:19 > 0:20:24going to be an Islamic burial - because its head is facing south.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27So would he have definitely been in a grave?
0:20:27 > 0:20:31- Yeah...- You can tell he was buried as opposed to fell there?
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Well... Well, it's a good question.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Fell in battle!
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Well, we don't really find any evidence for warfare in West Africa
0:20:39 > 0:20:44during the, during the pre-Islamic period.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46And, we're not really quite sure why that is.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49A peaceful society, we don't know.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52The general practice would have been to bury the dead
0:20:52 > 0:20:54underneath the floor of the house.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57- I see, it's Grandad under the house. - Yeah. Grandad under the house.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01So, are you going to excavate him or are you going to leave him?
0:21:01 > 0:21:03No, he's far too fragile to excavate.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06- So you're gonna leave him to rest in peace.- Yeah.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08- Do you want to show me the rest of the site?- Sure.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13These densely packed, interdependent communities
0:21:13 > 0:21:17each had a specific skill base. Some were farmers, others fishermen,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20there were potters and metal workers.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25Their activities cleared forests that once covered this landscape.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Some iron slag.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31And you can see here, this is the by-product of iron smelting.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35Now, if you can imagine the amount of wood to make a truckle to fire
0:21:35 > 0:21:38the furnaces to melt the iron ore is an immense amount of wood.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41There must have been a lot of trees.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Especially African hardwood trees,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45and you only have acacia now, and that's it.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49- So...- Could it be as a result of the smelting?- Absolutely.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54Much of the pottery carpeting this site served the same purpose
0:21:54 > 0:21:56as our tin cans and plastic bags.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Oh, look at this. This is a pestle.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Oh, wow. I've got one at home.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05- Some things don't change. - This one's pretty well made, too.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07They stay the same for the most part -
0:22:07 > 0:22:09at least some of the real basic stuff.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Erm, and so, we're getting...
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Oh, look, here's a, here's a grindstone here.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19These two are probably a pair.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Doug has described a cityscape whose architecture
0:22:23 > 0:22:26would have looked much like the villages
0:22:26 > 0:22:28still dotted around Timbuktu.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31It's just the density that's changed.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36It's amazing to learn that right here on this spot
0:22:36 > 0:22:41there once existed a civilisation, 2,000 years ago,
0:22:41 > 0:22:46as old as Christianity, erm, the size of which
0:22:46 > 0:22:49rivalled modern Timbuktu over there.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53And in terms of its antiquity, Timbuktu and the manuscripts
0:22:53 > 0:22:55dating back to the 11th century
0:22:55 > 0:22:58are beginning to look relatively, well, modern.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03Archaeology has yet to tell us what happened to that civilisation -
0:23:03 > 0:23:06or about Timbuktu's early origins
0:23:06 > 0:23:09and how the town fitted into the bigger picture
0:23:09 > 0:23:13of a river lined with city-sized settlements.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18But Timbuktu's lively oral traditions tell the tale.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Local legend has it that Tuareg tribesmen set up base camp here,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27around this well, a few miles inland
0:23:27 > 0:23:31from the mosquito-infested banks of the Niger River.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34While the Tuareg went off to graze their livestock
0:23:34 > 0:23:36in the desert after the rains,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40they left their belongings to be supervised by a slave woman, Buktu,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43"the lady with the large navel".
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Hence, Timbuktu's name simply means "Buktu's well".
