World wonders: Timbuktu
14 Jun, 2010
The historically important Timbuktu is a city in the West African nation of Mali. The centre for the expansion of Islam, Timbuktu was an intellectual and spiritual capital at the end of the Mandingo Askia dynasty. Three great mosques built using the most traditional methods still remain. It is believed that a nomadic tribe called Tuareg built the city of Timbuktu in 1100 AD.
The city was in the 13'" Century incorporated within the Mali Empire. The Mali sultan, Mansa Musam, built a tower for the Great Mosque and a royal residence, the Madugu. Though it was later annexed by the Mossi kingdom of Yatenga, chronicles of the North African traveller Ibn Battutah who visited Timbuktu narrate the tale of the city again under Mali o,overnance.
In 1468, Timbuktu was again annexed by the Songhai ruler Sonni Ali. He was not very fond of the city's Muslim scholars, but his successor, who incidentally was the first ruler of the new Askia dynasty, Muhammad I Askia of Songhai reversed the policy and used the scholarly elite as legal and moral counsellors.
The Askia regime saw Timbuktu at the height of its commercial and intellectual development Merchants from Wadan, Tuwat, Ghudamis, Augila, and the cities of Morocco gathered there to buy gold ana slaves in exchange for the Saharan salt of Taghaza and for North African cloth and horses. The city's scholars, many of whom had studied in Mecca or Egypt, attracted students from a wide area.
The city declined after it was captured ^ Morocco in 1591. The year saw Islamic scholars being arrested and many were even killed. In 1960, it became part of the newly independent Republic of Mali and is now the administrative centre of Mali.
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