Where is Timbuktu?

Timbuktu was founded around the 12th century as a seasonal camp and grew into a major trading hub where camel caravans crossing the Sahara met boats on the Niger River. Gold, salt, ivory and books passed through its markets. The city reached its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries, when it became a famous centre of Islamic scholarship with thousands of students. Its mud-brick Djinguereyber Mosque dates from 1327, built on the orders of Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire. Because it seemed so remote to Europeans, Timbuktu became a byword for the most distant place imaginable.