0:23:49 > 0:23:52The Tuareg have been the main ethnic group
0:23:52 > 0:23:55to inhabit the Sahara for centuries.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Their knowledge of the desert gave them control
0:23:57 > 0:24:01of the trade routes that ran from the north and east
0:24:01 > 0:24:04and led to the Niger. By the late 10th century,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06the most important and safest routes
0:24:06 > 0:24:11had focused on the region where the Niger bends eastwards.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Timbuktu's creation was no accident but a commercial necessity.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21They say that Timbutku is where camel meets canoe,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23lying as it does between the great Sahara Desert -
0:24:23 > 0:24:27and the camel trains bringing the riches of the Mediterranean -
0:24:27 > 0:24:31and the river, carrying gold from the fields of the south,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34the town was uniquely placed to flourish on trade.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44- TRANSLATION: - Camel trains from the north
0:24:44 > 0:24:46brought dates, European fabrics,
0:24:46 > 0:24:52glass, jewellery, tobacco and salt from the Sahara.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59The boats from the south bring cereals, honey,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02gold and slaves.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10What made Timbuktu an important place in the Middle Ages
0:25:10 > 0:25:13was the gold and slaves.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20It's said two thirds of the world's gold
0:25:20 > 0:25:22came from Mali in the 14th century,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26much of it passing through Timbuktu.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Today's markets are mostly a local affair, but camel trains do still
0:25:30 > 0:25:34arrive, with the other mainstay of the city's historic wealth.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Salt was the white gold of Timbuktu.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43From the mines in the north it was brought down in great slabs
0:25:43 > 0:25:47by camel train to the town for trans-shipment on the river.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54International trade in Timbuktu often needed written contracts.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57That required the services of scribes and notaries,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01and they needed to work in a common language that bridged frontiers.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Arabic spread across Africa in the wake of Islam
0:26:08 > 0:26:12just as Christianity spread Latin across the European continent.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14So it's for good reason, then,
0:26:14 > 0:26:18that historians call Arabic the Latin of Africa.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20In the wake of Islam,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24another commodity began to arrive with the camel trains.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28Books were soon being traded in Timbuktu's marketplaces
0:26:28 > 0:26:31as wealthy merchants found a new indulgence
0:26:31 > 0:26:34for their deep pockets and leisure time.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Books greatly enhanced the status of their owners
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and gave the pious a deeper understanding of Islam.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46The profits of the book trade
0:26:46 > 0:26:49soon rivalled the trade in gold, salt and slaves.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53By the end of the 13th century the prominent families of Timbuktu
0:26:53 > 0:26:56began to boast their own libraries,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59and the sons of those families aspired not just to trade
0:26:59 > 0:27:01but to scholarship.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05Paper was imported from Europe and China.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09And a new occupation swelled the ranks of the city's workforce.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14'Calligraphers started copying Islamic texts from abroad
0:27:14 > 0:27:18'as well as the work of the town's own scholars.'
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Their labours were impressively rewarded.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25TRANSLATION: If I was working back in the 15th century,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29I'd be earning millions. I'd have many houses,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34many camels and lots and lots of gold.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37You'd get many people ordering manuscripts back then,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and they'd pay in gold, they'd pay in camels,
0:27:40 > 0:27:44they'd even exchange their houses in order to acquire manuscripts.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48It's a very different story today,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51and nowadays I'm among the poorest people in the town.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56And I'm still the only person in the town practising this craft.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Towards the end of the 13th century,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Ghana was overtaken by the Malian Empire
0:28:02 > 0:28:06and Timbuktu became the commercial hub of this new superpower.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11The fabulously wealthy Muslim ruler of the Malian Empire, Kanka Musa,
0:28:11 > 0:28:17made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, stopping in Timbuktu
0:28:17 > 0:28:21in acknowledgement of the city's economic and cultural importance.
0:28:24 > 0:28:30- TRANSLATION:- Kanka Musa was the greatest Emperor of West Africa.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34He was a very religious man, very pure.
0:28:34 > 0:28:41He went with a huge retinue of men and women on his Hajj to Mecca.
