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Judar Pasha
A Saadian Moroccan general, originally a convert captured and castrated near Almería in Spain, who in 1590 led a firearms expedition across the Sahar…
Timeline
- 1590–1591Marrakesh · MarrakeshSeeking control of the Western Sudan's gold and salt routes, al-Mansur appointed Judar pasha, leading some four thousand men (including arquebusiers, light cavalry, and artillery) from Marrakesh across the Sahara. The ranks included many Andalusians and European converts. Losses on the desert march were severe, but Songhai was unprepared for the sudden appearance of a firearms-equipped force.
- c. 1591Tondibi · Niger River basinAt Tondibi he routed Askia Ishak II's superior cavalry and ox-charge with muskets and artillery, and the Songhai army collapsed. Judar promptly occupied Gao, rejected a peace offer of gold for withdrawal, and took Timbuktu, Jenne, and other commercial centers; the Songhai central state disintegrated.
- 1591–1606Timbuktu · TimbuktuAfter the conquest he faced supply problems, disease, and resistance from Songhai remnants. Al-Mansur dispatched Mahmoud ibn Zarqun and others to divide military and civil authority; Judar remained a key figure of the early occupation, retaining influence until about 1599. After the sultan's death Morocco fell into wars of succession, and traditional accounts say he was executed at Marrakesh in 1606.
Sources
- Battle of Tondibi https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Tondibi
- Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sa'di's Ta'rikh al-sudan down to 1613 and other Contemporary Documents — John O. Hunwick (1999)
- Archers, Musketeers, and Mosquitoes: The Moroccan Invasion of the Sudan and the Songhay Resistance (1591–1612) — Lansiné Kaba (1981) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/archers-musketeers-and-mosquitoes-the-moroccan-invasion-of-the-sudan-and-the-songhay-resistance-15911612/7BE695BFE53648CF3324ED70F40512D6