Off the Shelf
Book Review by Judith Umbach
Timbuktu by
Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle
Timbuktu is
subtitled The Sahara’s Fabled City of Gold. The name Timbuktu is known
all over the world, without many of us knowing much about it. Marq de Villiers
and Sheila Hirtle travelled there to discover a rich, dynamic history that has
attracted traders, bandits, warlords, and historians for centuries.
Timbuktu still is a city, located
approximately in the middle of the modern country of Mali. Historically it was
on important trans-Saharan trade routes (think camels). Situated near the Niger
River, it was ideal as a crossroads. At its height of fame, its university was
unparalleled. Islamic scholars were renowned and many came from all over
northern Africa to worship and study there. Early European adventurers set off
to find the city, and those who survived to tell their stories wove wondrous
tales of the sophisticated people and their complex societies.
While this is a book of history, it does
allude to the modern troubles resulting from Islamic terror groups and their
efforts to destroy irreplaceable manuscripts kept in the revered library. With
assistance, the people of the city foiled their complete destruction, thanks to
ancient methods of storing documents. Scrolls and books belong to a family’s
history and are meant for family worship and memories. Even with the library,
many documents were kept in houses and moved with the families. These survived
the destructive attacks.
Now, Timbuktu is a dusty, fading city –
almost overcome by its desert environment and the neglect that comes from
severe economic decline. Its origins have faded into the realm of myth. By the
tenth century it had been frequented by Tuareg nomads as a resting place. Trade
in salt built its economy, although the salt flats were some distance from the
oasis and town. We take salt for granted now, but the trade in salt used to be
as important as oil is in the modern world. Slave markets inevitably grew up
around the expanding trade economy. With more wealth and knowledge, learning
and the arts flourished in important households, usually tied to Islamic
schools and libraries.
Greed and jealousy crushed the fabled city,
as did disease and environmental catastrophes. Much has been lost from the
libraries, but an astonishing amount remains, carefully protected.
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