The Treasures of Timbuktu

There is little gold to be found in Timbuktu today

On Jan. 28, 2013, news broke of an epic cultural catastrophe. That morning, the mayor of Timbuktu, Halle Ousmane Cissé, told journalists that the jihadist occupiers of the town had destroyed its famous literary heritage.

“They torched all the important ancient manuscripts,” Mr. Cissé told The Associated Press. “The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people.”

Within hours, the internet was reverberating with paeans to these priceless documents of Islamic scholarship, some of which are said to date to the 12th century. Experts declared it to be a disaster of incalculable proportions, the greatest