Timbuctoo

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Timbuctoo \Timbuctoo\, Timbuktoo \Timbuktoo\prop. n.,
     A city on the southern edge of the Sahara, in central Africa,
     some nine miles from the Niger. It is about three miles
     around, and was formerly surrounded by a clay wall. Timbuctoo
     has a large caravan trade, gold dust being the most important
     export. The people are negroes, Tuariks, Mandingoes, Arabs,


     Foolahs, etc. The city was founded in the 12th century, but
     was first seen by a white man in 1826. Timbuctoo now belongs
     to France, and a railroad is proposed to connect Algiers,
     Timbuctoo and Senegambia. Population, 13,000 (1893), greatly
     increased during the trading season from November to January.
     --Student's Cyclopedia, 1897.
     [PJC]