Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire was a state located in the western part of the Sahel during the 15th and 16th centuries. At its peak, it was one of the largest African empires in history. The state is known by its historiographical name, derived from its largest ethnic group and ruling elite, the Songhai people. Sonni Ali established Gao as the empire's capital, although a Songhai state had existed in and around Gao since the 11th century. Other important cities in the kingdom were Timbuktu and Djenné, where urban-centred trade flourished; they were conquered in 1468 and 1475, respectively. Initially, the Songhai Empire was ruled by the Sonni dynasty (–1493), but it was later replaced by the Askia dynasty (1493–1591).

During the second half of the 13th century, Gao and the surrounding region had grown into an important trading center and attracted the interest of the expanding Mali Empire. Mali conquered Gao near the end of the 13th century. Gao remained under Malian command until the late 14th century. As the Mali Empire started disintegrating, the Songhai reasserted control of Gao. Songhai rulers subsequently took advantage of the weakened Mali Empire to expand Songhai rule.

Under the rule of Sonni Ali, the Songhai surpassed the Malian Empire in area, wealth, and power, absorbing vast regions of the Mali Empire. His son and successor, Sonni Bāru, was overthrown by Muhammad Ture, one of his father's generals. Ture, more commonly known as Askia the Great, instituted political and economic reforms throughout the empire.

A series of plots and coups by Askia's successors forced the empire into a period of decline and instability. Askia's relatives attempted to govern the kingdom, but political chaos and several civil wars within the empire ensured the empire's continued decline, particularly during the rule of Askia Ishaq I. The empire experienced a period of stability and a string of military successes during the reign of Askia Daoud.

Askia Ishaq II, the last ruler of the Songhai Empire, ascended to power in a long dynastic struggle following the death of Daoud. In 1590, Al-Mansur took advantage of the recent civil conflict in the empire and sent an army under the command of Judar Pasha to conquer the Songhai and gain control of the trans-Saharan trade routes. The Songhai Empire collapsed after the defeat at the Battle of Tondibi in 1591.

thumb|right|Extent of the Songhai Empire,<br/>circa 1500.

History

Early inhabitants

In ancient times, somewhere between the 9th and 3rd centuries BCE, several different groups of people collectively formed the Songhai identity, centered around the developing hub of ancient Kukiya. Among the first people to settle in the region of Gao were the Sorko people, who established small settlements on the banks of the Niger River. The Sorko fashioned boats and canoes from the wood of the cailcedrat tree, fished and hunted from their ships, and provided water-borne transport for goods and people. Another group of people that moved into the area to live off of Niger's resources were the Gao people. The Gao were hunters and specialized in hunting river animals such as crocodiles and hippopotamus.

The other group known to have inhabited the area were the Do people, talented farmers who raised crops in the fertile lands bordering the river. Before the 10th century, these early settlers were subjugated by more powerful, horse-riding Songhai speakers, who established control over the area. All these groups gradually began to speak the same language, and they and their country eventually became known as the Songhai. What happened to the Zuwa rulers is yet to be recorded.

The Sanhaja tribes were among the early people of the Niger Bend region. These tribes rode out of the Sahara Desert and established trading settlements near the Niger. As time passed, North African traders crossed the Sahara and joined the Tuaregs in their settlements. Both groups conducted business with the people living near the river. As trade in the region increased, the Songhai chiefs took control of the profitable trade around what would later become Gao. Trade goods included gold, salt, slaves, kola nuts, leather, dates, and ivory.

By the 10th century, the Songhai chiefs had established Gao as a small kingdom, taking control of the people living along the trade routes. Around 1300, Gao had become prosperous enough to attract the Mali Empire's attention. Mali conquered the city, profited from Gao's trade, and collected taxes from its kings until about the 1430s. Conflict in the Malian homeland made it impossible to maintain control of Gao. Another round of dynastic instability in the 1380s and 90s likely allowed the Songhai to formalize their independence under Sunni Muhammad Dao. In the 1460s, Sonni Sulayman Dama attacked Méma, the Mali province west of Timbuktu.

During his campaigns for expansion, Ali conquered several territories, repelling attacks from the Mossi to the south and conquering the Dogon people to the north. He annexed Timbuktu in 1468 after the leaders of the town asked him to help overthrow the Tuaregs, who had taken the city following the decline of Mali. When he attempted to conquer the trading town of Djenné, the townspeople resisted his efforts. After a seven-year siege, he was able to starve them into surrender, incorporating the town into his empire in 1473.

