What is the meaning of the phrase as far away as Timbuktu?

Answer 1

Timbuktu in northern Mali, on the edge of the Sahara desert has had a long-lasting scholastic contribution to Islamic and world civilization. (Timbuktu is assumed to have had one of the first universities in the world, with 25,000 students back in the 1400s. Local scholars and collectors still boast an impressive collection of ancient Greek texts from that era.)

It was known to early European culture and gained the status of a fabled city at the far end of the world - in the middle of the Sahara desert (and almost impossible to get to!).

Thus the phrase "as far as Timbuktu" came to mean or indicate a place that is unimaginably far away, completely foreign, or unreachable - at the other end of the earth.

Answer 2

The meaning of as far away as Timbuktu is basically, it is nearly impossible to go there. That is because, for a long time, many didn't know that Timbuktu existed. They thought it was made up or just a metaphor. However, it does exist, in Africa. Still it is not an easy or quick journey.

Answer 3

it means something from Africa.