Timbuktu Chronicles

Timbuktu Chronicles PDF Author: Anthony Nana Kwamu
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1449091385
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Timbuktu, Mali Empire 1310 AD. Famine sweeps the empire. A raw-breed and a dark wizard conspire to control mankind. Horrible evil matures, soon to be unleashed. Two mysterious orbs are all that separate mankind from this fate. Chosen to find the orbs is skilled swordsman, Commander Gyvan Drabo, who wants simply to wed the woman of his dreams. But he is not alone. In order to succeed, he must learn to trust the girl, Aida, the most powerful of all eeidsand resolve the deadly conflict growing between them. Time is the enemy. Each moment they tarry the evil grows stronger. Deadly assassins stalk them. Pray-devils hunger for human flesh. And Gyvan discovers a terrible secret about the Dark Widow that torments his future. Will Aidas untested magical powers see them through? Or will her own secret doom mankind for all eternity?

Timbuktu Chronicles

Timbuktu Chronicles PDF Author: Anthony Nana Kwamu
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1449091385
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
Timbuktu, Mali Empire 1310 AD. Famine sweeps the empire. A raw-breed and a dark wizard conspire to control mankind. Horrible evil matures, soon to be unleashed. Two mysterious orbs are all that separate mankind from this fate. Chosen to find the orbs is skilled swordsman, Commander Gyvan Drabo, who wants simply to wed the woman of his dreams. But he is not alone. In order to succeed, he must learn to trust the girl, Aida, the most powerful of all eeidsand resolve the deadly conflict growing between them. Time is the enemy. Each moment they tarry the evil grows stronger. Deadly assassins stalk them. Pray-devils hunger for human flesh. And Gyvan discovers a terrible secret about the Dark Widow that torments his future. Will Aidas untested magical powers see them through? Or will her own secret doom mankind for all eternity?

Timbuktu Chronicles

Timbuktu Chronicles PDF Author: Maḥmūd Kutī ibn Mutawakkil Kutī Timbuktī
Publisher: Africa Research and Publications
ISBN: 9781592218097
Category : Gao (Mali : Region)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Some 500 years ago, Askiya Muhammad founded the Songhay Dynasty of the Askiyas, which flourished for more than a century in Sahelian West Africa. The Timbuktu-based scribe al hajj Mahmud Kati was a close friend of Askiya Mohammed - and the Tarikh al fattash gives an eyewitness account of his empire, told from the perspective of a key participant. Long valued as one of the most important historical documents of the African medieval world, Kati's account is also a literary achievement that is comparable to the writings of figures like Chaucer, Rabelais and Montaigne.

Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire

Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire PDF Author: John O. Hunwick
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004128224
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
The principal text translated in this volume is the "Ta'rikh Al-sudan" of the 17th-century Timbuktu scholar, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi. The other documents include an English translation of Leo Africanus's description of West Africa and some letters relating to Sa'dian diplomacy.

Timbuktu

Timbuktu PDF Author: Marq De Villiers
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
ISBN: 1551992779
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The first book for general readers about the storied past of one of the world’s most fabled cities. Timbuktu — the name still evokes an exotic, faraway place, even though the city’s glory days are long gone. Unspooling its history and legends, resolving myth with reality, Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle have captured the splendour and decay of one of humankind’s treasures. Founded in the early 1100s by Tuareg nomads who called their camp “Tin Buktu,” it became, within two centuries, a wealthy metropolis and a nexus of the trans-Saharan trade. Salt from the deep Sahara, gold from Ghana, and money from slave markets made it rich. In part because of its wealth, Timbuktu also became a centre of Islamic learning and religion, boasting impressive schools and libraries that attracted scholars from Alexandria, Baghdad, Mecca, and Marrakech. The arts flourished, and Timbuktu gained near-mythic stature around the world, capturing the imagination of outsiders and ultimately attracting the attention of hostile sovereigns who sacked the city three times and plundered it half a dozen more. The ancient city was invaded by a Moroccan army in 1600, beginning its long decline; since then, it has been seized by Tuareg nomads and a variety of jihadists, in addition to enduring a terrible earthquake, several epidemics, and numerous famines. Perhaps no other city in the world has been as golden — and as deeply tarnished — as Timbuktu. Using sources dating deep into Timbuktu’s fabled past, alongside interviews with Tuareg nomads and city residents and officials today, de Villiers and Hirtle have produced a spectacular portrait that brings the city back to life.