0:28:43 > 0:28:49He took 15 tonnes of gold with him, and distributed it so generously
0:28:49 > 0:28:54in Egypt and Mecca that the price of gold collapsed.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58News of the splendour and spending power
0:28:58 > 0:29:02that marked Kanka Musa's progress through Egypt and Syria
0:29:02 > 0:29:05soon reached the ears of merchants around the Mediterranean.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Within 50 years of Musa's pilgrimage,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12the Majorcan cartographer Abraham Cresques
0:29:12 > 0:29:16had drawn a map for the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19showing a black African monarch on a golden throne,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22and Timbuktu as the capital of Mali -
0:29:22 > 0:29:26the legend of a desert El Dorado had gripped European minds.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31Kanka Musa brought Arabic professors back from Mecca
0:29:31 > 0:29:34to boost Timbuktu's scholarship,
0:29:34 > 0:29:36though it's said they proved to be no match
0:29:36 > 0:29:39for the city's own black African scholars.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43He also commissioned new buildings to grace Timbuktu,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46including a palace.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Any sign of Kanka Musa's palace,
0:29:50 > 0:29:55which it's said once stood somewhere here, have long since disappeared.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59The palace was designed for the king by the Andalucian architect,
0:29:59 > 0:30:04Es-Saheli, who Kanka Musa brought back from his pilgrimage to Mecca.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09When the palace fell into disuse, the site became an abattoir.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14But one magnificent remnant of Kanka Musa's legacy remains.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19The Djingareyber Mosque was also designed by Es-Saheli.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22It's been added to and repaired over 600 years, but it still represents
0:30:22 > 0:30:25a startling, almost futuristic vision,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28utterly different from MY idea of a mosque.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Impressive as it is now, back then Kanka Musa's mosque
0:30:32 > 0:30:36would have awed the people of Timbuktu
0:30:36 > 0:30:39just as Europe's mighty cathedrals
0:30:39 > 0:30:44left their congregations in no doubt as to where the power lay.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47The imam guided me around the mosque's
0:30:47 > 0:30:50deceptively spacious interior.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54- TRANSLATION:- We are in the second prayer aisle of the mosque,
0:30:54 > 0:30:59and there are nine of them in all, each about 100 metres long.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03When you look from the outside, you get the impression
0:31:03 > 0:31:05that the mosque is not very large,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10but when you come inside you see that it's actually huge.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12And when you come into the mosque, too,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16you get the impression that it's air-conditioned.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18The architects made it
0:31:18 > 0:31:22in such a way to stop the heat from getting inside
0:31:22 > 0:31:25because the mud brick is a bad conductor of heat.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30So the mosque always has a temperature of the early morning.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38Scholarship, as much as trade, was to drive Timbuktu's reputation.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Timbuktu's scholars were avid in their pursuit of knowledge
0:31:42 > 0:31:46in every field. Knowledge was highly respected in the Islamic world,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and those possessing it won prestige and power.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53With its professors and their prolific writings, Timbuktu was set
0:31:53 > 0:31:57to become the region's most important centre of learning.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04Ibn Battuta, the great Moroccan world traveller, who voyaged as far
0:32:04 > 0:32:09as China and ancient Mali, visited Timbuktu in the 14th century.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13In his chronicles he noted his impressions of the city,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16in particular the piety, tolerance,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19wisdom and justice of its inhabitants.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26- TRANSLATION:- You had so many books coming from Arabia,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30and because the people of Timbuktu had digested so much Islam,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34they were able to give it real meaning
0:32:34 > 0:32:37and accessibility for the people.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Because of Timbuktu's mastery of Islam,
0:32:41 > 0:32:47it has always strived towards an Islam with great tolerance.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52I wondered to what extent this tolerant Islam
0:32:52 > 0:32:58and its scholars' writings came from being filtered through African eyes.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06TRANSLATION: In Africa, in Timbuktu or anywhere else,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10there was already a culture there, so when Islam arrived,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13it mixed with the culture already in place -
0:33:13 > 0:33:17and that's what made Islam what it is in Timbuktu today.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24So we have the tendency of having one foot in Islam,
0:33:24 > 0:33:30and the other foot in an occult world of African roots.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35The manuscripts represent as a whole
0:33:35 > 0:33:39the tools for the transmission of Islam,
0:33:39 > 0:33:42in fact they only show the domination of Islam.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50The daily activity of Timbuktu's scholars
0:33:50 > 0:33:52revolved around its three mosques.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56The Sankore Mosque is said to have been built in the 14th century
0:33:56 > 0:33:58by a wealthy Tuareg woman.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03Together with two other mosques, the Sidi Yahia and the Djingareyber,
0:34:03 > 0:34:08they comprised what became known as Sankore University.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13The Sankore's rise was marked by an expanding scholastic community
0:34:13 > 0:34:17whose intellectual musings rapidly filled the libraries.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20It also signalled Timbuktu's golden age,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23ushered in during the last decades of the 15th century,
