Mali and Songhai · about 1325-1591

Timbuktu: a city of books

At the edge of the Sahara, Timbuktu became a city of scholars, mosques and private libraries. Students discover what its manuscripts contain, who wrote them and how families kept them safe for centuries.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1500
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

At the edge of the Sahara, Timbuktu became a city of scholars, mosques and private libraries. Students discover what its manuscripts contain, who wrote them and how families kept them safe for centuries.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why Timbuktu's position between river and desert made it a center of trade and learning.
  • Name the great mosques of Timbuktu and four subjects found in its manuscripts.
  • Describe what happened to Timbuktu's scholars after the Moroccan invasion of 1591.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1500

At the edge of the desert

Open the map in 1500 and turn on Cities. Find Timbuktu. Which empire rules it now? How close is the Niger river?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1337

City of books

Open Stories and play Mali and the Golden King to its last chapter, Timbuktu, city of books. How many manuscripts does it say the libraries held?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1500

Where the paper came from

Turn on Trade Routes. Follow the route north from Timbuktu across the Sahara to the Mediterranean. Books, paper and scholars travelled along it too.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Leo Africanus wrote that books were sold in Timbuktu for more profit than any other goods. Why would books be so valuable there?
  2. Families kept manuscripts at home for centuries. What are the advantages and risks of private libraries?
  3. The manuscripts cover law, astronomy, medicine and poetry. What does this tell us about life in the city?
  4. In the 1590s the scholar Ahmed Baba was taken to Marrakesh as a prisoner. Why would a conqueror remove scholars?
  5. For centuries Europeans used "Timbuktu" to mean the end of the world. How did that idea hide the real history of the city?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Mansa Musa, whose mosque-building helped make Timbuktu a city of learning. Discuss: what can a ruler do to turn a trading town into a center of knowledge?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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