It's a shame because of the topic seems fascinating but I couldn't read past the first paragraph. Maybe it's because I'm on my phone and somewhat distracted but the article seems very badly written.
> In the past, the severed heads of these Berber bandits covered the ground of the palace at Sijilmasa; there were highwaymen, then, who stopped you across the Sahara en route to the Land of the Blacks.
Try reading it out loud. Keep in mind that the original is in French and this is a translation of that French text so you are probably more at war with the translator than with the writer. Even so, to me - also a non-native English speaker - there wasn't a sentence in the article that I could not understand, sometimes it just takes a bit more effort.
I immediately got the impression that this was written by a non-native speaker. Looking at the guy's name and re-reading the text, it is clear that they are French
EDIT:
"For if they are not your guides and your guards, they will rob you."
I'm guessing that this weird sentence comes from "car si ils ne sont pas vos guides et gardes, ils vous deroberont"- which is quite natural in french
The only thing which I find slightly odd with that sentence is beginning it with a conjunction. Removing this could improve the sentence. Otherwise, I think it's perfectly fine.
It's a translated excerpt from a book written in French: "Excerpted from The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages by François-Xavier Fauvelle, translated by Troy Tice, and illustrated by Roland Sárkány. Originally titled Le rhinocéros d’or."
why does every article have someone like you commenting on it? what value does this add to the conversation about this topic? is this your idea of an issue submission? do you think the author will rewrite the article now? do you think your reading aesthetic is generic enough that this is a useful warning to others? do you think that difficult texts shouldn't be read?
like literally I don't know the answer to any of these questions and I am struck by them every single time I open the comments to almost any non-tech post (of course the tech posts have their own flavor of perennial criticisms).
what compels someone to complain about free content. I will never understand.
Why the knee jerk reaction? It is not that easy to read, maybe only to non-native speakers like me or OP. I still read it, beautiful window to the past we can't ever experience, but it required focus and re-reading some sentences. Is it hard to understand that world is full of people that are different in every possible way to you?
Dorothy Dunnett writes of a fictional account of a transit like this, in "scales of gold" (hers is from Timbuktu to the coast, following salt/gold traders paths) -she always did good research on things before including them in her work.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 60.3 ms ] threadIf you read books from mid 20th century and before you find that sort of style which requires more focus than we are accustomed today on the internet.
> In the past, the severed heads of these Berber bandits covered the ground of the palace at Sijilmasa; there were highwaymen, then, who stopped you across the Sahara en route to the Land of the Blacks.
I don't know what's trying to be said here.
EDIT: "For if they are not your guides and your guards, they will rob you."
I'm guessing that this weird sentence comes from "car si ils ne sont pas vos guides et gardes, ils vous deroberont"- which is quite natural in french
like literally I don't know the answer to any of these questions and I am struck by them every single time I open the comments to almost any non-tech post (of course the tech posts have their own flavor of perennial criticisms).
what compels someone to complain about free content. I will never understand.
Definitely not for usual glancing through
Mauritania Railway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEo-ykjmHgg