Timbuktu is still a mesmerizing place. After the collapse of the Mali empire, Timbuktu was abandoned and abandoned by the inhabitants, gradually the sands of the desert covered its once wide avenues, and it increasingly moved away from the civilized world, gaining a reputation as an inaccessible and remote place. Nevertheless, now Timbuktu is famous for the fact that it retains the disappearing imprint of secrets and mysteries, as the locals say: "He is still alive and knows how to feel, unlike any other city in Niger."
Location
The legendary city of Timbuktu is steeped in many myths. Some people even doubt that it exists. Nevertheless, Timbuktu is very real. It is located in the north of Mali, at the very edge of the Sahara Desert.
Today Timbuktu, surrounded by sand dunes scorching in the sun, is almost completely isolated. You can get to it along the only surviving road. However, despite the enormous difficulties, thousands of tourists come to this African city every year.
History
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Description of the ancient city is first encountered in Arab chronicles: Ibn Khaldun called this unusual settlement at the crossroads of five caravan routes, along which countless treasures were transported to the southern edge of the Sahara, "a haven in the desert". In the Catalan atlas of the time of Charles V, the city of Timbuktu was designated as "Tenbuch", and in 1426 the Italian geographer Beccari reported on "Tumbetta", the obvious wealth of which was guessed in mosques with high towers, in palaces decorated with gold.
Timbuktu's past is lost in the darkness of history. Founded, apparently, in the XII century, the village "Well of the guardian Buktu" ("tim" in the Tuareg language just means "well") was at first just a resting place for wandering shepherds moving between Niger and the desert.
The heyday of Timbuktu began after the conquest of the upper reaches of the Niger by the Malinka people. Muslim Berbers of the Messuf tribe, black slaves and Arab traders settled in ethnically divided neighborhoods. The capital of the state of Mali quickly developed into a significant trade center. From the sister city of Jenne, merchants brought gold dust, ivory, leather and slaves to Timbuktu, from where both goods and people were ferried through Sudan in a northern direction.
In 1325, the traveling architect Kanhan Moussa adorned the city with magnificent palaces and mosques. At the same time, near Madug, the residence of the local ruler, the Jingereber Mosque was built - rectangular in plan, with a flat roof and adobe columns. Fully sustained in "Sudanese style", the squat conical minaret tapers upwards. Numerous clay towers were built at the corners of the building.
Thanks to the university founded later (it was said to have 20,000 students and consisted of 180 madrassas), Timbuktu became the most famous educational center of the Muslim part of West Africa. Scholars from Fez and Cairo became the founders of "Sudanese humanism", gaining an enduring reputation mainly in rhetoric, jurisprudence, Qur'anic interpretation and medicine. It is also known that this ancient university had a huge library. Unfortunately, nothing of it has survived to this day.
Timbuktu also served as a religious center for a long time. But, since the 16th century, due to the opening of new sea trade routes, the importance of the city is weakening.
With the invasion of the Moroccans, a glorious period in Timbuktu's history came to an end. In 1780, Timbuktu was conquered by the French.
Nowadays
Today Timbuktu fully lives up to its reputation as the "end of the world", and once it was a thriving city, standing at the intersection of trade caravan routes.
The former splendor of Timbuktu can still be impressed by the little changed residential buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries; narrow eaves and friezes made of sandstone or burnt tiles. Older buildings still have traditional, skillfully cut semicircular Moorish windows based on the Moroccan pattern. Ornate carvings adorn the wooden door frames of the apartment buildings, which are entered through the spacious lobby. Over the walls, the craftsmen erected roofs from short and thin boards: of course, there was always a shortage of wood in the Sahara, so they tried to save it.
Despite the fact that the city is almost completely destroyed, every year a huge number of tourists come to see the ruins of ancient Timbuktu. The guides are teenage boys who know thousands of stories - from ancient fairy tales to the latest gossip. Traditionally, excursions take place along the streets of the city, but if you wish, you can go to the endless sands of the desert, on a romantic and dangerous journey.
