Ẹ̀kọ́ 5 nínú 5

Timbuktu: a city of books and learning

Ìpele Sankofa: Tún ara rẹ so

Kò tíì sí ní Èdè Yorùbá. A ń fi ẹ̀dà English àkọ́kọ́ hàn.

Timbuktu, at the edge of the Sahara in Mali, was an intellectual and spiritual capital in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Learning and trade

The Sankore university and many Qur’anic schools drew students, while the market traded salt from the north, gold, cattle and grain from the south, and manuscripts.

Three mosques

Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia recall the city’s golden age. Built of earth, they need regular restoration, and UNESCO notes that desertification threatens them.