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Timbuktu (/ ˌ t ɪ m b ʌ k ˈ t uː / TIM-buk-TOO; French: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu; Tuareg: ⵜⵏⵀⵗⵜ, romanized: Tin Bukt) is an ancient city in Mali, situated 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Niger River.
Timbuktu, city in the western African country of Mali, historically important as a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route and as a center of Islamic culture (c. 1400–1600). It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 miles (13 km) north of the Niger River.
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.
Starting out as a seasonal settlement, Timbuktu was in the kingdom of Mali when it became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, the town flourished from the trade in salt, gold, ivory and slaves from several towns and states such as Begho of Bonoman, Sijilmassa, and other Saharan cities. [1] .
Get facts, photos, and travel tips for Timbuktu, a World Heritage site in Mali, from National Geographic.
For centuries, the city of Timbuktu, located in the center of present-day Mali in Western Africa, thrived as one of the bustling centers of culture and learning during the Golden Age of Islam....
Rebels in Mali have taken the historic city of Timbuktu, a place that became shorthand for anywhere far away and mysterious. How?
Now a shadow of its former glory, Timbuktu—in modern-day Mali—strikes most travelers as humble and perhaps a bit run-down. But the city’s former status as an Islamic oasis is echoed in its three great mud-and-timber mosques: Djinguereber, Sankore, and Sidi Yahia, which recall Timbuktu's golden age.
For more than 600 years, Timbuktu was a significant religious, cultural, and commercial center whose residents traveled north across the Sahara through Morocco and Algeria to other parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Founded perhaps as early as the tenth century, Timbuktu is an African city in the modern day nation of Mali. Occupying a strategic location in the Sahara, it served as a convenient meeting place for neighboring civilizations, nomadic Berber and Arab peoples from the north.