Timbuktu was the cultural centre of black Africa. It was a vital enclave on the gold route in the Middle Ages, an oasis strategically located at the foot of the two great highways of the time: the camel caravans that crossed the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean to the south, bringing mainly salt and textiles, and river transport through the Niger Bend, bathing cities such as Djenné, Timbuktu or Gao, from where West African products highly valued in Europe such as gold, ebony or slaves came.
But the merchants who arrived in Timbuktu were not only transporting goods, they were also the disseminators of the culture of the time, as they also brought books and manuscripts from the other side of the Mediterranean or the Middle East. Hundreds of teachers and calligraphers copied these volumes and redistributed them, or they were jealously kept in the extensive family libraries of the city. This was the true treasure that Timbuktu held.
