How Did Timbuktu Contribute To The Downfall Of Our Society

The societies Timbuktu and Tenochtitlán, despite being located over 6,000 miles from each other, had very similar declines. The fall of Timbuktu was primarily attributed to a sudden decrease in trade, whereas Tenochtitlán’s was unfortunately the result of trusting and deifying the Conquistadors, whose main purpose in travel was to conquer land. But the reason that Timbuktu’s decrease in trade damaged their society so severely was that the inhabitants had become comfortable trusting merchants from other countries to provide them with the goods that they needed in their daily lives. Timbuktu and Tenochtitlán both owe their respective downfalls to their citizens putting their own fate in the hands of strangers. Timbuktu’s fatal flaw lay in their reliance on trade. Salt was highly valued in their society– one load was worth the modern equivalent of about $11,400. However, salt came in short supply as it was imported from Tegaza, the first instance of Timbuktu’s reliance on trade. Handwritten books imported from Barbary were also the highest source of profit in this society (Timbuktu A). Circa 1300, every trade route that ran between (Timbuktu D), allowing for easy access to imported goods. But between the late 15th and

Perhaps Timbuktu’s downfall was out of their control while Tenochtitlán’s was arguably the fault of the citizens. Not only did Timbuktu benefit from sundry imported goods, they also exported goods like copper and beads some 1300 miles out in every direction (Timbuktu C). They hadn’t done anything to potentially turn traders away– they just happened to suffer as a result of trading innovations that utilized the ocean. And some scholars may think that the Aztecs scaring the conquistadors by sacrificing people and drinking their blood was the first step to their demise, as they quickly created tension and hostility between the two groups (Tenochtitlán