Askia Muhammad I

Timeline

1. c. 1443–1492Gao · West AfricaMuhammad Ture came from the Ture family of West Africa and in his early years served under Sunni Ali of the Songhai Empire in important posts. He was a devout Muslim and often clashed with Sunni Ali's religious policies. Sunni Ali died in 1492 and was succeeded by his son Baru.
2. 1493–1498Timbuktu · West AfricaIn 1493 Muhammad defeated Sunni Baru at the Battle of Anfao, proclaimed himself sultan, took the name 'Askia', and founded the Askia dynasty. In 1496–1498 he led a large embassy on the Hajj to Mecca, winning from the Abbasid caliph in Egypt the title 'Representative of the Sultan of the Two Holy Cities', greatly strengthening his Islamic legitimacy, and recruited Islamic scholars from Mecca to return to Songhai to preach and establish schools.
3. 1498–1528Timbuktu · West AfricaDuring his reign Askia expanded west to the Senegal River, north to the Ahaggar Mountains, and east deep into the Hausa states, bringing the Songhai Empire to its greatest territorial extent. He implemented provincial administrative reforms, established the Sankore madrasa in Timbuktu to attract Islamic scholars, and supported trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt, making Timbuktu a world-renowned center of learning and commerce.
4. 1528–1538Island in the Niger River delta (place of exile) · West AfricaIn 1528, the aged and nearly blind Askia was deposed in a coup by his son Musa and exiled to a lonely island in the Niger River. Around 1537 another son, Ismail, defeated Musa and brought his father back to Timbuktu. Askia Muhammad I died in Timbuktu in 1538 at about 95 years of age.