I have decided to offer an
OPTIONAL assignment that can be used in place of your book review for this current six weeks. You can respond to one more blog question. However, you must include proper citation for your research at the bottom of your post so that I know you actually did some research. Use
citationmachine.net and then go to APA 6th edition, website, and type in the info from the webpage(s) you used to get your information. It will generate the proper format for your citation. Copy and paste this into the bottom of your post.
CAUTION: All posts will be checked for
plagiarism---> so do your own work!
*No peer response is necessary*
Due Date: 11/10/11 Midnight
Topic: Africa During the Middle Ages- Timbuktu
Nothing better denotes remoteness and mystery than Timbuktu. Your mother threatened to send you there if you didn't clean your room. Yet European explorers literally killed themselves in attempts to find the fabled city. Timbuktu certainly does exist. However, the mystery that drew those first European adventurers has diminished while Timbuktu's remoteness continues to increase.
During the Middle Ages, why did Europeans want to go to Timbuktu in Africa? What influence did Muslims have on Mali and Northern Africa? And why is Timbuktu still hard to get to today?
Europeans wanted to go to Timbuktu for the salt, their gold, their ivory and their slaves. In the 1200s, Muslim influence in Africa greatly increased trade along the routes that crossed the Sahara. Muslim culture also greatly influenced religion in Africa, and changed cultural customs in order to reflect new religions. Timbuktu is difficult to get to today because of the desert sands.
ReplyDeleteHill, M. (2009, January). The spread of islam in west africa. Retrieved from http://spice.stanford.edu/docs/the_spread_of_islam_in_west_africa_containment_mixing_and_reform_from_the_eighth_to_the_twentieth_century/
timbuktu is located in the western African nation of mali at the edge of the sahara desert.
ReplyDeletethe europeans went to timbuktu because of the gold, ivory, salt, and slaves that could either be bought or traded depending on the price.
the influence that the muslims have on mali were that they built mosques and taught them how weigh and measure correctly.
the influence the muslims had on mali is mystical material, ancesteral respects and the traditional animist beliefs.
timbuktu is hard to get to because by boat it takes 3 days, by car its crammed but it is 2 days quicker, by plane you had better be in the country because if your not you are not going to get a ticket.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Mali
ReplyDelete(n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsis/hd_tsis.htm
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://wikitravel.org/en/Timbuktu
Raven Wooten
ReplyDeleteIn the history of Medieval Europe, Europe was famous for it's greed for gold, wealth, and land. And in this time Timbuktu was one of their top traders of Slaves, Ivory, Gold, and Salt. Gold and Ivory being the riches and wealth, Slaves to help work the land, and the Salt so people could survive in the dessert as they travled, also because people like to use it in food for flavor.
The major influence Muslims had on Northern Africa was religion. And in the early 1300's Islam became Mali's state religion. The largest example of the musilm influence is on the King Mansa Musa. His pilgramige and spending of gold actually devalued the precious metal for several years and shows up in the European records.
The reason Timbuktu is so hard to get to nowadays is because it is Impoverished and going through bad Desertification. So the things for tourists to visit and see is starting to become more scarce than ever. Though there are some people trying to historic manuscripts kept in the city.
Snell, M. (1999, Feburary). Splendor of medieval mali [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://historymedren.about.com/od/africanplaces/a/splendorafrica.htm
Hill, M. (2009, January). The spread of islam in west africa [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://spice.stanford.edu/docs/the_spread_of_islam_in_west_africa_containment_mixing_and_reform_from_the_eighth_to_the_twentieth_century/
Timbuktu [Web log message]. (2011, November 9). Retrieved from http://www.ask.com/wiki/Timbuktu