Cape Town – Internet giant Google has partnered with Mali’s traditional leaders to digitise tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts from the city of Timbuktu, according to reports on Thursday.
According to the Voice of Nigeria, the manuscripts have been ‘endangered’ due to political unrest in the country’s north, which in 2013 saw “Islamist rebels set fire to two libraries in Timbuktu”.
The digitisation project will be unveiled on Thursday and will showcase work done over the last seven years to preserve the documents, said officials.
According to Google Blog, the ancient manuscripts of Timbuktu — some 400 000 pages of text detailing everything from the Koran to mathematics to astronomy and astrology — are more than important historical documents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsFSm8UBDEg
“Central to the heritage of the West African nation of Mali, they represent the long legacy of written knowledge and academic excellence in Africa, and hold potential to inspire global learning from the actions of the past in confronting modern day issues.”
Google said, today thanks to the initiative of the families who have protected the manuscripts from harm for generations and the capabilities of technology, more than 40 000 of those pages are digitally available for the first time for the world to explore on Google Arts & Culture.
The company said with this comes the hope that this legacy can be preserved and its potential harnessed to promote peace and cultural understanding.
Furthermore, the internet company said that the documents that represent a Renaissance in African history – previously thought to be spoken but never written – are now accessible to the public and modern scholars around the world.
IOL