The invasion of Sonni Ali and his forces negatively impacted Timbuktu. Many Muslim accounts described him as a tyrant, including the Tarikh al-fattash, written by Songhai scholar Mahmud Kati (1468-1593). According to The Cambridge History of Africa, the Islamic historian Al-Sa'di expresses this sentiment in describing his incursion on Timbuktu:

250px|thumb|The [[Timbuktu Manuscripts, with Arabic writings about mathematics and astronomy]]

Sonni Ali created a policy against the scholars of Timbuktu, especially those of the Sankore region who were associated with the Tuareg. With his control of critical trade routes and cities such as Timbuktu, Sonni Ali increased the wealth of the Songhai Empire, which at its height would surpass the wealth of Mali.

Askia the Great

thumb|The [[Tomb of Askia in Gao]]

Sonni Ali was succeeded by Askia the Great. He organized the territories his predecessor conquered and extended his power to the south and the east. Under his rule, the Songhai military possessed a full-time corps of warriors. Askia is said to have cynical attitudes towards kingdoms lacking professional fighting forces. Al-Sa'di, the chronicler who wrote the Tarikh al-Sudan, compared Askiya's army to that of his predecessor:

<blockquote>"he distinguished between the civilian and the army unlike Sunni Ali [1464–92] when everyone was a soldier."</blockquote>

He opened religious schools, constructed mosques, and opened his court to scholars and poets from throughout the Muslim world. His children went to an Islamic school, and he enforced Islamic practices but did not force religion on his people. Askia completed one of the Five Pillars of Islam by taking a hajj to Mecca, bringing a large amount of gold. He donated some of it to charity and spent the rest on gifts for the people of Mecca to display his empire's wealth. Historians from Cairo said his pilgrimage consisted of "an escort of 500 cavalry and 1000 infantry, and with him he carried 300,000 pieces of gold".

Askia initiated multiple military campaigns, including declaring Jihad against the neighbouring Mossi. He did not force them to convert to Islam after subduing them. His army consisted of war canoes, a cavalry, protective armour, iron-tipped weapons, and an organized militia.

He centralized the administration of the empire and established a bureaucracy responsible for tax collection and the administration of justice. He demanded the building of canals to enhance agriculture, eventually increasing trade. He introduced a system of weights and measures and appointed an inspector for each of Songhai's major trading centres.

During his reign, Islam became more entrenched, trans-Saharan trade flourished, and the salt mines of Taghaza were brought within the empire's boundaries.

Decline and Saadian Invasion

In 1528, Askia's children revolted against him, declaring his son Askia Musa king. Following Musa's overthrow in 1531, the Songhai Empire went into decline. Following the death of Emperor Askia Daoud in 1583, a war of succession weakened the Songhai Empire and split it into two feuding factions.

During this period, Moroccan armies annihilated a Portuguese invasion at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir, but were left on the verge of economic depletion and bankruptcy, as they needed to pay for the defences used to hold off the siege. This led Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur of the Saadi dynasty in 1591 to dispatch an invasion force south under the eunuch Judar Pasha. The Moroccan invasion of Songhai was mainly to seize and revive the trans-Saharan trade in salt, gold and slaves for their developing sugar industry. During Askia's reign, the Songhai military consisted of full-time soldiers, but the king never modernized his army. On the other hand, the invading Moroccan army included thousands of arquebusiers and eight English cannons.

Judar Pasha was a Spaniard by birth but had been captured as an infant and educated at the Saadi court. After a march across the Sahara desert, Judar's forces captured, plundered, and razed the salt mines at Taghaza and moved on to Gao. When Emperor Askia Ishaq II (r. 1588–1591) met Judar at the 1591 Battle of Tondibi, Songhai forces, despite vastly superior numbers, were routed by a cattle stampede triggered by the Saadi's gunpowder weapons.

Economy

thumb|upright=1.4|Trade routes of the Western Sahara c. 1000–1500. Goldfields are indicated by light brown shading: [[Bambuk, Bure, Lobi, and Akan Goldfields.|alt=]]

Overland trade in the Sahel and river trade along the Niger were the primary sources of Songhai wealth. Trade along the West African coast was only possible in the late 1400s.

Overland trade was influenced by four factors: camels, Berber tribe members, Islam, and the structure of the empire. Gold was readily available in West Africa, but salt was not, so the gold-salt trade was the backbone of overland trade routes in the Sahel. Ivory, ostrich feathers, and slaves were sent north in exchange for salt, horses, camels, cloth, and art. While many trade routes were used, the Songhai heavily used the way through the Fezzan via Bilma, Agades, and Gao.

