

Timbuktu Manuscripts Not As Burned As Reported - dmoney
http://www.tombouctoumanuscripts.org/blog/entry/timbuktu_update/

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georgecmu
Ironically,

 _during the period of French colonial domination of Timbuktu (1894–1959),
many manuscripts were seized and burned by the colonialists, and as a result,
many families there still refuse access to researchers for fear of a new era
of pillaging._

[http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_con...](http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=378&Itemid=233)

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rmc
All but 3 of the aztec's books were burnt by the Spanish after they conquered
Mexico.

~~~
georgecmu
You may actually be referring to Mayan books instead:

 _There were many such books in existence at the time of the Spanish conquest
of Yucatán in the 16th century, but they were destroyed in bulk by the
Conquistadors and priests soon after. In particular, all those in Yucatán were
ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July of 1562. De Landa wrote:
"We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained
nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we
burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and
which caused them much affliction." Such codices were primary written records
of Maya civilization, together with the many inscriptions on stone monuments
and stelae that survived._ [1]

As for the Aztecs, interestingly, many of their books were burned prior to the
Spanish invasion:

 _Two of the primary architects of the Aztec empire were the half-brothers
Tlacaelel and Montezuma I, nephews of Itzcoatl. Moctezuma I succeeded Itzcoatl
as Hueyi Tlatoani in 1440. Although he was also offered the opportunity to be
tlatoani, Tlacaelel preferred to operate as the power behind the throne.
Tlacaelel reformed the Aztec state and religion. According to some sources, he
ordered the burning of most of the extant Aztec books claiming that they
contained lies. He thereupon rewrote the history of the Aztec people, thus
creating a common awareness of history for the Aztecs._ [2]

In any case, there are more than 3 Aztec codices in existence now. [3]

[1]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices#Background>

[2]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec#Rise_of_the_Triple_Allian...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec#Rise_of_the_Triple_Alliance)

[3]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_codices>

~~~
rmc
_You may actually be referring to Mayan books instead:…_

Oh you're right, that's the one. I knew it was that area & time.

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NathanKP
I wonder if they would be opposed to allowing Google or some other big book
digitizing company to scan the manuscripts to preserve electronic copies in
case of disaster?

It would do wonders as far as allowing the world to take a peek at the ancient
texts, keep at least some trace of them safe in case the originals were lost,
and it would be good PR if Google or somebody like that "saved" them
digitally.

~~~
_djo_
The manuscripts are already being digitised by the Timbouctou Manuscripts
Project (the source of this article), hosted at the University of Cape Town
and funded by the Ford Foundation. Those already digitised are available in
their database [0], sometimes with accompanying translations.

This is part of South Africa's assistance to Mali, dating from 2001, to
preserve and study the manuscripts by funding and building the new Ahmed Baba
Institute building (the one damaged by rebels) with the equipment to prevent
further degradation of the manuscripts and digitise them, giving Malian
conservationists further training at the National Archives in Pretoria and
setting up research projects.

Aside from something as drastic as the possibility of another civil war, the
manuscripts are the safest they've been in years.

[0]<http://www.tombouctoumanuscripts.org/db/>

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oijaf888
Its amazing there's entire groups of people who are so anti-knowledge. I don't
see how you can do some introspection and not realize its a backwards stance.

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nsns
Please don't be so gullible as to take the Western media's narrative without a
grain of salt; The only reason for burning the manuscripts is as a
provocation, that is, _because_ they are highly valued. Not to mention the
fact that it now seems (As the article reveals), that the provocation (the
"hoax") was mostly made by the other side.

~~~
_djo_
The OP makes it clear that the manuscripts were not destroyed only because of
the good work that was done to _hide_ them before and during the Ansar Dine
occupation and because most had not yet been moved to the new building. Some
manuscripts did not survive and were destroyed, the good news is that more
were not.

Nor is Ansar Dine too noble for such destruction, as they have destroyed
UNESCO World Heritage sites on religious grounds before[0] and have plainly
stated that they'll destroy anything they believe to be idolatrous in their
narrow religious definitions.

The Western media has many, many faults but be very careful of falling into
the trap of believing that it is always correct to take the 'other' side or
believe that those being portrayed as bad are being unfairly treated.

Whether you read Western news sources, alternative sources like Al-Jazeera and
Russian news or (better yet) local Malian and regional African news, the clear
image that emerges of Ansar Dine is that of a ruthless and cruel extremist
religious group. That villages, towns and cities were welcoming _French_
troops in with cheers should tell you all you need to know about how much
Ansar Dine were hated.

The situation with the MLNA is a little more complex however, so it's more
than I can get into in this post.

[0][http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/01/us-mali-crisis-
idU...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/01/us-mali-crisis-
idUSBRE86008Z20120701)

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edouard1234567
A little bit of history on book burning/banning
[http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/182074/Some_History_on...](http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/182074/Some_History_on_Book_Burning)

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cpdean
It took me a good two paragraphs to realize I was not reading about any sort
of software library by the name of "Timbuktu".

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hondje
So it was western propaganda?

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mc32
From the article, it appears to have been started by the mayor of Timbuktu
--who apparently resided in a town 800 miles away. So it may have been
someone's propaganda (but apparently not western in origin) or could have been
misinformation (i.e. misconstrued information) or it could refer to a missing
ten percent of the texts whose location is unknown.

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lutusp
Isn't "burned" a superlative?

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tokenadult
Since you asked, insofar as the participle "burned" is functioning as an
adjective here, it is in positive degree. The comparative degree would be
"more burned," and the superlative degree would be "most burned."

This classification of adjectives by degree comes, of course, from Latin,

<http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/grammar/ch34-degofadj.htm>

and English doesn't operate completely in the straitjacket of Latin grammar,
but has its own very intricate grammatical rules.

[http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Grammar-English-
Language/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Grammar-English-
Language/dp/0521431468)

