Timbuktu 11/27/11

Was the fabled wealth of Timbuktu merely an old wives’ tale? Though it would seem as such it was not. Caillie had made his renowned journey several hundred years to late to find the Timbuktu of stories. In the seventh to the fifteenth centuries Timbuktu was all that the stories said it to be, it was the capitol of three major African empires; Ghana, Mali and Songhay. During the time of the Mali, Timbuktu was one of the greatest centers of commerce and education of Africa. Its great university, Sankore had many students from distant parts of the vast continent come for the advanced education. Timbuktu’s greatest glories were its scholars and the vast commerce. All this changed at the fall of the Songhay Empire to the Moors after 1660, one hundred and fifty years of occupation my the hostile Moors brought ruin upon the once great city, Thus ended the golden era of the Sudan.