How and why was timbuktu a major center of trade and cultural exchange?

Timbuctu was located in an important empire and many trade routes went through it. This meant that the city grew and it became a cultural and a scientific world center because people from all over Africa gathered in it. Merchants and pilgrims spread wealth and religion and the empire only grew.

C. Da Vinci
He is known as the Renaissance Man because of his iconic art works, such as the Mona Lisa as well as The Last Supper, and used a revolutionary technique called "realism".