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Timbuktu’s manuscripts were renowned for their physical beauty as well as their wisdom. Calligraphy styles included the broad slashes of the West African Hausa tradition, Persia’s stylized...
Perhaps most famous among the accounts written about Timbuktu is that by Leo Africanus, born El Hasan ben Muhammed el- Wazzan-ez-Zayyati in Granada in 1485. His family was among the thousands of Muslims expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel after their reconquest of Spain in 1492.
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- Early History & Name
- The Mali Empire
- Mansa Musa
- A Centre of Learning
- Decline
- As Far as Timbuktu
Timbuktu is a city located near the Niger River in modern-day Mali in West Africa. The area around Timbuktu has been inhabited since the Neolithic period as evidenced by Iron Age tumuli, megaliths and remains of now abandoned villages. The Niger River regularly flooded the plains between Timbuktu and Segu to the southwest, which provided fertile la...
From the mid-13th century CE Timbuktu, then under the control of the Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE), would reach new heights of wealth and fame, becoming the most important trading city in the Sudan region (the area from the west coast to central Africa, stretching along the southern border of the Sahara desert). The Mali Empire, with its capital at Ni...
From the reign of Mansa Musa I (1312-1337 CE), mosques began to be built across the Mali Empire. A large mosque was built at Timbuktu, the 'great mosque', also known as Djinguereber or Jingereber, designed by the famous architect Ishak al-Tuedjin, who had been enticed from Cairo following Mansa Musa's visit there. The mosque was completed by 1330 C...
Islamic learning was also encouraged, with Timbuktu possessing several universities where books were accumulated in large libraries and students were trained first to memorise texts and, for higher level students, to produce commentaries and creative works based on Islamic religious texts. One noted scholar was the saint Sharif Sidi Yahya al-Tadils...
The Mali Empire was in decline by the 15th century CE as trade routes opened up elsewhere and several rival kingdoms developed to the west, notably the Songhai. European ships, especially those belonging to the Portuguese, were now regularly sailing down the west coast of Africa and so the Saharan caravans faced stiff competition as the most effici...
Timbuktu and the Mali Empire in general received international attention in the Middle Ages thanks to descriptions in the works of Muslim travellers. The region was visited and described by the famed explorer from Tangiers Ibn Battuta (1304 - c. 1369 CE), who travelled throughout West Africa amongst many other places in the world. Battuta, visiting...
- Mark Cartwright
Feb 14, 2020 · According to tradition, Timbuktu is the “well of Bouctou”, an old Targui woman who settled in the 12th century in the “camel hump”, a loop formed by the Niger River. Ideally located between Saharan, Arab-Berber, and Sudanese Africa, the city developed considerably under Kanga (or Mansa) Musa who reigned over the Mali Empire in the 14th century.
The word "Timbuktu" (or Timbuctoo or Tombouctou) is used in several languages to represent a far-away place, but Timbuktu is an actual city in the African country of Mali. Where Is Timbuktu? Located near the edge of the Niger River, Timbuktu is situated near the middle of Mali in Africa.
Tombouctou Region is world-famous for its capital, the ancient city Timbuktu (French: Tombouctou), synonymous to 19th-century Europeans with an elusive, hard-to-reach destination.
May 11, 2017 · It was an exceptionally (though not uniquely) sophisticated society from at least the mid-14th century, rich with literature, madrasas and thousands of students. Timbuktu’s most distinctive ...
