Timbuktu or to study. By 1300, the population increased to 10,000 and kept increasing until it reached about 50,000 in the 1500s. There is insufficient rainfall in the Timbuktu region for purely rain-fed agriculture and crops are therefore irrigated using water from the River Niger. The main agricultural crop is rice. African floating rice ("Oryza glaberrima") has traditionally been grown in regions near the river that are inundated during the annual flood. Seed is sown at the beginning of the rainy season (June–July) so that when the flood water arrives plants are already in height. The plants grow up to in
Cannabis sativa Cannabis sativa Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous flowering plant indigenous to eastern Asia but now of cosmopolitan distribution due to widespread cultivation. It has been cultivated throughout recorded history, used as a source of industrial fiber, seed oil, food, recreation, religious and spiritual moods and medicine. Each part of the plant is harvested differently, depending on the purpose of its use. The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The flowers of "Cannabis sativa" are unisexual and plants are most often either male or female. It is a short-day flowering plant, with staminate (male) plants usually taller