Empires of gold and knowledge part 2 Importance of Timbuktu

Clips from last half of video come from this 30 min documentary, very informative

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9r-S1Z2vOw

Program from The Story of Africa part 9. The Kingdoms of Mali and Songhay

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section...

At the height of its power, Mali had at least 400 cities, and the interior of the Niger Delta was very densely populated. One of the cities, Timbuktu rose from obscurity to great commercial and cultural importance. It became a centre of learning, one of the foremost centres of Islamic scholarship in the world.

The mosque of the University of Sankore was highly distinguished for the teaching of Koranic theology and law, besides other subjects such as astronomy and mathematics.

In the 14th century, Timbuktu had an estimated population of 115,000 people. Typically, 25,000 were at university and 20,000 were at school. London, by contrast, had a total 14th century population of 20,000 people.

Similarly, Old Djenne, one of the early cities that date back to 250 BC (the city was part of the old Ghana Empire and passed on to the Mali Empire when Ghana fell), had a population of 20,000 people. London, again, would wait another 700 years to reach this figure.

Also, old astronomical manuscripts from the medieval desert collections in Mali and Mauritania show that the Africans knew about the lunar cycle and its shadows long before any European thought about it.

In 2002, Michael Palin, a BBC programme maker, returned from Timbuktu to report that the Great Mosque of Timbuktu "has a collection of scientific texts that clearly show the planets circling the sun. They date back hundreds of years ... It is convincing evidence that the scholars of Timbuktu knew a lot more than their counterparts in Europe".

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5391/is_200610/ai_n21399711

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[xemola]

Not to mention, they were studing independantly from Islam as well. Not just under Islam. But independant from Islam even befor Islam excisted.

[markellion]

Thats true there is no way they could have been so successful if they didn't already have a strong intellectual tradition

[xemola]

Yeah its true. Africans need to be carefull of letting people redifine Africa. Like for instance, the term subsaharan Africa. Africans come from African and Arabs dont.

And African history, culture and science is independant of islam and do not even come close in comparison in life terms, or impact on humanity as whole. We have to stop letting other groups take conquest of our heritage!

Yeah Muslim armies did excist long ago, but to praise them over African invention is just stupid.

[markellion]

Go to savethetruearabs . com

[xemola]

on the same subject, I have spoken to many people who live in African but consider themselves of Arab decent. There are two groups of them. The light skin and the darker skin. Somaliens and your moraccan types.

I could understand how the Somalien (not all) seem to put an accent on the Arab or Yemenite blood, when prior to any asien addmixure in arabia they are the same decendants of African empires that dominated that area. So why consider yourself different from the bantu?

[markellion]

The people of Somalia were called Berberah. During colonialism it was advantageous to identify oneself with Arabs

[2manynegativewaves]

lols at all you rascist muppets, its been decades since "whites" ruled over you yet you still cant get your sh!t together and oh look, now its not the white man running Africa its the yellow man....crack on cozying up to red china and see where that gets you all......and LMFAO at all you proud "Africans" living in the USA.....yeah,that will stick it to whitey wont it......maybe if your best and brightest didnt run off to europe on the first fishing boat Africa would have a chance.

[germanyinthehouse]

@dabcore Thanks bro for telling the turth. And by the way you are African don't even use the colonial name Nigerian because that isn't us. We must come together as one, no more tribal talk or killings because this helps the white governments to create more problems. Link with all Africans and organize, plan, plot, excute. Whites like it when we fight with each other over unity. They know if we drop everything we know and just unite and get rid of differences we will win in all walks of life.

[germanyinthehouse]

@dabcore You are a serious racist and you don't speak for Africans that live in America. The reason Africans in America (Made up name by gov) have these problems is because of Slavery and breeding of Africans like animals. Whites/Arabs/Jews are the main reason it is like this. African Americans went through hell in back and we lost 100 million of our countrymen from West Africa on passage to the US. Keep your lying lips closed WE AS AFRICANS ARE ONE AND MORE THAN YOU, WE WILL WIN AND FIGHT AS 1!

[germanyinthehouse]

@vixxy02 Not only that, but Africans are every where on the globe. If we want we can be powerful as we please. We are over 2 billion strong, we are bigger in numbers than China. We have 1 billion in Africa and we have another 1billio plus spread throught the world. Yes time for Africans from every where and all walks of life to fight like hell for what is ours. We are not slaves we are the first people and time is up for our real enemys. Spread the word and no Arabs are not African.

[thehararean]

i cant believe whites came and stole all the books from timbktu

[vixxy02]

You're right imposed foreign religions have caused so much strife in Africa, and this has been the single most devastating factor behind our segregation,and trust for outsiders rather than ourselves.This new generation are waking up to the fact that begging bowls and foreign meddling are getting us no where,and the only way to move forward is to take a step backward and settle scores with our so called enemies next door,unite and march forward! Maybe I'm naive in my thinking,maybe not!

PEACE!

[vixxy02]

@dabcore You are so right, and I agree with everything you've said! The thing is everybody thinks they know what's best for Africa and Africans,without asking us what we want or need,and right now before our wants can be addressed we need to be unified. Why is it that countries like S.A,S.Leon,Gambia,Kenya,Ethiop­ia are ALL in the hands of non Indigenous Africans,which they accept,yet hate their next door neighbour?Because like you said we are too ready to accept outsiders,and diss our own!

[dabcore]

@vixxy02 i did not intend in any way to be condescending. There are definitely many things that Africans should not accept from black Americans, like culture of dysfunctional gender relations, boastful single mothers, neglectful fathers, the culture of narcissistic rap, and other pathological tendencies. But do not ignore the gems in the haystack. There are many gems in black america

[dabcore]

@vixxy02 up to our potential. We are like uncaged lions running in a yard. We are capable of so much more. Continental Africans will decide their own destiny without outside interference that is for sure, but dont be so prideful that you wont listen to other perspectives that might aid you. By the way, i have met many Malians and i must say they are very intelligent educated and cultured people. I dated a daughter of a Malian diplomat years ago in college. She was absolutely beautiful. I did not

[dabcore]

@vixxy02 Have you ever read The Metu Neter by Ra Un Nefer Amen. Have you ever read any books by Dr. Muata Ashby? or any of the other authors that i have mentioned?. You probably have not. I am Nigerian American. Both of my parents were lived there all of their lives. They only came to visit me on occasion. They never bothered to teach me my own indigenous language. This is actually very common now over there from what I hear. They are heading into cultural genocide. We Africans are not living