Timbuctoo

Timbuktu, formerly also spelled Timbuctoo and Timbuktoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated 15 km north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali. Starting out as a seasonal settlement, Timbuktu became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, Timbuktu flourished from the trade in salt, gold, ivory and slaves, and became part of the Mali Empire early in the 13th century.

Robert Adams

Robert Adams was an American sailor and native of Hudson, New York and is renowned as the first Western citizen to reach the African city of Timbuktu. He is generally considered to have been the first "reliable witness" to bring information back to Europe regarding Timbuktu since Leo Africanus in the sixteenth century. Adams visited the city in mid-1812 as a slave for a period of several months after his ship was wrecked off the African coast and he was subsequently enslaved by the local desert tribes.