0:34:23 > 0:34:28by yet another turn in the cycle of West African empires.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32The Songhay Empire was the most powerful yet.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36Its creator, Soni Ali Ber, reigned from its capital, Gao,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39over a land mass greater than Western Europe.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45Nominally a Muslim, Soni was also a champion of African traditions.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48He refused to allow his culture to be subsumed by Islam.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52If Timbuktu's scholars weren't willing to play to his tune,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55he soon let them know who was boss.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01TRANSLATION: The scholars and those in charge of the religious principles
0:35:01 > 0:35:06had to obey Soni, otherwise he would get rid of them.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12When he arrived in Timbuktu in January 1468,
0:35:12 > 0:35:18the scholars got scared, and many fled to other towns and cities.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24But Soni Ali Ber was also a visionary and an idealist -
0:35:24 > 0:35:26a leader who today's historians
0:35:26 > 0:35:29might hail as the continent's first pan-Africanist.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Soni was a great visionary, too. He wanted a united Africa.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42And, furthermore, everywhere he conquered,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45he imposed his own language.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49For him, unity is the means of communication
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and the common language.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00The emperors who succeeded Soni were more devoutly Muslim,
0:36:00 > 0:36:04encouraging Timbuktu's scholarship and subsidising its professors.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08By the mid-1500s the city's size and population
0:36:08 > 0:36:12eclipsed that of many European capitals, and the Sankore University
0:36:12 > 0:36:16was recognised as West Africa's pre-eminent centre
0:36:16 > 0:36:18of Islamic knowledge.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21But in Timbuktu, the term "university"
0:36:21 > 0:36:25doesn't quite equate to the modern concept of a university.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28Certainly, Sankore was a major seat of learning,
0:36:28 > 0:36:33but it evolved its own particular scholarly structure.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40Timbuktu once had more than 180 Koranic schools,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43like this one, which taught the basics of Islam.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47Those who could afford to moved on to the Sankore University
0:36:47 > 0:36:50and undertook three further levels of study
0:36:50 > 0:36:52in Arabic grammar and literature,
0:36:52 > 0:36:56Islamic law and sciences, and commentaries on the Koran.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00Final exams were both oral and written, and degrees were presented
0:37:00 > 0:37:05to the successful candidates in the form of a special turban.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09So here is the form of the turban, and this represents the diploma.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13What is the significance of this turban?
0:37:13 > 0:37:15This part is like this.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Around the face, it's like this.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Then there's the element that goes around the head, like this.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32And finally you can see that all the part of this turban
0:37:32 > 0:37:35make up the name of God.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Once he has the turban, we take the student
0:37:38 > 0:37:42to the Sidi Yahir Mosque, where all the scholars are sitting down.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45The student sits in the middle.
0:37:45 > 0:37:51Suddenly they rip the turban off his head and the scholars tell him
0:37:51 > 0:37:53he doesn't deserve the turban
0:37:53 > 0:37:56and then they ask him seven questions about the Islamic law.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00If he answers the questions correctly, he can wear the turban
0:38:00 > 0:38:05once again and everyone goes to the Sankore for a big party.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Then the successful student
0:38:07 > 0:38:10enters the community of wise men and the imam.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15The Sankore's professors and graduates
0:38:15 > 0:38:18weren't just the religious but also the ruling elite.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21They were the law-makers and the judges
0:38:21 > 0:38:24who governed every aspect of life.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27And though they lived among the people, they jealously guarded
0:38:27 > 0:38:31their power and kept the benefits of literacy to themselves.
0:38:31 > 0:38:38In the case of Timbuktu, teaching was only in the Arabic school,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40and the Koranic school.
0:38:40 > 0:38:46And it is also because this knowledge
0:38:46 > 0:38:50was not so linked to the general,
0:38:50 > 0:38:54the economic, the political and the technical.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57For the scholar, it was important to guide the believers,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01and there is this view that you have the common folk,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04and the only thing they need to know is how to pray well.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08But you still have a 51% illiteracy in many parts of the west.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11The spread of literacy further into Africa
0:39:11 > 0:39:15also faced significant geographic barriers.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21TRANSLATION: Writing took the part of business and trade,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25and wherever business stopped, the culture of writing stopped, too.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30In such a way that the Arabs never really moved away
0:39:30 > 0:39:32from the banks of the river.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35They simply followed the Niger river
0:39:35 > 0:39:38as if it was the spinal column of their world.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44History tells us that the growth of literacy
0:39:44 > 0:39:48is one of the first steps to the creation of modern nation states.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54But the benefits a wider literacy might have delivered for West Africa
0:39:54 > 0:39:56must remain pure speculation,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00because in 1591, a cataclysmic event destroyed
0:40:00 > 0:40:02the stability of the Songhay Empire
0:40:02 > 0:40:06and shattered Timbuktu's scholastic idyll for good.
