Guide Note

Timbuktu is a city located in the western African nation of Mali at the edge of the sahara, that was used as a trading post for salt, gold and ivory until the late 16th Century. The city has three well known mosques: Sankore Madrasah, Djinguerereber Mosque and Sidi Yahya. Timbuktu was the center for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. The city is built primarily of mud and while continuously restored, its monuments are under threat from desertification.[1]

Fast Facts

1. Also referred to as Tombouctou
2. Thought of as a mythical place
3. Located in Mali, Africa
4. Nominated for New Seven Wonders of the World
5. 15 KM north of Niger River

Timbuktu was founded by the Tuareg Imashagan people in the 11th century.[2] A semi-nomadic peoples, the Tuareg would travel around the desert during the rainy season to find grazing land for their livestock. During the dry season however they would return to the Niger River which would lead to sicknesses from mosquitoes and stagnant water. Eventually they settled a few miles away from the river where they dug a well which became the origin of the ancient city.

According to local lore, the Tuareg would leave their heavier goods with a trustworthy old woman named Abutut who lived near the well. Etymologically, the word tin means "place", tin abutut then meant the "place of Abutut", which eventually morphed into the word Timbuktu. French scholar Rene Basset, however, came up with a more plausible explanation. In the Berber languages buqt means "far away." Thus, tin buqt would mean the "place far away."

Timbuktu is located where the Niger flows northward into the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. As a result, the city became a natural meeting point and center of trade for the surrounding peoples.