The regions located between the Vistula and Narva estuaries were designated in the Middle Ages and the early modern period by various names: Prussia (Pruzinlant ) Samogitia, Lithuania, Courland, and Estonia. The name Livonia was used early on for the general region of Lower Lithuania (Samaiten), Courland, and Estonia because the first contact with the Livs occurred here. Sparsely populated, this region found itself at the periphery of significant political events. Even today, its eastern frontier makes up a religious divide between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths. Despite its peripheral status, the region played a decisive role in the development of (Western) Europe, particularly as an intermediary in East-West Baltic trade. Among the existing medieval travel accounts originating from the Baltic region there is none that may be strictly termed a stand-alone travelogue. Instead, various travel reports are found as ancillary texts inserted into texts of other sorts. Such reports emerge as early as the ninth century and can be divided into seven categories, which will be dealt with individually in the following sections.