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Songhai Empire
The Songhai Empire was the largest Islamized empire in the West African Sahel region of the 15th–16th centuries, with its capital at Gao and territor…
Timeline
- 1464–1492Gao · SonghaiSunni Ali conquered surrounding states with cavalry, replaced the remnants of the Mali Empire, controlled Timbuktu and Djenné, and established Songhai hegemony centered on Gao.
- 1493–1528Gao–Timbuktu · Songhai EmpireAskia Muhammad implemented bureaucratic administration, unified the tax system, and performed the hajj to Mecca; from the late 15th to early 16th century the empire controlled the trans-Saharan gold-salt trade, reaching its peak in territory and prestige.
- 1495–1500Middle Niger River · Songhai EmpireIn the early years of Askia's reign the imperial polity tended toward stability, scholarly activity in Timbuktu continued, trans-Saharan trade routes were unimpeded, and West African gold was exported to North Africa and the Mediterranean through the empire's tariff system.
- 1591Tondibi · MaliMoroccan Sa'did dynasty forces defeated the Songhai army at Tondibi, the imperial central government collapsed, and the political landscape of the West African Sahel was fundamentally changed.
Sources
- Tarikh al-fattash — Mahmud Kati et al.
- The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3: From c.1050 to c.1600 — Oliver, Roland (ed.) (1977)