Songhai Empire's Ascent

Name: Songhai Empire's Ascent
Start: 1440
End: 1449

Type Event Region West Africa Time 1440–1449

In the 1440s the Songhai kingdom centered on Gao expanded rapidly as Malian hegemony waned, integrating the middle Niger and controlling the salt-gol…

Timeline

1440–1444Gao · MaliSonghai rulers took advantage of declining Malian control to consolidate Gao's position as a Niger River trade and military base, absorbing surrounding fishing, hunting, farming, and pastoral communities.
1444–1449Middle Niger River · SahelThrough combined land-and-water operations Songhai gradually annexed the small middle-river states, controlling the strategic points on routes to Timbuktu and the Saharan trade roads, as the balance of power in West Africa began to shift.

Sources

Tarikh al-fattash — Mahmud Kati; Ibn al-Mukhtar
The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3: c. 1050–c. 1600 — J. D. Fage; Roland Oliver (eds.) (1977)