The Songhai economy was based on a clan system. The clan a person belonged to ultimately decided one's occupation. The most common occupations were metalworkers, fishermen, and carpenters. The lower castes mainly consisted of immigrants, who, at times, were provided special privileges and held high positions in society. At the top were noblemen and descendants of the original Songhai people, followed by freemen and traders. At the bottom were prisoners of war and enslaved people who mainly worked in agriculture. The Songhai used slaves more consistently than their predecessors, the Ghana and Mali empires. James Olson described the Songhai labour system as resembling trade unions, with the kingdom possessing craft guilds that consisted of various mechanics and artisans.

Criminal justice

Criminal justice in Songhai was based mainly, if not entirely, on Islamic principles, especially during the rule of Askia Muhammad. The local qadis were, in addition to this, responsible for maintaining order by following Sharia law under Islamic domination, according to the Qur'an. An additional qadi was noted as a necessity to settle minor disputes between immigrant merchants. Kings usually did not judge a defendant; however, under exceptional circumstances, such as acts of treason, they felt obligated to do so and thus exerted their authority. Results of a trial were announced by the "town crier", and punishment for most trivial crimes usually consisted of confiscation of merchandise or even imprisonment since various prisons existed throughout the Empire.

Qadis worked locally in important trading towns like Timbuktu and Djenné. The king appointed the Qadi and dealt with common-law misdemeanours according to Sharia law. The Qadi also had the power to grant a pardon or offer refuge. The Assara-munitions, or "enforcers", worked like a police commissioner whose sole duty was to execute sentencing. Jurists were mainly composed of representatives of the academic community; professors were often noted as taking administrative positions within the Empire, and many aspired to be qadis.

Government

The upper classes in society converted to Islam, while the lower classes often continued to follow traditional religions. Sermons emphasized obedience to the king. Timbuktu was the educational capital. Sonni Ali established a system of government under the royal court, later to be expanded by Askia Muhammad, which appointed governors and mayors to preside over local tributary states around the Niger Valley. These local chiefs were still granted authority over their respective domains if they did not undermine Songhai policy. Departmental positions existed in the central government. The hi koy was the fleet commander who performed roles likened to a home affairs minister. Fari Mondzo was the minister of agriculture who administered the state's agricultural estates. The Kalisa farm has been described by historians such as Ki-Zerbo to be the finance minister who supervised the empire's treasury. Korey Farma was also the "minister in charge of White foreigners."

The tax was imposed on peripheral chiefdoms and provinces to ensure Songhai's dominance; in return, these provinces were given almost complete autonomy. Songhai rulers only intervened in the affairs of these neighbouring states when a situation became volatile, usually an isolated incident. Each town was represented by government officials, holding positions and responsibilities similar to today's central bureaucrats.

Under Askia Muhammad, the Empire saw increased centralization. He encouraged learning in Timbuktu by rewarding its professors with larger pensions as an incentive. He also established an order of precedence and protocol and was noted as a nobleman who gave back generously to people experiencing poverty. Under his policies, Muhammad brought much stability to Songhai, and great attestations of this registered organization are still preserved in the works of Maghreb writers such as Leo Africanus, among others.

Religion

The Sonni dynasty practised Islam while maintaining many aspects of the original Songhai traditions, unlike their successors, the Askiya dynasty. Askia Mohammed I oversaw a complete Islamic revival and made a pilgrimage to Mecca. The infantry included a force made up primarily of freemen and captives. Swords, arrows and copper or leather shields made up the arsenal of the Songhai infantry. At the Battle of Tondibi, the Songhai army consisted of 30,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry.

Navy

The Songhai navy dates to the reign of Sonni Ali, who formed a naval force on the Niger River.

The Hi-koi was the commander of the fleet. The state had a large network of ports headed by fishermen such as the Goima-Koi in Gao and the Kabara-Farma in Kabara. They were tasked with various duties which included monitoring the state's fleet and the collection of entrance, as well as exit fees.

List of rulers

Names and dates taken from John Stewart's African States and Rulers (2005).

