The city of Timbuktu, in what is now Mali, was an important trading center for several African civilizations.
The city of Timbuktu, in what is now Mali, was an important trading center for several African civilizations. Residents of Timbuktu specialized in trading such goods as gold, ivory, or enslaved people. Other residents provided food or shelter for trade caravans traveling on camels from the Sahara. The urban center of Timbuktu was also a center of learning. Its division of labor included not only merchants, but doctors, religious leaders, and artists.