Across the vast expanse of the African Sahel, where the desert meets the savanna and caravan routes cross the Niger River valley, one of the greatest empires West Africa ever knew flourished. The Songhai Empire—also spelled Songhay or Sonrai—emerged in the territory of present-day Mali as a pre-colonial power of continental reach, whose zenith coincided with one of the most dynamic periods in African history. Founded in 1464 by Sunni Ali, the empire would consolidate its greatness throughout the 16th century before succumbing to Moroccan forces in 1591.
Sunni Ali, who ruled from 1464 to 1492, was the military architect of Songhai. Under his command, the state aggressively expanded its borders, controlling the Sahel’s major trade hubs and establishing Songhai’s hegemony over routes connecting sub-Saharan Africa to the Mediterranean. However, Sunni Ali’s relationship with the empire’s Muslims was tense—many saw him as deviating from the faith, sowing the seeds for the succession turmoil that would follow his death.
In 1492, Sunni Ali died during a military campaign. His son, Sunni Baru, was proclaimed king on January 21 of that year, but his authority never solidified. The empire’s influential Muslims, dissatisfied with what they considered the new ruler’s religious deviations, rallied around Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, a prestigious general and governor who had served the late ruler. The dispute was settled by arms: on April 12, 1493, at the Battle of Anfao, Muhammad’s forces defeated Sunni Baru’s despite being outnumbered. Upon victory, Muhammad adopted the title of *askia*—which would name the new dynasty—ushering in one of the Sahel’s most prolific reigns.
Askia Muhammad I, as he would come to be known, ruled from 1493 to 1528 and transformed Songhai from a warrior power into a true administrative state. In October or November 1496, he undertook his pilgrimage to Mecca, the *hajj*, accompanied by an army of 800 cavalrymen, numerous Islamic scholars—the *ulema*—and a sum of about 300,000 dinars. During the journey, he visited the Abbasid caliph Al-Mustamsik in Cairo, who proclaimed him caliph of all the Sudan, a term then loosely designating the vast sub-Saharan belt encompassing parts of Mali, Chad, northwestern Nigeria, and Niger. In Mecca, the sharif received him with honors, bestowing upon him a turban, a sword, and the title of caliph of the Western Sudan.
Upon returning to Songhai in 1497 or 1498, Askia began using the title *Al-Hajj* and launched a series of military and diplomatic campaigns to consolidate Songhai’s hegemony. In 1498, he defeated the Mossi of Yatenga, bringing a large number of slaves to Gao, the capital. The following year, he turned against Agadez, the Tuareg’s main stronghold in the Aïr, to end attacks on desert-crossing caravans and secure control over that nodal point of routes linking Gao, Hausaland, Bornu, Tripoli, and Egypt. The local sultan was deposed, and the city was forced to pay tribute.
Askia’s strategy was both military and commercial. After subduing the Tuareg, the *askia* chose to turn them into allies: instead of maintaining a costly occupation, he struck an agreement by which they affirmed their vassalage and continued acting as intermediaries on desert routes, protecting caravans instead of raiding them. In exchange, a daughter of Askia was given in marriage to the Tuareg leader. With control over major trade hubs—Gao, Timbuktu, Djenné, and Walata—and the pacification of the Tuareg, Songhai could turn its attention eastward.
Between 1501 and 1512, Askia progressively expanded the empire’s eastern borders. Diala and Gigam, formerly vassals of the Mali Empire, submitted to Songhai. In 1512, responding to the king of Diara’s request, a massive Songhai army under his brother Omar marched through arid lands for two months to defeat Tengella, lord of Futa Jallon, fixing Songhai’s western border in the upper Senegal. In Hausaland, Askia attacked Katsina, Zaria, and Kano, the latter surrendering after a long siege. The *sarki* of Kano offered a daughter in marriage and a third of the state’s revenues, sealing Songhai’s suzerainty over that region rich in crafts, leather, and cattle.
The chronicler Mahmud Kati, who had accompanied Askia on his pilgrimage to Mecca, recorded some of these events in the *Tarik al-Fattash*, one of the main sources on Songhai. The intellectual vibrancy of Timbuktu, with its madrasas and libraries filled with manuscripts, was fostered by Askia’s educational and religious reforms, which transformed the city into one of the era’s greatest centers of Islamic learning. The *askia*’s administrative reforms also streamlined the imperial bureaucracy, creating specialized positions to manage the vast territory’s different regions and economic activities.
The empire’s decline came with the invasion of the Saadi Sultanate of Morocco in 1591. The Moroccan forces, armed with firearms that the Songhai lacked in sufficient numbers, crossed the Sahara and defeated the imperial army, ending over a century of Songhai dominance in the Sahel. In place of Songhai, the Pashalik of Timbuktu was established, a Moroccan vassal state. Despite its abrupt end, the Songhai Empire’s legacy endured in West Africa’s collective memory—in the manuscripts of Timbuktu, the trade routes it helped structure, and the tradition of statecraft that would influence the kingdoms that followed.