FRONTLINES

Timbuktu Manuscripts
Preserving West Africa's Rich History and Literary Tradition

Located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in present-day Mali, Timbuktu was once a major center of academic and religious learning, attracting Muslim scholars from around the world. By the late 16th century, the city began to decline. Gradually, the Niger River changed course and the city lost its hold on trade and the wealth that accompanied it.

The city has been listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. Today, researchers are working to recover the rich West African history of this "lost city," preserving more than 700,000 ancient manuscripts. Written in an ancient form of Arabic, these manuscripts provide a detailed record of the daily and scholarly life of Timbuktu from the 12th century onward. Scholars hope that these treasures will offer greater insight into African history and culture.

The fragile manuscripts, recovered from Timbuktu and surrounding desert areas, are being studied, catalogued and preserved with the support of the Ford Foundation. They document everything from Islamic law and medicine to sermons and folk tales. The time-worn pages are wrapped in leather and wood covers, some adorned with intricate decorations or elaborate calligraphy. Many have been held for ages in private collections; some were handed down by families, generation after generation. It is not known how many have been lost or stolen.

Since 2000, the foundation has given more than $800,000 to preserve the rich heritage of Timbuktu. The support reflects the foundation's longstanding commitment to maintaining the diversity of human wisdom and building global awareness of intellectual and cultural legacies. Ford-funded grants have supported the electronic archiving of the manuscripts; a joint South African and Malian project run by the University of Cape Town to develop research resources and train post-graduate students in the preservation process; and production of a documentary film that follows South African and Malian researchers as they translate, analyze and conserve the historic texts.

www.sum.uio.no/research/mali/timbuktu/project/index.html