where is Timbuktu? how did the phrase " send u to Timbuktu" originate?

Answer 1

Timbuktu, Timbuctu or Timbuctoo (Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu, French: Tombouctou) is a city populated by the Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Moorish people in the West African country of Mali. It is often said to lie on the River Niger, but is actually 15 km north of the river. Timbuktu was once the heart of the mighty Songhai Empire. It became wealthy because many merchants traveled trade routes that went through it.
The place name is said to come from a Tuareg woman named Buktu who dug a well in the area where the city stands today; hence 'Timbuktu', which means 'Buktu's well'.
...The city began to decline after explorers and slavers from Portugal and then other European countries landed in West Africa, providing an alternative to the slave market of Timbuktu and the trade route through the world's largest desert. The decline was hastened when it was invaded by Morisco mercenaries armed with European-style guns in the service of the Moroccan sultan in 1591.
Timbuktu soon lost its elegance and prominence, and slowly became an impoverished town, which led to the coining of the popular phrase 'send u to Timbuktu' - meaning sending a person to a dull, and forsaken place devoid of any worthwhile prospects, or business opportunities.

Answer 2

Timbuktu, also spelled TOMBOUCTOU, is a city in the West African nation of Mali. It is historically important as a post on the trans-Saharan caravan route. It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 mi (13 km) north of the Niger River. Timbuktu was a centre for the expansion of Islam, an intellectual and spiritual capital at the end of the Mandingo Askia dynasty (1493-1591) and home to a prestigious Koranic university. Three great mosques built at that time, using traditional techniques, still remain.

Timbuktu was founded about AD 1100 as a seasonal camp by Tuareg nomads. After it was incorporated within the Mali Empire, probably in the late 13th century, the Mali sultan, Mansa Musam, built a tower for the Great Mosque (Djingereyber) and a royal residence, the Madugu (the former has since been rebuilt many times, and of the latter no trace now remains). Shortly after this the city was annexed by the Mossi kingdom of Yatenga, but when the North African traveller Ibn Battutah visited in 1353, he found it again governed by Mali.

Answer 3

Timbuktu, also spelled TOMBOUCTOU, is a city in the West African nation of Mali. It is historically important as a post on the trans-Saharan caravan route. It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 mi (13 km) north of the Niger River. Timbuktu was a centre for the expansion of Islam, an intellectual and spiritual capital at the end of the Mandingo Askia dynasty (1493-1591) and home to a prestigious Koranic university. Three great mosques built at that time, using traditional techniques, still remain.

http://thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-timbuktu.html

The phrase means to travel to the ends of the earth, or the most distant place you can imagine. The closest I could find to origination was the 19th century.

http://www.mamalisa.com/blog/?p=309

Answer 4

Where is Timbuktu?

Timbuktu, Timbuctu or Timbuctoo (Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu, French: Tombouctou) is a city populated by the Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Moorish people in the West African country of Mali. It is often said to lie on the River Niger, but is actually 15 km north of the river.

Its geographical setting made it a natural meeting point for nearby African populations and nomadic Berber and Arab peoples from the north. Its long history as a trading outpost that linked west Africa with Berber, Arab, and Jewish traders throughout north Africa, and thereby indirectly with traders from Europe, has given it a fabled status, and in the West it was for long a metaphor for exotic, distant lands: "from here to Timbuktu." Timbuktu's most long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization is scholarship[citation needed]. By at least the fourteenth century, important books were written and copied in Timbuktu, establishing the city as the centre of a significant written tradition in Africa[citation needed].

"Send you to Timbuktu"?

I dont know

Answer 5

Timbuktu, Timbuctu or Timbuctoo (Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu, French: Tombouctou) is a city populated by the Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Moorish people in the West African country of Mali. It is often said to lie on the River Niger, but is actually 15 km north of the river.

Its geographical setting made it a natural meeting point for nearby African populations and nomadic Berber and Arab peoples from the north. Its long history as a trading outpost that linked west Africa with Berber, Arab, and Jewish traders throughout north Africa, and thereby indirectly with traders from Europe, has given it a fabled status, and in the West it was for long a metaphor for exotic, distant lands: "from here to Timbuktu." Timbuktu's most long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization is scholarship[citation needed]. By at least the fourteenth century, important books were written and copied in Timbuktu, establishing the city as the centre of a significant written tradition in Africa[citation needed].

Answer 6

Tombouctou, often called Timbuctu or Timbuktu, is a Tuareg city on the Niger River in the West African country of Mali . Its long historyas a trading outpost that linked black Africa below the Sahara Desert with Berber and Islamic traders throughoutnorth Africa, and thereby indirectly with traders from Europe , has given it a fabledstatus. Combined with its relative inaccessibility, "Timbuctu" has come to be a metaphor for exotic, distant lands.

Today, Tombouctou is one of the seven regions of Mali and the city itself is the residence of the local governor. It is thesister city to Djenne (also in Mali) and one of the seven holy citys of Islam.

Tombouctou was established as a seasonal camp by the nomadic Tuareg and grew to great wealth because of its key role intrans-Saharan trade in gold, ivory, slaves, salt and other goods. It was the key city in several successive empires: the Ghana Empire , the Mali Empire ,and the Songhai Empire . It reached its peak in the early 1500s, whentales of its fabulous wealth helped prompt European exploration ofAfrica.

Perhaps the most famous of these tales was written by Leo the African , a captured renegade who later converted back to Christianity, following a tripin 1512 , when the Songhai empire was at itsheight: "The rich king of Tombuto (sic) hath many plates and sceptres of gold, some whereof weigh 1300 pounds. ... He hath always3000 horsemen ... (and) a great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are bountifully maintained at theking's expense."

The city began to decline after explorers and slavers from Portugal and thenother European countries landed in West Africa, providing an alternative to the trade route through the world's largest desert. The decline was hastened when it was captured by Morisco mercenaries in the service of the Moroccan sultan in 1591 . Their descendants mixed with local Blacks.

By the time it was visited by Christian European explorers in the 1800s, Tombouctou was little more than a large village ofmud houses, and today it remains poverty-stricken. It is said that the local style of mud mosques inspired Antoni Gaudí .

Answer 7

Timbuktu is in Northern Africa. It is on an ancient trade route around the Sahara Desert. It is an extremely remote place. being in the desert. So sending someone there would be to send a person to about as remote a place as one can imagine.

Answer 8

Timbuktu is a city in the West African nation of Mali. it became a major trading center and reached its peak in the16th century. However, it declined, and now is an impoverished city. It basically is in the middle of nowhere, and i guess that's where the saying came about.

Answer 9

Interesting answers, however, if it is in Africa how can it be in the middle of nowhere??? Well it is in Africa and the phrase “Send you to Timbuktu.” Came about mostly because of the catchy name “TIMBUKTU” like in: -

“I know what you are trying to do…
And if I catch you,
I’ll cut off your b*lls and send you to Timbuktu.”

Answer 10

It's either in the congo or Mali, Africa. One of the very first universitiesin the world was built there.by the Muslims I think the expression was made up by americans who were ignorant of the history of Africa. It was a far away exotic place to them