TIMBUKTU (Fr. Tombouctou), chief town of a district of the colony of French Sudan, French West Africa, 9 m. N. of the main stream of the Niger in 16° N. and 5° W.
Timbuktu lies on a terrace formed by the southern scarp of the Sahara, about Boo ft. above sea-level, surrounded by sandy dunes covered with mimosas and other spiny trees. Timbuktu com municates with the Niger by a series of marigots or channels with alternating flow, which fill at flood time and empty them selves into the Niger when the dry season supervenes. In Janu ary, the maximum period, the waters reach the walls of the town through the marigot from Kabara, which is the port of Timbuktu.
Timbuktu has been described as "the meeting point of the camel and the canoe," "the port of the Sahara in the Sudan," and (more correctly) "the port of the Sudan in the Sahara." It was formerly a much larger place than it was found to be at the time of its occupation by the French in 1893-1894. Extensive ruins exist north and west of the present town. The great mosque which at one time stood in the centre of the town now lies near the western outskirts, where its high but unsightly earth tower forms a striking landmark. The mosque of Sidi Yahia (in the centre of the town) and that of Sankore in the north-east also possess prominent towers. Whereas in 1895 the town was little more than a vast ruin, under French protection the inhabitants, relieved from the fear of Tuareg oppression, set about repairing and rebuilding their houses; new streets were built ; European schools, churches and other establishments were opened. But Timbuktu has not yet recovered; the population is only 5,670 with a majority of Sonrhaf, at the time of the commercial trans actions from March to June, the population reaches 25,000.
The industries of Timbuktu—cotton-weaving, earthenware, leather-work and embroidery—are of subordinate importance, and the great bulk of the people are occupied exclusively with trade. The whole traffic of the surrounding lands converges on Timbuktu, two great caravans of 3,000 or 4,00o camels are yearly charged with salt from the Taudeni district, salt being an article which the Niger countries lack.
Timbuktu, which possesses some valuable Arabic manuscripts —notably the Tarik es-Sudan, a t 7th-century history of the Sudan written by Abderrahman Sadi of Timbuktu—and is a centre of Moslem teaching, is a converging point of the chief west Sudanese and Saharan races—Arabs or Arabized Berbers to the west ; Sonrhaf in the immediate vicinity, and thence south-eastwards along the Niger; Ireghenaten or "mixed" Tuareg southwards across the Niger as far as the Hombori Hills and in the fertile Libbako plains beyond them; Fula, Mandingos, and Bambara in and about the city; and Imoshagh (Tuareg) belonging to the Awellimiden confederation mainly to the north and east.
The local administration—preserved under French rule--is in the hands of an hereditary kahia, a kind of mayor, descended from one of the Ruma families. (A. BE.) History.—The history of Timbuktu is intimately connected with that of the city of Jenne and the Songhoi empire. The Songhoi are a negro race who are said to have come to the Niger countries from the Nile valley. In the 8th century they made themselves masters of a considerable tract of country within the bend of the Niger, and built the city of Gao (q.v.), 200M. in a direct line S.S.E. of Timbuktu, making it their capital. In the I ill) century they were converted to Islam. Besides Gao, the Songhoi founded Jenne (q.v.), which early attained con siderable commercial importance. Meanwhile (1 1 th century) a settlement had been made at Timbuktu by Tuareg. Perceiving the advantages for trade with the north offered by this desert rendezvous, the merchants of Jenne sent agents thither (12th century), and Timbuktu shortly afterwards became known to the inhabitants of the Sahara and Barbary as an excellent market for their goods, and also for the purchase of the many commodities of the western Sudan. In the 12th or 13th century Timbuktu fell under the power of the Mandingo kings of Melle or Mali, a country lying west and south of Jenne. Its fame as a mart for gold and salt spread to Europe, "Timboutch" being marked on a Catalan map dated 1373. In 1353 it had been visited by the famous traveller Ibn Batuta. In 1434 the Tuareg made themselves masters of the city, which in 1469 was captured by the Songhoi king Sunni Ali. It was at this time (147o) that Timbuktu was visited by an Italian, Beneditto Dei. In the days of Sunni's suc cessor Askia (1494-1529) the Songhoi empire reached its highest development, and Timbuktu rose to great splendour. The "uni versity" of Sankore became a chief centre of Mohammedan cul ture fOr the peoples of the western Sudan.