Today the manuscripts offer proof that Africans' intellectual capacity extended beyond oral history and archaeological findings, which have long been regarded as the African way of recording history.
Experts say the manuscripts could be the most ancient to have survived in sub-Saharan Africa and are important because they offer a glimpse into the views of black Muslim scholars over the centuries.
The manuscripts were commissioned to be copied by governments, for which the artisans were paid a handsome sum of 24g of gold per copy. Some of these copies, which are adorned with gold leaf and vibrant colours, can be seen at the exhibition.
Riason Naidoo, project manager for the South Africa-Mali Project, said: "Copiers were treasured people in Timbuktu. They were paid a high salary and had a high status."
The manuscripts were mainly written in local languages using Arabic script. This makes it difficult for scholars outside of Mali to understand the meanings.
French colonisation has also contributed to much of the local population's inability to understand the scripts today.
Some of the manuscripts were also written in Hebrew, showing that Jewish traders passed through the area in search of gold.
Predictably, antiquities trafficking is a problem.
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