Timbuktu trading city

Timeline

1. c. 1100–1200Timbuktu · MaliThe Tuareg established seasonal camps and storehouses at the edge of the Niger floodplain, and Timbuktu became the desert gateway where north-south caravans swapped pack animals, stored water, and rested.
2. c. 1220–1300Timbuktu · MaliAfter the Mali Empire incorporated Timbuktu, mosques and scholarly communities multiplied and trade in salt, gold, slaves, and cloth expanded; around 1291–1300 CE the city's population and crafts grew markedly.
3. c. 1300–1400Timbuktu · MaliTimbuktu became one of West Africa's centers of Islamic learning, with flourishing manuscript copying, jurisprudence, and astronomy, maintaining close correspondence and commercial ties with Maghreb cities of North Africa.