Before Oxford, There Was Sankore

Before Oxford, There Was Sankore: The Buried Truth of Africa’s Intellectual Greatness

By Commander Zack – Founder, Scramble For Africa | GHANA 4 AFRICA Movement | United Citizens Fitness Club

📧 Email: thescrambleforafrika@gmail.com

"They made us believe Africa was a land of ignorance. But long before Oxford, our ancestors were teaching the world from the libraries of Timbuktu."

🗣️ Introduction: Why This Truth Matters Now

Across Africa and the African diaspora, many youth still grow up idolizing Oxford, Harvard, or Cambridge. But what if you learned that before Oxford existed, Africa had its own world-class universities, scholars, and libraries?

This is not just a forgotten past — this is the suppressed truth of Sankore University in Timbuktu, Mali. It’s time to reclaim it.

📜 The Glory of Sankore: Africa’s Original University

📍 Where and When?

Sankore University was established in 10th-century Timbuktu, reaching its golden age under Mansa Musa, the wealthiest ruler in world history.

🎓 What Was Taught?

  • Mathematics and Algebra
  • Medicine and Surgery
  • Astronomy and Cosmology
  • Law, Ethics, and Jurisprudence
  • Philosophy and Logic
  • Linguistics, Literature, and Poetry

Students trained for decades. Only those who mastered, memorized, debated, and taught their knowledge graduated as scholars.

📚 A Repository of Global Knowledge

Sankore and its surrounding libraries held over 700,000 manuscripts, written in Arabic, Ajami (African languages using Arabic script), and native dialects.

💣 What Europe Never Told You About Oxford

Oxford University was founded in 1096 AD, during Europe’s medieval darkness. At that time:

  • Europe was mostly illiterate.
  • Medical cures involved superstition.
  • Women were being burned as witches.

Oxford gained prestige and power through colonial wealth and stolen knowledge. Some of its libraries were enriched by the gold, labor, and ideas extracted from African minds.

🏴‍☠️ The Destruction of Sankore: Erased by Colonization

  • French forces burned libraries during the colonial conquest of Mali.
  • Thousands of manuscripts were stolen and now lie hidden in European museums.
  • African children were forced to memorize European history while forgetting their own.
This was not just a physical invasion. It was an intellectual genocide.

🌍 To the Diaspora: You Were Not Just Slaves – You Were Stolen Scholars

If your ancestors were enslaved and shipped to Jamaica, Brazil, or the U.S., remember: many of them were not illiterate—they were scholars, scribes, and spiritual teachers.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade stole more than people. It stole the very minds that once lit the world with wisdom.

📢 What Must Be Done Now: The Sankore Reawakening

1. Curriculum Reform

We must teach Sankore and pre-colonial African science, law, and philosophy in every school and home.

2. Digital Liberation of Manuscripts

Support projects that digitize and translate Timbuktu’s ancient books.

3. Rebuild the Sankore Spirit

Create local youth clubs and training centers across Africa, such as the GHANA 4 AFRICA Club, to combine tech, agriculture, ethics, fitness, and African pride.

4. Diaspora Reconnection

Reunite with African descendants globally. Offer cultural citizenship and educational exchange rooted in shared heritage.

5. Stop Worshipping Foreign Brilliance

Honor the roots of African excellence. We don’t need to become Oxford—we must revive Sankore.

🕊️ Final Thoughts: Sankore Lives Within You

"You can burn the library, but you cannot kill the spirit of those who wrote the books."

Sankore is not dead. It lives in your curiosity, your memory, your resistance, and your drive to rebuild Africa on truth, not colonization.

“Before Oxford, there was Sankore.”
And before they enslaved your people, they envied your wisdom.

✊🏿 Join the Movement

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