SONGHAI
• Use your Empires
Chart to take notes on
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When
Where
Leaders
Religion
Trade
Decline
 Remember the words
in bold are the words
you need to copy onto
your chart
Men fishing on the Niger River
When
• Became powerful in late
1400s
• Songhai and Mali
competed for power
• When Mali was strong it
conquered Songhai
• BUT soon Songhai
rebelled and took over
Mali
Timbuktu
Where
• Same trade-rich
area as Ghana
and Mali
• Along the Niger
River
• Conquered
Timbuktu and
Djenne
Leaders
Sunni Ali
• Sunni Ali became ruler in
1464, died 1492
• He conquered Mali
• Worked to unify,
strengthen and expand
the empire
• Encouraged all people in his
empire to work together,
brought peace and stability
Leaders: Askia the Great
• The people of Songhai wanted a
Muslim king, so some of them
rebelled
• The rebels defeated the nonMuslim king (Sunni Ali’s son)
• The rebel leader Muhammad
Ture became king- he was
called Askia the Great
Askia the Great
Leaders: Askia the Great
Pilgrimage to Mecca
• Askia was a devoted
Muslim and he helped
spread Islam
• Invented specialized
government offices
and a professional
army
• Education flourished
under his rule
• Many schools and
mosques were built
Religion
• Islam
• Songhai becomes a
center of Islamic
learning under Askia
the Great
• Askia created a new
set of Islam-influenced
laws in Songhai that
matched laws
throughout the Sahara
desert
Trade
• Salt and gold trade
• Most of the traders in Songhai were Muslim
• Other people wanted to control Songhai’s
great trading cities, Timbuktu, Gao and Djenne
Decline
• A northern neighbor, Morocco, invaded
Songhai to get to their salt mines and gold
• Moroccans even brought a form of gun called an
arquebus to fight Songhai
• Songhai’s warriors couldn’t compete with this
new weapon technology
• Songhai lost Timbuktu and Gao
Arquebus
Decline, continued
• Songhai became
weak without its
main trading cities
• Trade patterns
changed and
port cities (cities
that sat next to
the ocean)
became the new
centers of trade
Review Questions
• Why did the people of Songhai overthrow
Sunni Baru?
a. They thought that because he was not a
Muslim, they would lose trade and power.
b. Sunni Baru was a weak leader who made his
people suffer.
c. Sunni Baru was trying to convert the people in
the empire to Christianity.
d. They did not want to be ruled by the son of
Sunni Ali.
Review Questions
• What are two lasting governmental
inventions of Askia the Great?
a. income taxes and toll roads
b. specialized government offices and a
permanent professional army
c. public holidays and public schools
d. government-owned companies and the
sales tax
Review Questions
• Why did Morocco invade Songhai?
a. Morocco wanted to use captured Songhai
citizens as slaves.
b. Songhai merchants had taken over
many of Morocco’s trading partners.
c. The Moroccans were after Songhai’s rich
deposits of gold and salt.
d. The Moroccans thought that the askias of
Songhai were converting to Christianity.
Review Questions
•
The two West African rulers who were most
responsible for the spread of Islam were
a.
b.
c.
d.
Sunni Ali and Mansa Musa
Sundiata and Sunni Ali
Ibn Battutah and Leo Africanus
Mansa Musa and Askia the Great
 Hint (look in your Leaders box-- both made a
pilgrimage to Mecca!)
Review Questions
• Which of the following did not contribute to
the collapse of the Songhai Empire?
a. Moroccan troops looted and destroyed the
major Songhai cities.
b. Masses of Songhai people were taken
away and sold into slavery.
c. Trade patterns changed, shifting more to sea
routes rather than through Songhai land.
d. Europeans arrived and then took much of the
West African gold when they left.
Review Questions
• What is an arquebus?
a. a large boat used to carry people across
the Niger River.
b. a large deposit of a valuable blue
mineral.
c. a large animal that the Moroccans used
to carry goods
d. an early form of a gun