0:00:07.017,0:00:09.477
On the edge of the vast Sahara desert,

0:00:09.477,0:00:13.046
citizens snuck out of the city of Timbuktu

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and took to the wilderness.

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They buried chests in the desert sand,[br]hid them in caves,

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and sealed them in secret rooms.

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Inside these chests was a treasure [br]more valuable than gold:

0:00:27.308,0:00:30.188
the city’s ancient books.

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Founded around 1100 CE [br]in what is now Mali,

0:00:34.188,0:00:38.895
the city of Timbuktu started [br]out as an unremarkable trading post.

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But its unique location [br]soon changed that.

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Timbuktu marked the intersection[br]of two essential trade routes,

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where caravans bringing [br]salt across the Sahara

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met with traders bringing gold[br]from the African interior.

0:00:53.568,0:00:58.286
By the late 1300s, these trade routes [br]made Timbuktu rich,

0:00:58.286,0:01:01.426
and the city’s rulers, [br]the kings of the Mali Empire,

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built monuments and academies[br]that drew scholars

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from Egypt, Spain, and Morocco.

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The city’s prime location also made[br]it a target for warlords and conquerors.

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As the Mali Empire declined, [br]one of its domains, Songhai,

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began to gain power.

0:01:18.563,0:01:23.057
In 1468, the Songhai king [br]conquered Timbuktu,

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burning buildings and murdering scholars.

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But in time, intellectual life [br]in the city flourished again.

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The reign of the second king [br]of the Songhai Empire,

0:01:34.290,0:01:36.402
Askia Mohammed Toure,

0:01:36.402,0:01:40.562
marked the beginning of a golden age [br]in Timbuktu.

0:01:40.562,0:01:43.452
He reversed his predecessor’s[br]regressive policies

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and encouraged learning.

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The Songhai rulers and most of Timbuktu’s [br]population were Muslim,

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and the scholars of Timbuktu [br]studied Islam

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alongside secular topics [br]like mathematics and philosophy.

0:01:57.185,0:01:59.015
In the libraries of Timbuktu,

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tracts of Greek philosophy stood[br]alongside the writings

0:02:02.695,0:02:06.695
of local historians, scientists,[br]and poets.

0:02:06.695,0:02:09.745
The city’s most prominent scholar,[br]Ahmed Baba,

0:02:09.745,0:02:12.105
challenged prevailing opinions[br]on subjects

0:02:12.105,0:02:15.155
ranging from smoking to slavery.

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Gold and salt trade had funded[br]the city’s transformation

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into a center of learning.

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Now, the products [br]of that intellectual culture

0:02:24.405,0:02:27.555
became the most sought-after [br]commodity.

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With paper from faraway Venice

0:02:29.495,0:02:32.495
and vibrant ink from local plants[br]and minerals,

0:02:32.495,0:02:36.275
the scribes of Timbuktu produced [br]texts in both Arabic

0:02:36.275,0:02:38.395
and local languages.

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Written in calligraphy and decorated[br]with intricate geometric designs,

0:02:43.138,0:02:49.069
the books of Timbuktu were in demand[br]among the wealthiest members of society.

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In 1591, the golden age [br]came to an abrupt end

0:02:53.334,0:02:56.894
when the Moroccan king [br]captured Timbuktu.

0:02:56.894,0:03:01.143
Moroccan forces imprisoned [br]Ahmed Baba and other prominent scholars

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and confiscated their libraries.

0:03:03.853,0:03:09.098
In the centuries that followed, the city [br]weathered a succession of conquests.

0:03:09.098,0:03:13.098
In the mid-1800s, [br]Sufi Jihadists occupied Timbuktu

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and destroyed many non-religious[br]manuscripts.

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1894, French colonial forces seized[br]control of the city,

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stealing even more manuscripts[br]and sending them to Europe.

0:03:25.346,0:03:28.926
French became the official language[br]taught in schools,

0:03:28.926,0:03:30.806
and new generations in Timbuktu

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couldn’t read the Arabic manuscripts [br]that remained.

0:03:34.806,0:03:39.645
Through it all, the literary tradition[br]of Timbuktu didn’t die—

0:03:39.645,0:03:42.285
it went underground.

0:03:42.285,0:03:45.335
Some families built secret libraries[br]in their homes,

0:03:45.335,0:03:48.105
or buried the books in their gardens.

0:03:48.105,0:03:52.524
Others stashed them in abandoned caves [br]or holes in the desert.

0:03:52.524,0:03:55.294
The priceless manuscripts of Timbuktu

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dispersed to villages [br]throughout the surrounding area,

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where regular citizens guarded [br]them for hundreds of years.

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As desertification and war [br]impoverished the region,

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families held on to the ancient books

0:04:09.607,0:04:14.188
even as they faced desperate poverty[br]and near-starvation.

0:04:14.188,0:04:18.990
Even today, the struggle to protect[br]the books continues.

0:04:18.990,0:04:22.090
From the 1980s to the early 2000s,

0:04:22.090,0:04:27.800
Timbuktu scholar Abdel Kader Haidara[br]painstakingly retrieved hidden manuscripts

0:04:27.800,0:04:32.453
from all over northern Mali [br]and brought them back to Timbuktu.

0:04:32.453,0:04:37.563
But in 2012, civil war in Mali [br]once again threatened the manuscripts,

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most of which were evacuated[br]to nearby Bamako.

0:04:41.403,0:04:43.373
Their future remains uncertain,

0:04:43.373,0:04:47.649
as they face both human [br]and environmental threats.

0:04:47.649,0:04:51.479
These books represent our best—[br]and often only—

0:04:51.479,0:04:55.019
sources on the pre-colonial history[br]of the region.

0:04:55.019,0:04:58.189
Many of them have never been [br]read by modern scholars,

0:04:58.189,0:05:02.229
and still more remain lost [br]or hidden in the desert.

0:05:02.229,0:05:06.583
At stake in the efforts to protect[br]them is the history they contain—

0:05:06.583,0:05:12.123
and the efforts of countless generations[br]to protect that history from being lost.