Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "University of Timbuktu" in English language version.
It would seem that Timbuktu was little more than a semi-permanent nomadic settlement in the twelfth century, and probably through the thirteenth.
In the fourteenth century, when it began to develop as a commercial centre, Timbuktu also became a cultural centre of Islam.
It would seem that Timbuktu was little more than a semi-permanent nomadic settlement in the twelfth century, and probably through the thirteenth […] the city effectively emerges into the light of history with the visit of the Malian ruler Mansa Musa on his way home from his pilgrimage of 1324. He is said to have brought back with him a number of Muslim scholars […] By 1375 Timbuktu, together with several Saharan locations, had found its place on a European map … this is a sure sign that Timbuktu was, by now, a commercial centre linked to North African cities.
The development of Islamic learning in Timbuktu was officially encouraged by Mansa Musa, who is reported to have sent Sudanese 'ulama' to study in Fez. This was continued at least until the end of Mali's rule in Timbuktu in 1433, because Katib Musa, the last imam of the great Friday mosque in Timbuktu under the rule of Mali, was among those who went to study in Fez.
In the year 1325, when Timbuktu was under the rule of Mali, the sultan of Mali, Mansa Musa, came there during his return from pilgrimage, and ordered the construction of a Great Mosque (until now still in existence in the south of the city) under the supervision of the Andalusian scholar Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, who had accompanied Mansa Musa on his return journey from Mecca. Then after some years a large mosque was built in the Sankore quarter in the north of the city, financed by a woman from the Aghlal, a religious Tuareg tribe (of ineslemen). The Sankore mosque became a place for teaching tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis) and other Islamic teachings. Sankore was a dwelling place many scholars, especially those belonging to the Masufa
The city is thought to have been founded toward the end of the 5th century of the Hegira by a group of Imakcharen Tuaregs who, having wandered 250 km south of their base, established a temporary camp guarded by an old woman, Buktu. Gradually, Tim-Buktu (the place of Buktu) became a small sedentary village at the crossroads of several trade routes.
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