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Sankore Mosque, Timbuktu
The Sankore Mosque, one of Timbuktu's three great mosques, together with the Sankore madrasa formed the most important Islamic scholarly center of th…
Timeline
- c. 1325–1337Timbuktu · MaliAfter returning from the hajj, Mansa Musa greatly expanded the Sankore Mosque and madrasa, hiring the Andalusian architect Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, making Timbuktu a center of West African Islamic jurisprudence as well as astronomical and medical study.
- 1431–1440Timbuktu · MaliAs the Mali Empire's central power waned and Tuareg forces intervened in Sahelian trade, the Sankore madrasa maintained its teaching tradition, preserved large numbers of Arabic manuscripts, and continued to attract scholars and merchants from the Maghreb and the West African interior.
- c. 1460–1468Timbuktu · MaliThe Songhai ruler Sunni Ali gradually gained control of the trade routes around Timbuktu; Sankore's scholarly institutions survived the change of regime, laying the groundwork for the scholarly flourishing under the Askia dynasty.
Sources
- Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sa'di's Ta'rikh al-Sudan down to 1613 and Other Contemporary Documents — John O. Hunwick (1999)
- Timbuktu https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/119/