Timbuktu's rich history of salt-gold trade

In the golden age of Timbuktu, salt was a precious resource, often referred to as "white gold" due to its immense value. The city was strategically positioned on the trans-Saharan trade routes, making it a crucial link between …

The Golden Age of Timbuktu

While Europeans struggled with a minor ice age and the bubonic plague, they dreamt of streets lined with gold in Timbuktu. The city was a sort of African El Dorado, hidden somewhere south of the Sahara. It wasn't until the late 15th century, however, that Timbuktu experienced its "Golden Age."

Elusive Libraries of Timbuktu

The fabled city of Timbuktu was founded in the eleventh century by nomads seeking shelter from the Sahara desert on the cool banks of the Niger River. The popular campsite became a center for...

Timbuktu's rich history of salt-gold trade

In the golden age of Timbuktu, salt was a precious resource, often referred to as "white gold" due to its immense value. The city was strategically positioned on the trans-Saharan trade routes, making it a crucial link between the mineral …

The Golden Age of Timbuktu

In the 15th centur y, Timbuktu was known as the "city of gold," a name born of the fact that much of the gold produced in mines of the Mali Empire moved by camel caravan through Timbuktu and across the desert to North …

Timbuktu: The ancient city where salt was worth its weight in gold

In the golden age of Timbuktu, salt was a precious resource, often referred to as "white gold" due to its immense value. The city was strategically positioned on the trans-Saharan trade routes, making it a crucial link between the mineral …

Role of Timbuktu as the Market of Gold – African Heritage

Here are the words of the Scottish explorer Mungo Park in 1795 about the great city of Timbuktu, and its central place in the gold trade in Africa, and the world at the time. …

Timbuktu: A Historian's Perspective on the Legendary City …

At its zenith in the 15th and 16th centuries, Timbuktu was to medieval West Africa what Athens was to classical Greece or Baghdad to the golden age of Islam. Timbuktu's rise to prominence was largely due to its strategic location at the intersection of the Niger River and the trans-Saharan trade routes that traversed the desert.

The Golden Age of Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Jewel

In the heart of the Sahara, along the edge of the Niger River, lies the fabled city of Timbuktu - a name that, for centuries, has whispered of untold wealth, hidden knowledge, and …

The Gold Trade of Ancient & Medieval West Africa

In the 11th century CE, a 90-kilo block of salt, transported by river from Timbuktu to Djenne (aka Jenne) in the south could double its value and be worth around 450 grams of gold. By the time the salt was passed on down to the southern forests of lower West Africa, the mineral could be literally worth its weight in gold.

The Golden Age of Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Jewel

In the heart of the Sahara, along the edge of the Niger River, lies the fabled city of Timbuktu - a name that, for centuries, has whispered of untold wealth, hidden knowledge, and the mysteries of a golden age lost to time.

Timbuktu

Gold, ivory, and kola nuts passed through Timbuktu, but the most essential commodity was salt. Timbuktu was located near several salt mines in the Sahara Desert. Caravans hauled salt from the mines to trade for gold.

Timbuktu: The ancient city where salt was worth its weight in …

In the golden age of Timbuktu, salt was a precious resource, often referred to as "white gold" due to its immense value. The city was strategically positioned on the trans …

The Gold Trade of Ancient & Medieval West Africa

Role of Timbuktu as the Market of Gold – African Heritage

Here are the words of the Scottish explorer Mungo Park in 1795 about the great city of Timbuktu, and its central place in the gold trade in Africa, and the world at the time. ==== "Timbuktu is regarded as the gold warehouse of the Manding. It is where the merchants of Tunis, Tripoli, Fez, Morocco, come to take it [gold]…

The Golden Age of Timbuktu

In the 15th centur y, Timbuktu was known as the "city of gold," a name born of the fact that much of the gold produced in mines of the Mali Empire moved by camel caravan through Timbuktu and across the desert to North Africa and Europe.

The Golden Age of Timbuktu

While Europeans struggled with a minor ice age and the bubonic plague, they dreamt of streets lined with gold in Timbuktu. The city was a sort of African El Dorado, hidden somewhere south of the Sahara. It wasn't until the …