The lost script
Ajami - the lost script
An interesting article over at The Boston Globe, which explores the potential historical value of documents written in Ajami, a kind of hybrid script used in the Sudanic region of Africa from around the 10th century onwards. As Islam spread south from northern Africa, and the tribal holy men slowly converted to the Islamic religion, so they began to adapt the Arabic script to communicate the tenets of the religion to the local people whos till spoke the traditional languages such as Wolof, still spoken in The Gambia today. The result was the Ajami script, in which 1000s of documents were written – everything from travel itineraries to details of wedding plans and farming techniques – which until now have been largely ignored. As we learn more of the script and uncover more and more documents the depth of our understanding of this area of Africa could be greatly enhanced.
