Timbuktu is a place that many people actually believe to be a fictional creation, something like Xanadu where Mandrake the Magician learnt his trade. The reason for this is that Timbuktu stands as a metaphor for exotic faraway lands – like a wistful dreamer caught in a day-job but thinking of an expedition would be apt to say “From here to Kilimanjaro via Timbuktu”. But this place actually exists, it’s in the African nation of Mali.
For history lovers who know about this place, Timbuktu evokes a feeling of romance for world long gone – caravans on the Trans-Saharan trade route, never-ending sand dunes, ancient proud tribes such as the Tuareg, one of the earliest universities in the world, and so much more. It was an important city during the age of Empires in Africa, it moved Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Thackeray to pen poems on the city.
A fascinating piece of information about Timbuktu is that it was a trading post for rock salt. The region has been famous for its rock salt mines for thousands of years. Back in those days a pound of rock salt traded for a pound of gold!
Timbuktu is in poor state today, with many of its ancient mud monuments including old mosques and libraries under the threat of desertification.
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