Timbuktu increased competition from newly available trans-Atlantic sailing routes caused the city to decline. The first European to reach Timbuktu, Alexander Gordon Laing, did not arrive until 1826, and it was not until the 1890s that Timbuktu was formally incorporated into the French colony of Mali. Today, the city is still inhabited; however, the city is not as geopolitically relevant as it once was. Timbuktu is located on the southern edge of the Sahara north of the main channel of the River Niger. The town is surrounded by sand dunes and the streets are covered in sand. The port of Kabara
Town & Country Village (Houston) Town & Country Village (Houston) Town & Country Village is an open-air shopping center in western Houston, Texas, United States, within the Memorial City district. The complex straddles the northbound frontage road of Beltway 8, north of Memorial Drive and south of CityCentre. From 1983 to 2004, Town & Country Village neighbored Town & Country Mall, an enclosed shopping mall which was located on the present-day CityCentre site. The development features over of retail space and a 10-story, office building. Town & Country Village is owned by Houston-area development firm Moody Rambin. The Original Town & Country Village was built