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Timbuktu

Type Object Region Sub-Saharan Africa Time 1451–1460

Timbuktu, in present-day Mali, on the Niger at the Sahara's southern edge, became a key trans-Saharan trade node and Islamic scholarly center from th…

Timeline

  1. 1451–1455Timbuktu · MaliBy the mid-15th century Mali had lost effective control of Timbuktu; the city was governed relatively stably by local notables and Islamic jurists (ulama), while Songhai power began seeping northward—political allegiance was unclear but trade continued uninterrupted.
  2. c. 1455–1460Sankore Mosque · TimbuktuThe three great mosques of Sankore, Jingereber, and Sidi Yahia continued as centers of advanced religious study, with scholars numbering in the tens of thousands studying Quranic exegesis, mathematics, astronomy, and history; a thriving Arabic manuscript-copying trade established Timbuktu's international reputation as a 'city of learning.'

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