Timbuktu - Africa's City of Gold - Ancient Civilizations

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Located on the arid southern fringes of the Sahara, the fabled city of Timbuktu is synonymous with the exotic and the unknown. This was the place that 19th century European explorers perished in their attempts to reach.

The reality of Timbuktu's past is as extraordinary as its legend. It began with a great king - Mansa Kankou Musa, ruler of the gold-rich Mali Empire, who dazzled the world with his stupendous wealth on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-25.

Returning home, inspired by all he had seen, Kankou Musa set about transforming Timbuktu. A one-time outpost of wandering Tuareg tribes people became a city of fabulous wealth and one of the world's foremost centers of Muslim learning.

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Education

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• timbuktu
• history
• documentary
• africa
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• civilizations