0:40:06 > 0:40:12- TRANSLATION:- So, the Moroccans came here to fight the Songhay.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14And they took over Timbuktu.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21Then they destroyed the university and deported most of the scholars
0:40:21 > 0:40:26back to Morocco, along with all the manuscripts they could find.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30And that is how the university disappeared.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41But the Moroccan invasion was just one factor in Timbuktu's decline.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44By then, the shifting focus of European trade
0:40:44 > 0:40:46from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
0:40:46 > 0:40:51was already depressing the fortunes of the whole region.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57West Africa was always going to lose the battle. Why?
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Because the demand for African gold
0:40:59 > 0:41:02fell at the beginning of the 15th century.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09Europe was then buying its gold and precious metals from America.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12The markets were getting poorer
0:41:12 > 0:41:15and all that played a big part in affecting West Africa.
0:41:22 > 0:41:27The Moroccan invasion never became a full-scale occupation.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29The long years of the late 18th and 19th centuries
0:41:29 > 0:41:34saw the whole Niger region embroiled in a period of anarchy -
0:41:34 > 0:41:37a series of violent struggles between Sufi brotherhood,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39each pushing their own brand of
0:41:39 > 0:41:44fundamentalist Islam, destroyed all hopes of a return
0:41:44 > 0:41:47to the stable days of the Songhay Empire.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52Reaching into this heightened atmosphere were the first tentacles
0:41:52 > 0:41:54of European colonisation.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58One of the consequences of that colonisation
0:41:58 > 0:42:01was how Africa's cultures and traditions
0:42:01 > 0:42:03would be viewed and treated.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Europeans knew the Niger flowed inland,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14but thought it might be a branch of the Nile, or the Congo,
0:42:14 > 0:42:19or might empty into a yet undiscovered inland sea.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21In 1785, the Royal African Society sent Mungo Park
0:42:21 > 0:42:24on the first of two expeditions
0:42:24 > 0:42:28to chart the Niger's true course, and find Timbuktu.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Who better to tell Mungo Park's story than a latter-day explorer,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35sturdily cast in the Park mould -
0:42:35 > 0:42:39his great-great-grand-nephew Doug Park.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44My ancestor was Mungo Park, and he was the first European supposedly
0:42:44 > 0:42:46to lay eyes on the Niger River.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49And he wrote about it after his first journey
0:42:49 > 0:42:52and he became famous for that account.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55He took a sail boat down to the port in Dakar.
0:42:55 > 0:43:01And travelled as far by land as possible, got on a boat
0:43:01 > 0:43:03and then became lost for three years.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05Lost in the sense that no-one knew
0:43:05 > 0:43:08- what had happened to him. - Right, absolutely.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12His team had died and deserted him, and so it ended up just being him,
0:43:12 > 0:43:17and he... living off the kindness of strangers,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19living throughout the Niger Delta.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23He managed to make it back, to, I think, the port in Dakar,
0:43:23 > 0:43:24and sail back to England.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27The second time he went to the Niger River,
0:43:27 > 0:43:29he made it quite a bit further.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31And he brought a lot more people along with him.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Mungo Park did make it as far as Timbuktu,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37was never actually able to get to the city.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42So somewhere around were we are right now perhaps, he had sailed past.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47Unfortunately he was a few hundred miles up the river from Timbuktu,
0:43:47 > 0:43:48he was ambushed by
0:43:48 > 0:43:51a number of natives who had been following him for a while,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54and he jumped into the river and drowned.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57The local trading societies didn't want the Europeans to find out
0:43:57 > 0:43:59where the cities actually were.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03And so those people protecting these middle Niger cities
0:44:03 > 0:44:05were very aggressive.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10And so it wasn't easy for, for any early traveller in this area.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22The first British explorer to reach Timbuktu
0:44:22 > 0:44:25was Alexander Gordon Laing, another Scot.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Being half Scottish myself, as well as West African,
0:44:28 > 0:44:30I can't help but wonder sometimes
0:44:30 > 0:44:32whether the lure of Timbuktu
0:44:32 > 0:44:35isn't in my blood in more ways than one.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Laing was a British Army major who made the sartorial error
0:44:40 > 0:44:44of travelling in uniform, and was taken as a spy.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48He was severely wounded by Tuareg tribesmen
0:44:48 > 0:44:51on his way in to Timbuktu in 1826.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54He was allowed to recuperate for a month,
0:44:54 > 0:44:59only to be murdered by the Tuareg a week into his return journey.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06A few years later, Frenchman Rene Caillie reached Timbuktu
0:45:06 > 0:45:08and survived the journey home.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12Caillie disguised himself in local robes
0:45:12 > 0:45:16and spoke enough Arabic to pass as a Muslim.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18He was singularly unimpressed with Timbuktu.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25The anarchic 19th century closed abruptly
0:45:25 > 0:45:30as French colonisation quashed any future hope of self-rule.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33One of the briefest periods in Timbuktu's history,
0:45:33 > 0:45:35colonial rule had a profound effect.
