Where the heck is Timbuktu?

After playing several "normal" games with european states, I now want to go for some of the more curious Steam achievements in the hopes of finding a different gaming experience.

I decided to give Nobody wants to die a try:

Nobody wants to die
Own Timbuktu as Songhai

The only problem is, I neither know where Timbuktu nor Songhai are. (My guess is somewhere in Asia, but where?)

While in the game, you can open a province and nation search dialog by pressing f, but this does not work in the nation select dialog when you want to start a game.

How do you find nations or provinces while in the nation selection dialog at the main menu?

PS: I am well aware I could just consult Wikipedia and find out where they are at 1444. However, I am more interested in a general solution so I don't have to do major research for every nation I want to play as. I am sure there is a search function somewhere that I am missing.

There's no easy way to find a specific country in the country selection unless it is listed as an interesting nation (listed at the bottom, see red freehand circle #1) or you have prior knowledge of the country's history and geography at the chosen game start time. If it's not listed as an interesting nation and you don't know where it is, the easiest way is to simply Google it. In case its location has changed over time (such as Ghana), you might have to read some history to find it.

To help your specific case, Timbuktu is an inland province in Mali on the border of Songhai (red freehand circle #2).

Timbuktu is a province at the upper right area of Mali on Western/Central Africa. It borders Songhai. There is a province search function at the bottom right of the screen. It looks like an arrow pointing right. Shortcut for it is the f key.

Timbuktu is in Western Africa, in the nation of Mali. The Songhai was an African empire/people.

(As far as major research is concerned, that took a Google search of exactly 0.23 seconds.)