From the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD, the Fezzan was home to the Garamantian Empire, a city state which operated the Trans-Saharan trade routes between the Carthaginians—and later the Roman Empire—and the Sahelian states of West and Central Africa. During the 13th and 14th century, portions of the Fezzan were part of the Kanem Empire, while the Ottoman rulers of North Africa asserted their control over the region in the 17th century.Ghat and its inhabitants were described in great detail by the English traveller James Richardson in his journeys across the Libyan Sahara of 1845–1846.