0:45:38 > 0:45:44What Timbuktu's scholars had failed or perhaps been disinclined to do,
0:45:44 > 0:45:46the French achieved in decades.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Compulsory schooling in French spread literacy
0:45:49 > 0:45:51across the whole social spectrum.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55However, the imposition of the French educational system
0:45:55 > 0:45:58resulted in the loss of the classical Arabic
0:45:58 > 0:46:01required to read the manuscripts,
0:46:01 > 0:46:03leaving Timbuktu's written legacy
0:46:03 > 0:46:06accessible only to a minority, to this day.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13The existence of the manuscripts on its own is an amazing discovery,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16but the devil, as they say, is in the detail.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20And what do they tell us about the way people lived
0:46:20 > 0:46:22here in Timbuktu centuries ago?
0:46:24 > 0:46:28Already, the everyday concerns of ordinary townsfolk
0:46:28 > 0:46:31are being revealed in a detailed study of records
0:46:31 > 0:46:35of some of Timbuktu's thousands of surviving fatwas
0:46:35 > 0:46:37issued over the centuries.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41I think if you say fatwa, people say it's a death sentence.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43A fatwa literally means a religious verdict.
0:46:43 > 0:46:51One of the interesting ones on women who got married while married.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53You have one incident of a woman whose husband travelled.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56She said to him, "Well, you're leaving and I need you."
0:46:56 > 0:46:59And he said, "If I'm not back within a certain amount of days,
0:46:59 > 0:47:01"you can then divorce yourself."
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Now there were no witnesses to this incident, so he comes
0:47:04 > 0:47:07back later, some time later and he finds her married.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Married to somebody else.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12Yes. Many of these women clearly said, "Look, I don't...
0:47:12 > 0:47:14"Finances are not the only things that I need.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17"I need your company, I need your emotional support.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19"So if you are not around,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22"I'm not going to just stay around without a husband."
0:47:22 > 0:47:25What was the advice of the muftis in those cases
0:47:25 > 0:47:28where a woman felt herself to be free to remarry, and had done so?
0:47:28 > 0:47:31No, they came back and they said that, well,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35the second marriage is, is invalid, and she must
0:47:35 > 0:47:39be returned to the first husband. All of them seemed to agree to that.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41So overall, the impression you get
0:47:41 > 0:47:44of the position of women in that era was what?
0:47:44 > 0:47:48Is that they were present, they announced their presence,
0:47:48 > 0:47:51they had their say, they were not simply sitting at home.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54There's another manuscript, and it's not a fatwa.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58But from that you can see that husbands were always very worried
0:47:58 > 0:48:01whether they could really satisfy their wives.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03So there were some anxious men in those days.
0:48:03 > 0:48:08There are probably many anxious men today around, but certainly overall,
0:48:08 > 0:48:13yeah, erectile dysfunction was an issue, you could see.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17And the traditional healer was a very pious Muslim scholar,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20who really saw it as part of his Islamic duty to help his brother
0:48:20 > 0:48:21who was in distress.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25What was the advice given to the husband then?
0:48:25 > 0:48:29Well, you take the blood from the comb of a chicken, or of a cock,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32and use it, either putting it, rubbing it under the feet,
0:48:32 > 0:48:34or even at times on the penis.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37Was it medicine or was it psychology, do you think?
0:48:37 > 0:48:40Do you think they just knew that if somebody relaxed,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42things might just get better?
0:48:42 > 0:48:44If, and I'm venturing, I mean, I'm assuming here, maybe
0:48:44 > 0:48:47they really believed it's going to work, you know.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51I always feel the healers would always say that, but...!
