Timbuktu was an economic and cultural capital in the West African country of Mali. Beginning in the thirteenth century, it became the centre of a thriving trade in Africa. Prosperity made by the trans-Saharan trade routes brought immense wealth to the city. This wealth attracted not only merchants and traders, but also men of academic and religious learning. From the early part of the fourteenth century to the time of the Moroccan invasion in the late sixteenth century, the city became an important intellectual and spiritual centre of the Islamic world. Great mosques, universities, schools and libraries were built under the Mali and Songhay Empires, some of which still stand today.