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Timbuktu

Type Object Region Africa Time c. 1100

A desert-edge city on the Sahara-Sahel trade route at the north bank of the Niger bend, it flourished under the Mali Empire in the 14th century as a …

Timeline

  1. c. 1100–1325Timbuktu · SahelTimbuktu rose at the junction of Saharan trade routes and Niger River navigation; Tuareg nomadic groups and local settlers jointly built markets, gradually turning it into a salt-gold entrepôt.
  2. 1325–1337Timbuktu · Mali EmpireAround 1325 the Mali Empire formally took control of Timbuktu. After Mansa Musa's (r. ca. 1312–1337) Hajj to Mecca in 1324, the city's wealth and Islamic prestige grew greatly, and the Sankore Mosque and scholarly tradition expanded rapidly.
  3. 1341–1350Timbuktu · Mali EmpireAfter Mansa Musa's death around 1337, central authority in the Mali Empire loosened somewhat, but Timbuktu maintained its trans-Saharan trade routes and traditions of manuscript copying and jurisprudence study, remaining one of West Africa's most important Islamic knowledge centers.
  4. 1468–1591Timbuktu · Songhai EmpireThe Songhai Empire captured Timbuktu in 1468, and the Askia dynasty continued to invest in scholarship and trade. After Moroccan forces seized it in 1591 the city declined, but large numbers of manuscripts survived to later ages.

Sources