0:48:52 > 0:48:56In the 17th century, following the Moroccan invasion,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59Timbuktu's scholars began the first rewriting
0:48:59 > 0:49:01of this part of Africa's history.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06The Timbuktu Tarikhs became a whole new literary and historical genre.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08The great Tarikhs are a series of histories
0:49:08 > 0:49:10of the city and the wider region,
0:49:10 > 0:49:12written with the express purpose
0:49:12 > 0:49:15of supporting the existing elite's right to rule
0:49:15 > 0:49:17within the new Moroccan regime.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21Their authors drew on written records as well as oral traditions,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25re-interpreting the past in the light of subsequent events,
0:49:25 > 0:49:27much as a modern historian might do today.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30And as such, they need to be weighed carefully.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34SPEAKS FRENCH
0:49:34 > 0:49:37TRANSLATION: The disadvantage we have with the Tarikh
0:49:37 > 0:49:39is a bias in the writing of history,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43because history is always written for the governing powers
0:49:43 > 0:49:46to the detriment of those that came before.
0:49:46 > 0:49:52Mahmoud Kati, who wrote the history of the Songhay's Askia emperors,
0:49:52 > 0:49:54was one of their nephews -
0:49:54 > 0:49:58so don't expect him to be negative about the Askias.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05When you read the Tarikh al-Fattash, you see an argument
0:50:05 > 0:50:09supporting the Askias and condemning the Sonni.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13Both are from the same family but from opposing sides -
0:50:13 > 0:50:16therefore you find this political bias.
0:50:17 > 0:50:26In the Tarikh al-Sudan you'll find this same political bias, and on top of that an argument for the religion.
0:50:26 > 0:50:33In the Tarikh which is the story of the Moroccan dominance in Timbuktu,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37you find an argument for support of the powers in place at the time.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Ajami was another genre which flowered
0:50:44 > 0:50:47across the turbulent late 18th and 19th centuries,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51as some writers attempted to reach a wider audience
0:50:51 > 0:50:53among the ethnic groups along the Niger.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56The texts used an adapted Arabic script
0:50:56 > 0:50:59to write in local African languages.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03Ajami simply means any language which isn't Arabic.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07The warring Sufi brotherhoods especially used Ajami
0:51:07 > 0:51:09to popularise their brands of Islam.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12But Ajami is important in other respects, too.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17It tells the people's history - with which the Tarikhs weren't concerned.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21TRANSLATION: The Ajami texts put on paper
0:51:21 > 0:51:25an oral tradition that was in danger of extinction.
0:51:26 > 0:51:33We found all sorts in there - poetry, songs as well as texts on history.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35And sometimes history sings.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41The official truth is the one you'll find in the king's court,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43but as soon as we go on the street,
0:51:43 > 0:51:47and we see a mother breast-feeding her child,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50she sings the songs of her people,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52and that's where the truth is.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56It's a whole culture of which we don't make the most of today.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00But we should, because we can't have a comprehensive understanding
0:52:00 > 0:52:04of African culture without the Ajami texts.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10Alongside glorious oral traditions,
0:52:10 > 0:52:13the manuscripts represent an exciting new resource
0:52:13 > 0:52:17which the government is doing its best to protect.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20But Mali is one of Africa's poorest countries,
0:52:20 > 0:52:22with many pressing issues.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26Just 50 years old, the modern state of Mali is still concerned
0:52:26 > 0:52:28with its own internal security.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33This is a monument to a 1996 peace deal with the Tuareg.
0:52:33 > 0:52:38The tribesmen had been rebelling sporadically against the government,
0:52:38 > 0:52:42ever since the modern state of Mali was created in 1960.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47The last president, Alpha Konare, worked hard to heal divisions.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51But many Tuareg want greater autonomy, even their own homeland.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55It's been a rocky road to a tentative peace.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59And then there are the scorching sands of the Sahara,
0:52:59 > 0:53:03whose creeping advance threatens to overwhelm the town,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06and has already created a more arid landscape.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10And with parched ground comes the destructive danger
0:53:10 > 0:53:14of flash floods that wreck buildings and reduce manuscripts to pulp.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19On top of all Timbuktu's problems, the flood plains of its lifeblood,
0:53:19 > 0:53:23the River Niger, have gradually retreated over the centuries.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Where once they reached the city outskirts,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30now they don't even come within 5km of the town.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34TRANSLATION: The quarter where I live is called Badjinde.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38And Badjinde means the channel of the hippopotamus -
0:53:38 > 0:53:41that was when the river used to come there.
