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On the edge of the vast Sahara desert,

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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,
hid them in caves,

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and sealed them in secret rooms.

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Inside these chests was a treasure 
more valuable than gold:

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the city’s ancient books.

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Founded around 1100 CE 
in what is now Mali,

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the city of Timbuktu started 
out as an unremarkable trading post.

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But its unique location 
soon changed that.

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Timbuktu marked the intersection
of two essential trade routes,

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where caravans bringing 
salt across the Sahara

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met with traders bringing gold
from the African interior.

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By the late 1300s, these trade routes 
made Timbuktu rich,

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and the city’s rulers, 
the kings of the Mali Empire,

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built monuments and academies
that drew scholars

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from Egypt, Spain, and Morocco.

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

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As the Mali Empire declined, 
one of its domains, Songhai,

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began to gain power.

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In 1468, the Songhai king 
conquered Timbuktu,

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burning buildings and murdering scholars.

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But in time, intellectual life 
in the city flourished again.

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The reign of the second king 
of the Songhai Empire,

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Askia Mohammed Toure,

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marked the beginning of a golden age 
in Timbuktu.

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He reversed his predecessor’s
regressive policies

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and encouraged learning.

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

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and the scholars of Timbuktu 
studied Islam

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alongside secular topics 
like mathematics and philosophy.

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In the libraries of Timbuktu,

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tracts of Greek philosophy stood
alongside the writings

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of local historians, scientists,
and poets.

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The city’s most prominent scholar,
Ahmed Baba,

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challenged prevailing opinions
on subjects

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ranging from smoking to slavery.

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Gold and salt trade had funded
the city’s transformation

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into a center of learning.

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Now, the products 
of that intellectual culture

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became the most sought-after 
commodity.

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With paper from faraway Venice

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and vibrant ink from local plants
and minerals,

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the scribes of Timbuktu produced 
texts in both Arabic

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and local languages.

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Written in calligraphy and decorated
with intricate geometric designs,

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the books of Timbuktu were in demand
among the wealthiest members of society.

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In 1591, the golden age 
came to an abrupt end

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when the Moroccan king 
captured Timbuktu.

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Moroccan forces imprisoned 
Ahmed Baba and other prominent scholars

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and confiscated their libraries.

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In the centuries that followed, the city 
weathered a succession of conquests.

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In the mid-1800s, 
Sufi Jihadists occupied Timbuktu

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and destroyed many non-religious
manuscripts.

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1894, French colonial forces seized
control of the city,

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stealing even more manuscripts
and sending them to Europe.

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French became the official language
taught in schools,

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and new generations in Timbuktu

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couldn’t read the Arabic manuscripts 
that remained.

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Through it all, the literary tradition
of Timbuktu didn’t die—

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it went underground.

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Some families built secret libraries
in their homes,

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or buried the books in their gardens.

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Others stashed them in abandoned caves 
or holes in the desert.

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The priceless manuscripts of Timbuktu

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dispersed to villages 
throughout the surrounding area,

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where regular citizens guarded 
them for hundreds of years.

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As desertification and war 
impoverished the region,

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families held on to the ancient books

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even as they faced desperate poverty
and near-starvation.

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Even today, the struggle to protect
the books continues.

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From the 1980s to the early 2000s,

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Timbuktu scholar Abdel Kader Haidara
painstakingly retrieved hidden manuscripts

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from all over northern Mali 
and brought them back to Timbuktu.

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But in 2012, civil war in Mali 
once again threatened the manuscripts,

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most of which were evacuated
to nearby Bamako.

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Their future remains uncertain,

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as they face both human 
and environmental threats.

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These books represent our best—
and often only—

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sources on the pre-colonial history
of the region.

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Many of them have never been 
read by modern scholars,

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and still more remain lost 
or hidden in the desert.

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At stake in the efforts to protect
them is the history they contain—

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and the efforts of countless generations
to protect that history from being lost.