John O. Hunwick Bücher

Timbuktu – bis heute klingt dieser Name nach abenteuerlichem Entdeckergeist und unschätzbaren Reichtümern. Die Stadt aus Lehm galt Jahrhunderte lang als Zentrum der islamischen Kultur und Wissenschaft. Während in den meisten Teilen Afrikas Wissen mündlich überliefert wurde, brachte man hier alles sorgfältig zu Papier. Dieses Buch schildert die beeindruckende Geschichte dieser sagenumwobenen Stadt und öffnet die Tür zu einer Schatzkammer – außergewöhnliche Handschriften von ungeahntem historischem Wert und seltener Schönheit. Ein faszinierendes Porträt des UNESCO-Weltkulturerbes Timbuktu, das eindrucksvoll Vergangenheit und Gegenwart verbindet.

The extraordinary manuscripts of invaluable historical documents, objects of tremendous beauty, and a testament to a great center of learning and civilization.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. 150 color

The other contemporary documents included are a new English translation of Leo Africanus's description of West Africa, some letters relating to Sa'dian diplomacy and conquests in the Sahara and Sahel, al-Ifrani's account of Sa'dian conquest of Songhay, and an account of this expedition by an anonymous Spaniard.