5. Timbuktu. 2001. The Encyclopedia of World History

The Encyclopedia of World History. 2001.


5. Timbuktu
c. 1100

Establishment of Timbuktu.	1

1300–1400

Timbuktu gained Islamic and commercial significance. The Malian ruler Mansa Musa encouraged the development of Timbuktu as a center of Islamic learning. The city became a principal terminus of the trans-Saharan caravan trade.	2

1400–1600

Timbuktu emerged as the religious and scholarly center of West Africa. Following its conquest by Songhay (c. 1468), Timbuktu entered a golden age of Islamic learning and culture. Mosques and schools dotted the city's growing landscape. Scholars founded an Islamic university to teach such subjects as theology, grammar, rhetoric, logic, astrology, astronomy, history, and geography. By the 16th century, Timbuktu was considered West Africa's major Islamic metropolis and experienced the peak of its commercial prosperity.	3

1433

Timbuktu, Walata, Nama, Gao, and other desert-edge cities captured by militarily ascendant Tuareg.	4


The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.