What was the flourishing west African Kingdom that had its Capital and university in Timbuktu?

Question

What was the flourishing west African Kingdom that had its Capital and university in Timbuktu?

Answer 1

Timbuktu was a key city in several successive empires: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire from 1324, and the Songhai Empire from 1468

The Songhai Empire was the mightiest.

Sankoré Madrasah (The University of Sankoré or Sankore Masjid ) was started during the Mali Empire around 1300 and rebuilt in 1581.

Answer 2

Now it is called Mali but before that it was the Sudanese Republic (French control as a part of French Sudan).  It gained independence in 1959 with Senegal and became an independent nation in 1960.

Long before this there was the great Mali Empire and Timbuktu was a center of trade and  learning. The empire eventually fell and came under French rule.