0:53:41 > 0:53:42But now it's gone.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47During a state visit to Timbuktu, Libya's Colonel Gaddafi
0:53:47 > 0:53:49made an offer of help.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Gaddafi asked the townspeople what they'd like most -
0:53:53 > 0:53:55a school, a hospital, anything.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57They said water.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02And so this is Gaddafi's gift - a canal, bringing the waters
0:54:02 > 0:54:06of the Niger river back to Timbuktu once more.
0:54:08 > 0:54:13Apart from offering the possibility of irrigating the desert scrub
0:54:13 > 0:54:16and bringing agriculture back to Timbuktu,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19the canal has also given the townsfolk a welcome new diversion.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Late afternoon along the banks of the city reservoir,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29and people have come to enjoy the water and each other's company.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32The reservoir is only a few months old,
0:54:32 > 0:54:34one of the changes that have come to Timbuktu.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38There are other changes.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41Western ideas and influences are easy to spot,
0:54:41 > 0:54:43especially amongst Timbuktu's youth.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46More visitors will bring much-needed prosperity,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49but all the hazards of a tourist industry, too.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52Still, the people of Timbuktu
0:54:52 > 0:54:55clearly don't want to remain a desert outpost,
0:54:55 > 0:54:58and are taking positive steps towards change.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02These days Timbuktu is busy renewing its links with the outside world.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh borders is the latest town to be twinned.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11Apparently it was a toss-up between Hay and Glastonbury.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14No surprise, then, that a town of books,
0:55:14 > 0:55:18with its own international literary festival, won out.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26The process of reinvention is making its mark on the townscape.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29A state-of-the-art new home for the Ahmed Baba Institute
0:55:29 > 0:55:33is nearing completion next to the Sankore Mosque.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35It's a radical juxtaposition of new and old.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40Many here hope that by exploiting the legacy of the manuscripts,
0:55:40 > 0:55:42they can not only regain their status
0:55:42 > 0:55:45as an international centre of culture,
0:55:45 > 0:55:48but secure an economically viable future.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52TRANSLATION: The manuscripts which you have seen
0:55:52 > 0:55:55can become a real industry.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57They can be like a mine,
0:55:57 > 0:55:59like a gold mine.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03SPEAKS FRENCH
0:56:03 > 0:56:08This cultural renaissance will discover our manuscripts.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11They will be broadcast, and the whole world will
0:56:11 > 0:56:17be more knowledgeable, and Timbuktu will be like a lighthouse,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19lighting up all of Africa.
0:56:19 > 0:56:24If you come back in ten years' time, you might find that people wanting to
0:56:24 > 0:56:29visit the moon will decide to come to Timbuktu instead!
0:56:29 > 0:56:31Anything's possible.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38The last time I was in Timbuktu, my visit was just a fleeting one.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41But having spent two weeks in the town,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45I think what surprised me most is the sheer scale,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47the sophistication and the antiquity
0:56:47 > 0:56:50of the civilisation that existed here.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53What I've discovered is that in Timbuktu,
0:56:53 > 0:56:58history isn't measured in centuries, it's measured in millennia.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Timbuktu teaches us that history is a game of chance.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06That the ambitions of powerful men affect ordinary folk,
0:57:06 > 0:57:10and events thousands of miles away can change fortunes.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13That wealth and cultural aspirations are intricately linked,
0:57:13 > 0:57:19but most of all why reading matters, then and now.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23Reading represents a meeting with myself and then with others.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26It's a form of dialogue through time and space.
0:57:29 > 0:57:35For me, reading is an inexhaustible source of knowledge.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39Reading is the only way to get access
0:57:39 > 0:57:42to the universal knowledge,
0:57:42 > 0:57:49and we cannot be outside of this universal knowledge.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56The first leg of my journey home
0:57:56 > 0:57:58is a relatively short one to Mali's capital.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02At least in terms of miles and minutes.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06Here in Bamako, almost 1,000km upstream from Timbuktu,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09it already feels like a different world.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12Timbuktu, as it once was, is gone.
0:58:12 > 0:58:14But the manuscripts survive,
0:58:14 > 0:58:18and with them a sense of what was once a magnificent achievement.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22Africa's recent and troubled history can't be rewritten,
0:58:22 > 0:58:24but her history is beginning to be -
0:58:24 > 0:58:28and with it, perhaps, a vision of her future.
0:58:32 > 0:58:34Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:34 > 0:58:37E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk