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Timbuktu

Type Object Region West Africa Time 1300

Timbuktu, on the desert edge north of the Niger River bend, was the most important scholarly and trading city of the Mali Empire in West Africa.

Timeline

  1. 1300–1350Timbuktu · Tombouctou RegionAfter Mansa Musa's pilgrimage, he greatly expanded the Sankore Mosque and the residences of scholars; Timbuktu became a major center of West African Islamic jurisprudence and astronomical and calendrical study, with caravan lodgings and scriptoria lining its streets.
  2. 1351–1360Timbuktu · Tombouctou RegionDuring the reign of Mansa Sulayman (r. 1341–1360), Timbuktu maintained its trans-Saharan gold trade and scholarly traditions; the Arab chronicler Ibn Khaldun recorded dealings with Malian envoys, attesting to the city's international renown.
  3. c. 1370–1500Timbuktu · Tombouctou RegionAfter the central authority of the Mali Empire weakened, Timbuktu came under the influence of Songhai and other powers, but its manuscript holdings and scholarly community endured, laying the groundwork for the later golden age of learning under the Songhai Empire.

Sources