Taking part in this event are Miguel Ángel de Frutos, an ambassador and international advisor for Casa Árabe; Juan Manuel Riesgo, Vice President for North Africa of the Spanish Association of Africanists, Ismael Diadie, a writer and co-author of the book Tombuctú: andalusíes en la ciudad perdida del Sahara (Timbuktu: Andalusi Arabs in the lost city in the Sahara); Manuel Pimentel, director of the Almuzara publishing firm and also a co-author of the book Tombuctú: andalusíes en la ciudad perdida del Sahara; Antonio Llaguno, author of the book El eunuco de Tombuctú (The Eunuch from Timbuktu) and a  former mayor of Cuevas de Almanzora, and Jose Guirao, former Director General of Fine Arts and Archives at the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Expert in World Heritage.

A few years back, Timbuktu appeared on the front page of newspapers and in media headlines because of the brutal Jihadist attack it suffered, leading to the destruction of a significant portion of its historical and cultural heritage. This heritage tells the story of its glorious past as a cultural and religious center at the heart of Africa, making Timbuktu a mythical, legendary city and point of reference for major empires existing in the region.

 

It is interesting to note that Al-Andalus had important ties to the city during the times of its greatest splendor. Two books which have recently appeared in bookstores tell us the story of these bonds. One of them El eunuco de Tombuctú (The Eunuch from Timbuktu) is a novel about the conquest of the Songay Empire in Niger by Sultan Ahmed IV al-Mansur of Morocco. Its main character is a man from Almería, Yaudar, who leads the Sultan's army to its final victory in Tondibi. In another book, Tombuctú: andalusíes en la ciudad perdida del Sáhara (Timbuktu: Andalusi Arabs in the lost city in the Sahara) relates the adventures of different Spanish-Muslim characters who leave the Iberian Peninsula and end up in this city of the Sahara, despite the immense desert in between. They contributed to its cultural, religious and political development, including sites such as the famous Andalusian Library in Timbuktu, safeguarded by the Kati family since it was created in Toledo in the fifteenth century.