I found Haidara, one of Timbuktu's preeminent historians, in the blinding mid-morning glare of his family's stone courtyard, not far from the Sankore Mosque. He wanted to show me what he said was ...

The situation was particularly severe in the north, where two of Mali’s four World Heritage sites, Timbuktu and the Tomb of Askia ... Fourteen of these, as well as the sacred gate of the Sidi Yahia ...

He urbanized the city of Timbuktu by building schools, mosques, and a major university. He also built the legendary Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu, pictured below, which still stands.

Under the leadership of Mansa Musa, 1312 - 1337 ... many great libraries, mosques and palaces across the empire. There were more than 400 cities in the Niger Delta. Timbuktu became the heart ...