Timbuktu in 1893, a situation that lasted until it became part of the current Republic of Mali in 1960. Presently, Timbuktu is impoverished and suffers from desertification. In its Golden Age, the town's numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network made possible an important book trade: together with the campuses of the Sankore Madrasah, an Islamic university, this established Timbuktu as a scholarly centre in Africa. Several notable historic writers, such as Shabeni and Leo Africanus, have described Timbuktu. These stories fuelled speculation in Europe, where the city's reputation shifted from being extremely rich to being mysterious. Over the centuries, the
Timbuktu situated in Timbuktu, Donald Duck uses the city as a safe haven, and in the 1970 Disney animated feature "The Aristocats", Edgar, the butler villain of the story, threatens Thomas O'Malley, Duchess, Marie, and Berlioz with being sent to Timbuktu only for Thomas O'Malley's friends to rescue them and send Edgar there instead. It is mistakenly noted to be in French Equatorial Africa, instead of French West Africa. Ali Farka Touré inverted the stereotype: "For some people, when you say 'Timbuktu' it is like the end of the world, but that is not true. I am from Timbuktu, and I