The Songhai, also spelled Songhay, was a great trading state of West Africa that flourished during the 15th and 16th century. Centered on the middle reaches of the Niger River in what is now central Mali, the Songhai empire eventually extended west to the Atlantic coast and east into what are now Niger and Nigeria. Before falling to invaders from the north, Songhai was a wealthy and powerful center of commerce and culture.

People and culture

Songhai society was predominantly rural. Most of its residents lived in small villages of rounded huts. Unlike other western African kingdoms, however, the Songhai also developed an important urban society. Due mainly to its location along the numerous trade routes between the northern and southern regions of West Africa, the empire became a busy center of trade and commerce. Thus, the kingdom was home to several large cities. Gao, for example, was home to nearly 100,000 residents, while Timbuktu, the empire's economic capital, had a population of 80,000. The kingdom's towns also served as centers of learning and culture. Officials established universities in several cities, the most famous one in Timbuktu, to promote intellectual and artistic pursuits.

While a number of Songhai's rural dwellers continued to follow more traditional forms of religion, Islam eventually gained a stronghold in the empire as it did in many other West African states. Islam became particularly strong during the reign of the great Songhai king Askia Muhammad, a faithful follower of the religion.

History

The Songhai people first established themselves in the city of Gao in about AD 800 and made it the capital of their small state around the beginning of the 11th century. The town so prospered and expanded during the next 300 years that from 1325 to 1375 the rulers of the nearby kingdom of Mali added it to their empire. A later Songhai ruler is said to have won back Gao's independence.

By the mid-1400s, Songhai was made up of only Gao and its surrounding lands. Around 1464 Sonni ‘Ali became the ruler of the small kingdom. Through a series of military conquests, including the capture of Timbuktu, he built Songhai into an empire. Upon the death of Sonni ‘Ali in 1492, his son Sonni Baru took the throne. The new king was quickly overthrown by the rebel Muhammad I Askia.

Muhammad did much to strengthen the empire. His rule came to an end in 1528, when his eldest son, Musa, overthrew him and claimed the throne. The next several decades witnessed royal infighting and a quick succession of rulers. In 1549, Askia Dawud became king and presided over more than 30 years of peace and prosperity. Shortly after Dawud's rule ended, so too did the empire. In 1588 military forces from Morocco, a kingdom situated on the northwest corner of Africa, marched down over the Sahara Desert and invaded Songhai. Using superior firearm weaponry, the Moroccans conquered the kingdom. In the years that followed, a portion of Songhai's rural population resisted Moroccan rule through the use of constant hit-and-run attacks. However, they failed to restore the empire, and the economic and administrative centers remained in Moroccan hands.