The Meanings of Timbuktu

The Meanings of Timbuktu PDF Author: Shamil Jeppie
Publisher: HSRC Publishers
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu." 15th-century Malian proverb. In a joint project between South Africa and Mali, a library to preserve more than 200 000 Arabic and West African manuscripts dating from the 13th to the 19th centuries is currently under construction. It is the first official cultural project of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), the socio-economic development plan of the African Union, and when the library is built, the cultural role of Timbuktu will be revived, as it becomes the safehaven for the treasured manuscripts. The manuscripts prove that Africa had a rich legacy of written history, long before western colonisers set foot on the continent. This volume, authored by leading international scholars, begins to sketch the 'meaning' of Timbuktu within the context of the intellectual history of West Africa, in particular, and of the African continent, in general. The book covers four broad areas: Part I provides an introduction to the region; outlines what archaeology can tell us of its history, examines the paper and various calligraphic styles used in the manuscripts; and explains how ancient institutions of scholarship functioned. Part II begins to analyse what the manuscripts can tell us of African history. Part III offers insight into the lives and works of just a few of the many scholars who achieved renown in the region and beyond. Part IV provides a glimpse into Timbuktu's libraries and private collections. Part V looks at the written legacy of the eastern half of Africa, which like that of the western region, is often ignored. A fascinating read for anyone who wishes to gain an understanding of the aura of mystique and legend that surrounds Timbuktu. The Meanings of Timbuktu strives to contextualise and clarify the importance of efforts to preserve Timbuktu's manuscripts for Mali, for Africa and for the intellectual world."--Abstract

The Manuscripts of Timbuktu

The Manuscripts of Timbuktu PDF Author: Jean-Michel Djian
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781569026380
Category : Manuscripts, Arabic
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
From the 15th century till today, Timbuktu has been coveted for its commercial, cultural, and religious importance. But what do we really know about the City of 333 saints? With the help of a number of eminent historians, Jean-Michel Djian conducts an extensive investigation of one Africa's most beautiful and mysterious treasures. He has exhumed and selected a number of rare manuscripts for our consideration. For the most part, these manuscripts have been preserved in old trunks handed down from generation to generation. These documents provide irrefutable evidence of an authentic writing tradition in Africa, which directly contradicts the false assumptions of the West. Not only has there been a long history of writing in Africa, the manuscripts of Timbuktu call into question many of the West's most basic views about world history.

Social History of Timbuktu

Social History of Timbuktu PDF Author: Elias N. Saad
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521246032
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Originally published in 1983, this book deals with the precolonial history of the Islamic West African city of Timbuktu. The book traces the fortunes of this fabled city from its origins in the twelfth century, and more especially from around 1400 onwards, to the French conquest in the late nineteenth century. The study rests upon a comprehensive utilisation of the Timbuktu sources, including the well-known chronicles or tarikhs of Timbuktu. The author focuses on the role of scholars and, in so doing, he provides a fresh study of a learned community in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, the study shows that the scholars occupied a position of leadership and authority in the social structure of the city. Hence, in providing fuller understanding of the role of scholars and their status as 'notables', the work makes it possible to understand the enigma which has surrounded this extraordinary city throughout its history. It contributes an important perspective for historians of Africa, the Middle East and Islam.

The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu

The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu PDF Author: Charlie English
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780008126636
Category : Cultural property
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Two tales of a city: The historical race to reach one of the world's most mythologized places, and the story of how a contemporary band of archivists and librarians, fighting to save its ancient manuscripts from destruction at the hands of al Qaeda, added another layer to the legend.

The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu

The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu PDF Author: John O Hunwick
Publisher: Thames and Hudson
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
The extraordinary manuscripts of Timbuktu: invaluable historical documents, objects of tremendous beauty, and a testament to a great center of learning and civilization. For centuries, trading caravans made epic journeys across the Saharan sands to reach the markets of the legendary city of Timbuktu, where they traded salt, gold, slaves, textiles—and books. By the mid-fifteenth century, Timbuktu had become a major center of Islamic literary culture and scholarship. The city's libraries were repositories of all the world's learning, housing not only works by Arab and Islamic writers but also volumes from the classical Greek and Roman worlds and studies by contemporary scholars. The astonishing manuscripts of Timbuktu form the lavish visual heart of this book. Beautifully graphic, occasionally decorated, these exquisite artifacts reveal great craftsmanship as well as learning. All were written in the Arabic script, but not all are in Arabic, for they also feature a range of local African languages. Aside from scholarly works, the surviving manuscripts include a wealth of correspondence between rulers, advisers, and merchants on subjects as various as taxation, commerce, marriage, divorce, adoption, breastfeeding, and prostitution, providing a vivid insight into the ordinary life and values of the day.

The Race for Timbuktu

The Race for Timbuktu PDF Author: Frank T. Kryza
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060560649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
In the first decades of the 19th century, no place burned more brightly in the imagination of European geographers and fortune hunters than the lost city of Timbuktu. This is the true story of Alexander Gordon Laing and the race to discover the city at a time when the continent was still largely unchartered.