Preliminary survey of Arabic manuscripts in Djenne, Mali, with a view to a major project of preservation, digitisation and cataloguing

This pilot project will survey the scope and extent of the existing Arabic manuscripts of Djenné, Mali, a town which has historically equalled Timbuktu in importance as a centre of Islamic learning and sub-Saharan trade since the foundation of both towns around a millennium ago. It has been estimated by the Malian scholar Abdel Kader Haidara, the Director of the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu, that there are approximately 10,000 manuscripts in Djenné, some dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries. These manuscripts include those written in situ by individual Marabouts, and also many purchased from elsewhere by Djenné collectors. Most of these manuscripts are kept by individual families, and only a very small portion have been deposited in the newly built Djenné library.