 |
Exploration
3: Timbuktu
Salt
comes from the north, gold from the south, and silver from the
country of the white men, but the word of God and the treasures
of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu.
An old West African proverb
Essential
Questions
-
What caused the decline of Timbuktu?
- When
was Timbuktu discovered by Europeans?
-
How did Islam shape the development of Mali and of Timbuktu?
 |
In
the popular imagination, Timbuktu is the most remote and
isolated part of the world. But 500 years ago, Timbuktu
was the legendary city of gold. It was a transit point and
a financial and trading center for trade across the Sahara.
It dominated the gold trade. It was a place of mystery and
faraway riches.
Timbuktu
was founded in 1080 and within 300 years had become one
of the era's most important trading points. Timbuktu was
an influential Islamic intellectual centre, a cosmopolitan
multicultural city of commerce and learning and the second-largest
imperial court in the world. |
When
much of Europe was struggling out of the Dark Ages, the emperor
of Timbuktu was having stunning mosques built, and thousands of
scholars from as far as Islamic India and Moorish Spain were studying
in the city.
Then
it was a city of 100,000 and so rich that even the slaves were
decorated with gold. In 1324, a king of Mali, Mansa Musa, traveled
with a caravan of a hundred camels bearing 300 pounds of gold
each (equal to perhaps $135 million today).
The
legend of his wealth was recorded in maps, particularly the Catalan
Atlas of 1375, which showed an African ruler enthroned like a
European monarch with a crown on his head and an orb and scepter
in his hand.
As
recently as 1963, a famous British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper
said: "Perhaps in the future, there will be some African
history to teach. But at present there is none. There is only
the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness."
Trever-Roper
was wrong. Timbuktu was once a center of religion, culture, and
learning, as well as a commercial crossroads on the trans-Saharan
caravan route. Situated at the strategic point where the Sahara
touches on the River Niger, it was the gateway for African goods
bound for the merchants of the Mediterranean, the courts of Europe
and the larger Islamic world. It was involved in a thriving commerce
in gold, salt, and slaves. When the Renaissance was barely stirring
in Europe, wandering scholars were drawn to Timbuktu's manuscripts
all the way from North Africa, Arabia and even Persia.
In
1591, Moroccan soldiers invaded and looted Timbuktu, ending the
city’s grandeur and taking thousands of inhabitants as slaves.
By the time Timbuktu was discovered by Europeans, the palaces
of its kings and other fine buildings had crumbled to dust.
Resources
(Links will open in a new window; close that window to
return to this page)
The
following links are organized thematically.
The
History
Mansa
Musa, the Malian King
Maps
 |
This
map from the eighteenth century shows clearly the change
in trade and travel that had occurred by 1743.
Rather
than being viewed as part of the larger continent, West
Africa is presented with a focus on the sea routes that
had replaced the land caravan routes to the area.
Click
map to enlarge. |
| Guinea
Proper, Not Including the Whole of Africa, but Only that
Part Known to the Geographers as Lower Ethiopia). Nuremberg:
Homannianorum Heredum, 1743.
Credit: Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress
|
Images
|
|
