Trans-Saharan trade
Cadamosto's accounts are also invaluable for historians of Africa, providing the first written detailed accounts of the Senegambia region, beyond the fringes touched one century earlier by Arab historian Ibn Battuta. Cadamosto gives a summary of contemporary European knowledge about West Africa. He describes the Mali Empire ("Melli") and the Trans-Saharan trade, e.g. how Berber caravans carry the Saharan salt from desert pans like Teghaza ("Tegazza") to frontier cities like Timbuctu ("Tombutto").