Mali is flipping the manuscript

If I could define senseless evil, it would be the deliberate destruction of antiquities – as the jihadists did nearly 10 years ago, terrorising Timbuktu in Mali and burning thousands of its priceless ancient manuscripts.

These treasured African documents were from the 11th century, written on materials including goat and fish skin; some were decorated with gold. Imagine this loss to Mali. But brave librarians managed to smuggle some of them out of the city before they were destroyed.

Remarkably, Google has now digitised 40,000 manuscripts and made them available via the website Mali Magic. It just goes to show that good can overcome evil.