The bad-ass librarians of Timbuktu
id: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/300334915
type: CreativeWork
about:
  id: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320128856
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: handschriften
about:
  id: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320126540
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: bibliotheekwetenschap
about:
  type: Place
  alternate name: Mali
about:
  id: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320189215
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: smokkel
about:
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Islamic learning and scholarship
about:
  id: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/311226772
  type: Organization
  alternate name: Centre de documentation et de recherches "Ahmed Baba"
about:
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Manuscripts, Arabic
about:
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Destruction and pillage
about:
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Librarians
about:
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Cultural property--Protection
about:
  type: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Libraries--Destruction and pillage
abstract: In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. Hammer tells the story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world's greatest and most brazen smugglers. In 2012, thousands of Al-Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law, chopped off the hands of accused thieves, stoned to death unmarried couples, and threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. As the militants tightened their control over Timbuktu, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali.
creator:
  id: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/310226771
  type: Person
  alternate name: Hammer, Joshua, 1957-
language: English
  id: http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/languages/eng
  type: Language
  name: Engels @nl
work example:
  id: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/301334915
  type: ProductModel

type: PropertyValue
property ID: NL-AmRIJ
value: 334915