Songhai Dias (Kings)

{| class="wikitable"

! width="200pt" |Name

! width="100pt" |Reign Start

! width="100pt" |Reign End

| Alayaman

| c. 837

| c. 849

| Za Koi

| c. 849

| 861

| Takoi

| 861

| 873

| Akoi

| 873

| 885

| Ku

| 885

| 897

| Ali Fai

| 897

| 909

| Biyai Komai

| 909

| 921

| Biyai Bei

| 921

| 933

| Karai

| 933

| 945

| Yama Karaonia

| 945

| 957

| Yama Dombo

| 957

| 969

| Yama Danka Kibao

| 969

| 981

| Kukorai

| 981

| 993

| Kenken

| 993

| 1005

| Za Kosoi

| 1005

| 1025

| Kosai Dariya

| 1025

| 1044

| Hen Kon Wanko Dam

| 1044

| 1063

| Biyai Koi Kimi

| 1063

| 1082

| Nintasani

| 1082

| 1101

| Biyai Kaina Kimba

| 1101

| 1120

| Kaina Shinyunbo

| 1120

| 1139

| Tib

| 1139

| 1158

| Yama Dao

| 1158

| 1177

| Fadazu

| 1177

| 1196

| Ali Koro

| 1196

| 1215

| Bir Foloko

| 1215

| 1235

| Yosiboi

| 1235

| 1255

| Duro

| 1255

| 1275

| Zenko Baro

| 1275

| 1295

| Bisi Baro

| 1295

| 1325

| Bada

| 1325

| 1332

Songhai Sunnis (Sheikhs)

{| class="wikitable"

! width="200pt" |Name

! width="100pt" |Reign Start

! width="100pt" |Reign End

| Ali Konon

| 1332

| 1340

| Salman Nari

| 1340

| 1347

| Ibrahim Kabay

| 1347

| 1354

| Uthman Kanafa

| 1354

| 1362

| Bar Kaina Ankabi

| 1362

| 1370

| Musa

| 1370

| 1378

| Bukar Zonko

| 1378

| 1386

| Bukar Dalla Boyonbo

| 1386

| 1394

| Mar Kirai

| 1394

| 1402

| Muhammad Dao

| 1402

| 1410

| Muhammad Konkiya

| 1410

| 1418

| Muhammad Fari

| 1418

| 1426

| Karbifo

| 1426

| 1434

| Mar Fai Kolli-Djimbo

| 1434

| 1442

| Mar Arkena

| 1442

| 1449

| Mar Arandan

| 1449

| 1456

| Suleiman Daman

| 1456

| 1464

Songhai Emperors

{| class="wikitable"

! width="200pt" |Name

! width="100pt" |Reign Start

! width="100pt" |Reign End

| Sonni Ali

| 1464

| 6 November 1492

| Sonni Baru

| 6 November 1492

| 1493

| Askia Muhammad I <small>(First Reign)</small>

| 3 March 1493

| 26 August 1528

| Askia Musa

| 26 August 1528

| 12 April 1531

| Askia Mohammad Benkan

| 12 April 1531

| 22 April 1537

| Askia Ismail

| 22 April 1537

| 2 March 1539

| Askia Ishaq I

| 1539

| 25 March 1549

| Askia Daoud

| 25 March 1549

| August 1582

| Askia Al-Hajj

| August 1582

| 15 December 1586

| Askia Muhammad Bani

| 15 December 1586

| 9 April 1588

| Askia Ishaq II

| 9 April 1588

| 14 April 1591

Songhai Emperors (ruled in exile from Dendi)

{| class="wikitable"

! width="200pt" |Name

! width="100pt" |Reign Start

! width="100pt" |Reign End

| Muhammad Gao

| 14 April 1591

| 1591

| Nuh

| 1591

| 1599

| Harun

| 1599

| 1612

| Al-Amin

| 1612

| 1618

| Dawud II

| 1618

| 1635

| Ismail

| 1635

| 1640

| Samsou-Béri

| 1761

| 1779

| Hargani

| 1779

| 1793

| Samsou Keïna

| 1793

| 1798

| Fodi Maÿroumfa

| 1798

| 1805

| Tomo

| 1805

| 1823

| Bassarou Missi Izé

| 1823

| 1842

| Boumi (Askia Kodama Komi)

| 1842

| 1845

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

The Story of Africa: Songhay — BBC World Service
Askiyah's Questions and al-Maghili's Answers An essay about the rule of the Songhai Empire from the 15th century.

Songhai Empire

History

Early inhabitants

Askia the Great

Decline and Saadian Invasion

Economy

Criminal justice

Government

Religion

Navy

List of rulers

Songhai Dias (Kings)

Songhai Sunnis (Sheikhs)

Songhai Emperors

Songhai Emperors (ruled in exile from Dendi)

See also

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading

External links