On the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, north of the Niger River, a city of beige towers and dusty roads emerges from the sand. Its reputation is as strong as its thousand-year history. For centuries it was blessed and cursed - it was said to be a hidden paradise. It grew from a tiny nomadic outpost to a major cultural center. But even today, in the era of Internet navigation, his name is synonymous with unknown outlandish points of the Earth: welcome to Timbuktu, "City of 333 Saints."
Geographic location and complex political, religious and ethnic conflicts still make it a very difficult place to get in or out of it with ease. If you visit Timbuktu, you can add this to your list of personal life achievements.
Most people think of Timbuktu as the most remote site on earth. Someone considers it a legend or a place that existed only in our imagination. Historically, it has three of the oldest mosques in West Africa.
View of Timbuktu, Heinrich Barth (1858).
The almost mythical city of Timbuktu sits at the crossroads of trade between North and South Africa. Over 1000 years ago, when it was founded, the site near the Niger River was lush and fertile.
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The biggest attraction of this amazing city is its mysterious past. By the early 1300s, Timbuktu belonged to the Mali Empire and was indeed flourishing. During this period, Europe was awash with rumors of the endless wealth and resources of Timbuktu. Legends say that in 1324 the Sultan of Mali Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca with 60,000 slaves and servants, as well as with such an amount of gold that during his visit to Cairo, the price of the precious metal fell sharply.
Sidi Yahya Mosque and Madrasah.
However, the city experienced its "Golden Age" only at the end of the 15th century. They were books, not gold bars. Timbuktu was considered one of the greatest learning centers in the world. It was once home to 100,000 ancient manuscripts - an invaluable intellectual heritage.
The local copying industry developed in the city. Ancient texts are living testimony to a formerly prosperous and sophisticated civilization. Today, many of Timbuktu's manuscripts are in museums and universities in France.
The Timbuktu manuscripts show both mathematics and the legacy of astronomy in medieval Islam.
When Moroccan troops seized power in the city in 1591, it gradually began to fall into a depressing state. All this time, European explorers, inspired by romanticism, made a dangerous trip to Africa in search of a mysterious city. Those who came from the west coast often died of malaria and other tropical diseases, while travelers across the Sahara faced deadly hunger and looting by nomads. Frenchman Rene Kylie was the first explorer to reach Timbuktu and survive. His return seemed a mystical miracle to his compatriots.
In 1960, Timbuktu became part of the African country of Mali. Almost all ancient precious manuscripts and books have been buried under the sands over the centuries and await their discovery.