Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The wealth and very existence of Timbuktu depended on its position as the southern terminus of an important trans-Saharan trade route; nowadays, the only goods that are routinely transported across the desert are slabs of rock salt brought from the Taoudenni mining centre in the central Sahara 664 km (413 mi) north of Timbuktu.
Presently, Timbuktu is impoverished and suffers from desertification. In its Golden Age, the town's numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network made possible an important book trade. This established Timbuktu as a renowned scholarly centre, with cultural hubs that included Sankoré Madrasa.
Beginning of 2013, they had completed an important work of describing 10,000 manuscripts through standardized registration forms. [citation needed] The Timbuktu Manuscripts Project is a separate project run by the University of Cape Town.
The only public library in Timbuktu, the Ahmed Baba Institute (which stores over 18,000 manuscripts) is named in his honor. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] In 1615 Ahmad discussed along with other Muslim scholars on the question of slavery, in order to protect Muslims from being enslaved.
A Tuareg man near Timbuktu in Modern Mali. Though the Mali Empire was now in the hands of weak kings, it continued to exist well into the 15th century. Timbuktu was an important point of both trade and learning in Imperial Mali, so its loss to Tuareg Berbers in 1433 was a significant blow to the
In a major military expedition organized by the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, Morocco sent troops across the Sahara and attacked Timbuktu, Gao and some other important trading centres, destroying buildings and property and exiling prominent citizens. This disruption to trade led to a dramatic decline in the importance of these cities and the ...
The trade in books within the Islamic world was one of the most important aspects of intellectual life in Timbuktu. [16] In 1526 AD the author Leo Africanus noted this trade when he visited Timbuktu, writing: "Here are great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are bountifully maintained at the kings cost and charges.
Timbuktu, an important Islamic center famed for its ulama, was established by Imasheghen Tuareg at the start of the 12th century. [53] It flourished under the protection and rule of a Tuareg confederation.