Africa's Timbuktu One of the World's First and Oldest University

Africa's Timbuktu One of the World's First and Oldest University

Timbuktu an African Journey To The Empire Of Knowledge

This shows the effort undertaken to save archives from the world's first and oldest university in the great city of Timbuktu, the center of knowledge in the 12th century BC. Over 700,000 manuscripts at the great Sankore University in Timbuktu.

The University of Timbuktu in Mali was situated in a city that was already thriving in the 12th century BC. The city of Timbuktu had the most universities in any nation.

Imagine a city in 16th century BC, West Africa where thousands of indigenous African students pondered over the latest ideas in science, mathematics, and medicine.

A fabled town in the middle of the scorching desert, overflowing with countless numbers of valuable books, expensive crafts, exquisite fabrics, and unrivaled gold jewelry! Imagine a community of highly cultured, wealthy people whose forbidden streets were the subject of legends and whose ochre walls were sought after by some of the greatest adventurers of the times.

From its grand mud structures which have stood the test of time and still fulfill their role as centers of prayer and learning, to the collections of scrolls and writings hidden in chests buried under the desert sands, Timbuktu is a treasure of African intellectual and spiritual history.