Why was the city of Timbuktu a famous center of learning?
Desert's Book Treasure
Why was the city of Timbuktu a famous center of learning?
Picture a city sitting at the edge of the vast Sahara Desert, in what is now the country of Mali. It doesn't look like much from a distance — low mud-brick buildings, sand on the wind. But for centuries, Timbuktu was one of the brightest centers of learning anywhere on Earth. Scholars came from far away just to read, argue, and think there. How did a town in the desert become so famous for its brains?
The secret starts with location. Timbuktu sat right where two great highways met: the Niger River, which carried boats, and the desert, which carried camels. Caravans of hundreds of camels crossed the Sahara loaded with goods, and Timbuktu was the place where the river world and the desert world shook hands.
