Around the king's town are domed buildings and groves and thickets where the sorcerers of these people, men in charge of the religious cult, live.

[7]The descriptions provided by the early Arab authors lack sufficient detail to pinpoint the exact location of the town.

The much later 17th-century African chronicle, the Tarikh al-fattash, states that the Malian Empire was preceded by the Kayamagna dynasty which had a capital at a town called Koumbi.

The other important 17th-century chronicle, the Tarikh al-Sudan mentions that the Malian Empire came after the dynasty of Qayamagha which had its capital at the city of Ghana.

However, he does state that the royal palace he knew was built in 510 AH (1116–1117 AD), suggesting that it was a newer town, rebuilt closer to the river than Koumbi Saleh.

[17] In the French translation of the Tarikh al-fattash published in 1913, Octave Houdas and Maurice Delafosse include a footnote in which they comment that local tradition also suggested that the first capital of Kayamagna was at Koumbi and that the town was in the Ouagadou region in Mali, northeast of Goumbou on the road leading from Goumbou to Néma and Oualata.

[18] Ann Kritzinger, relying on a re-reading of ibn Battuta and other Arabic writers, has argued that the archaeological site of Koumbi Saleh in fact represents the Berber town of Awdaghost, and that the capital of the Ghana Empire was Djenne.

Insoll (1997) suggests that the layout of the city was influenced by Islamic urban planning principles, such as the use of mosques and the orientation of streets towards Mecca.

[31] The archaeology of Koumbi Saleh provides insight into the urbanization process of one of the earliest West African states.

One of the most significant archaeological discoveries at Koumbi Saleh was the uncovering of large numbers of Islamic coins, ceramics, and glassware.

This suggests that the city had extensive trading links with other Islamic regions such as North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.

The coins were minted in locations as far away as Baghdad, providing evidence of the far-reaching trade networks that once existed in West Africa.

[28][32] The archaeological excavations at Koumbi Saleh have provided valuable insights into the political, economic, and social structures of the Ghana Empire.

Believed to have been built between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, the Kumbi Saleh mosque is one of the earliest recognised structures among its counterparts, such as the Awdaghust, found in the Adrar and Hodh regions.

Situated in what was probably a Sahelian steppe environment, the Mosque of Kumbi Saleh has undergone numerous transformations and extensions throughout its history.

First observations by Raymond Mauny and Paul Thomassey in 1950[33][34][35] led to extensive excavations between 1979 and 1982 by Serge Robert,[36] which provided important insights into its architectural development.

The urban vitality of Kumbi Saleh is exemplified by the successive additions and alterations to the mosque, demonstrating the historical importance of the area as a cultural and religious centre.