the West African nation of Mali has been in the media recently for all the wrong reasons.

An ongoing jihadist insurgency created political insecurity which led to a military coup, and more recently the cutting of ties with the former

colonial power of France as the de facto government rely on the support of the controversial

Russian mercenary operation, the Wagner group, better known

for atrocities committed in Ukraine and ill-fated march on Moscow, but whose methods have also caused much bloodshed throughout Africa.

But with accusations and counter-accusations of colonialism, exploitation, and human rights abuses being bounced around between the French and the Wagner group.

What's often overlooked in the West is that once upon a time, the wealthiest ruler in history, Mansumusa, as well as three of the greatest

powers in African history, the Mali, Songhai and Ham Dalahi empires empires existed in Mali. In addition to the threat posed to

civilians by the current conflict, the carefully preserved texts detailing

this extraordinary history typically maintained in tiny libraries around

the country are also at threat from looting or the threat of becoming collateral damage in the violent carnage.

Scholars such as Naples native, Professor Marl Nubili,

continue to uncover facts about the political and Islamic history of this part of the world.

And his work in recent years has extended from just studying the raw facts

to examining the famous historical chronicles, artifacts which have become historic relics in their own rights.

The so-called Timbuktu Chronicles, which includes two books, the Tarakal Fattache and Tarakal Sudan, detail what we would now call

Mali in history, going back to the 15th century at the height of the Songhai Empire.

In 1913, two Frenchmen, Octave Hudas and Maurice Delafoss, seemingly recovered a complete manuscript of the former, but was it genuine

and undocked. Regardless, it made its way into the public domain, as Professor Novelli explains.

Definitely the edition by Udacinth de la Fosse in 1913 provided basically a broader public

with a companion to the Taricha Sudan or had been already known since the very end of the 19th century.

But the interesting thing is that in fact the publication by Udacend

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