Saadi/Moroccan Control of the Sudan Region and Local Resistance in the 1620s

Timeline

1. 1621–1624Timbuktu and Gao · MaliAfter Ahmad al-Mansur's death in 1603, Moroccan remote rule over the Sudan grew increasingly difficult; in the early 1620s the Timbuktu pashaate's finances were exhausted, tensions between the garrison and local Arab-Berber elites intensified, and it could no longer effectively collect tribute or secure the trans-Saharan trade routes.
2. 1624–1628Middle Niger River · SahelIn the mid-1620s Tuareg tribes frequently raided Moroccan garrisons and caravans, and areas around Gao, a former Songhai capital, slipped from effective pashaate control; local strongmen and remnant members of the Askiya family exploited the power vacuum to contest control of trade and pasturelands.
3. 1628–1630Timbuktu · TimbuktuIn the late 1620s Timbuktu saw multiple changes of pasha and citizen uprisings, while Morocco itself, undergoing dynastic change, was unable to send reinforcements; by around 1630 Moroccan suzerainty over the Sudan was nominal only, paving the way for the formal withdrawal of troops in the 1650s and the rise of local powers (such as the precursors of the Bamana Empire).