““Timbuktu, Mali. In 1492, Askia Muhammed came to power and decreed that Jews should convert to Islam or leave; Judaism became illegal in Mali, as it did in Catholic Spain that same year. As the historian Leo Africanus wrote in 1526: “The king (Askia) is a declared enemy of the Jews. He will not allow any to live in the city. If he hears it said that a Berber merchant frequents them or does business with them, he confiscates his goods.” Just like the inquisition pressure of Christianity in the Kingdom of Kongo in the 16th century, Islam in Timbuktu Mali was the cause for the the virtual disappearance of Judaism.””
