Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire was a large state in West Africa, centered on the middle Niger River with its capital at Gao. It rose under Sunni Ali, who built a powerful army and a river fleet, and captured the trading cities of Timbuktu and Djenné from the declining Mali Empire. His successor Askia Muhammad organized the empire into provinces, promoted Islam and made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca. Timbuktu became a major center of Islamic scholarship, and the empire controlled trade in gold and salt across the Sahara. In the late sixteenth century, a Moroccan army equipped with firearms crossed the desert and defeated the Songhai at the Battle of Tondibi. The empire broke up into smaller states.

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