Tombouctou travel guide — Tombouctou tourism and travel information

Tombouctou travel guide

about Tombouctou

Timbuktu or Timbuctu (French: Tombouctou) is a Tuareg city on the River Niger in the West African country of Mali. Its long history as a trading outpost that linked black Africa below the Sahara Desert with Berber and Islamic traders throughout north Africa, and thereby indirectly with traders from Europe, has given it a fabled status. Combined with its relative inaccessibility, "Timbuktu" has come to be a metaphor for exotic, distant lands.

Today, Timbuktu is one of the seven regions of Mali and the city itself is the residence of the local governor. It is the sister city to Djenne (also in Mali) and one of the seven holy cities of Islam.

Timbuktu was established as a seasonal camp by the nomadic Tuareg perhaps as early as the 10th century and grew to great wealth because of its key role in trans-Saharan trade in gold, ivory, slaves, salt and other goods. It was the key city in several successive empires: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire from 1324, and the Songhai Empire. It reached its peak in the early 1500s, when tales of its fabulous wealth helped prompt European exploration of the west coast of Africa.

Perhaps the most famous of these tales was written by Leo Africanus "Leo the African", a captured renegade who later converted back to Christianity, following a trip in 1512, when the Songhai empire was at its height: "The rich king of Tombuto (sic) hath many plates and sceptres of gold, some whereof weigh 1300 pounds. ... He hath always 3000 horsemen ... (and) a great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are bountifully maintained at the king's expense" (

The city began to decline after explorers and slavers from Portugal and then other European countries landed in West Africa, providing an alternative to the slave market of Timbuktu and the trade route through the world's largest desert. The decline was hastened when it was captured by Morisco mercenaries in the service of the Moroccan sultan in 1591. Their descendants mixed with local Blacks.

By the time it was visited by Christian European explorers in the 1800s, Timbuktu was little more than a large village of mud houses, and today it remains poverty-stricken. It is said that the local style of mud mosques inspired Antoni Gaudí.

Near cities to Tombouctou

• Mopti travel guide 280 km
• Djenne travel guide 360 km
• Kaya travel guide 460 km
• Ouagadougou travel guide 520 km
• Bla travel guide 520 km
• Bobo Dioulasso travel guide 630 km
• Niamey travel guide 660 km
• Bamako travel guide 700 km
• Dosso travel guide 790 km
• Bolgatanga travel guide 790 km

Near webcams to Tombouctou

• Bamako webcam 700 km
• Maspalomas webcam 1 800 km
• Playa del Ingles webcam 1 800 km
• Geysir - Lake Nyos webcam 1 800 km
• El Medano webcam 1 900 km
• El Medano 2 webcam 1 900 km
• El Medano Beach webcam 1 900 km
• Los Christianos webcam 1 900 km
• Los Cristianos webcam 1 900 km
• Tenerife webcam 1 900 km

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Tombouctou travel services

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City Travel Guide comes with Tombouctou real estate guide with several tips on home valuation, realtors comparison, secrets on finding the "right" home, loans guide and other helpful real estate advices. Our partners also maintain Tombouctou property for sale and rental listings, real estate laws and reviews. We will try to help you with buying property in Mali, choosing real estate agents, property finders, relocation help, and information for English speakers wanting to buy real estate in Tombouctou.

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Tombouctou travel books

Tombouctou travel guide books

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