article_snippet: Timbuktu was founded in the 5th century and came to prominence in the 15th and 16th centuries when Timbuktu was a centre for learning .
article_snippet: Remote, yet endlessly fascinating, Timbuktuhas become synonymous with inaccessibility over the centuries.
article_snippet: Once hailed as the intellectual and spiritual capital of Islam in Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries, today Timbuktu remains as distant and increasingly isolated.
article_snippet: Founded in the 5th century, Timbuktu was previously a thriving economic and cultural hub in spite of Timbuktu isolation, and the mosques and holy shrines in Timbuktu once played an essential role in the spread of Islam throuhgout Africa.