Page 180 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

By the thirteenth century, when Emperor Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage
to Mecca, most of Mali had converted to Islam. Some scholars claim that
as many as 25,000 Islamic students were trained at the universities in
Timbuktu in the sixteenth century. Recent researchers have discovered
thousands of ancient texts. Reuters released the following news article on
13 November, 2006:

Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali
have already collected 150,000 brittle manuscripts, some of
them from the thirteenth century, and local historians believe
many more lie buried under the sand.

This news article continued and used a local proverb which states:
“The nations formed a single line and Timbuktu was at the head. But one
day, God did an about-turn and Timbuktu found itself at the back.”

Gold deposits and other commodities had brought Berber traders
from the north; unfortunately, they also brought their religion—Islam.
However, with the depletion of gold, the empire began to decline,
and in the fifteenth century the Songhai conquered it. This Songhai
Empire, the second empire, extended to present-day Nigeria. Since the
Songhai people were not good traders, the kingdom nearly collapsed
until another commodity was discovered: the slave trade. However,
even this discovery did not prevent the decline of the Songhai Empire.
Kawato notes:

Songhai was conquered by the Moroccans [the third empire]
in A.D. 1591, plunging the Niger River Valley into a dark age.
Civilization quickly collapsed. The libraries and palaces of
Timbuktu fell into disrepair and ruin. For the next 200 years Mali
would be forgotten by the outside world. (1)

The French, who colonized Mali in the nineteenth century, also
brought Catholic missionaries; however, their efforts did not produce
lasting results. Today, according to Operation World, 88 percent of the
population is Muslim, 10 percent practice an African traditional religion,
and only 2 percent is Christian. However, the good news is that the
Assemblies of God and other Pentecostals are growing in this area. In
fact, there has been a breakthrough in Timbuktu! Perhaps God is doing

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