GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -Timbuktu, French Tombouctou, city in the western African country of Mali, historically important as a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route and as a centre of Islamic culture (c. 1400–1600). It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 miles (13 km) north of the Niger River.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Niger River regularly flooded the plains between Timbuktu and Segu to the southwest, which provided fertile land for agriculture, beginning at least 3, 500 years ago. In particular, red-skinned African rice, along with other indigenous cereals and foodstuffs, was grown, and local deposits of copper exploited.

Detailed explanation-3: -Home of the prestigious Koranic Sankore University and other madrasas, Timbuktu was an intellectual and spiritual capital and a centre for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its three great mosques, Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, recall Timbuktu’s golden age.