Sunni Ali was still organising his conquests into an effective empire when on his way home from an expedition against the Fulani in 1492, he was drowned in some mysterious circumstances. By the time he died Sonhai was the most powerful state in the western and central Sudan.

Comprising many different peoples under an effective administration. In spite of his achievements, however, Sunni Ali was a subject of controversy among the Sudanese chroniclers. ne of these writers called him “an impious monarch and horrible tyrant.” Another described him as “ A sanguinary despot who slaughtered so many thousands of people that God alone knows their number; he was cruel to pious and wise, he humiliated them and put them to death”.

On the other hand at least one of the chrnoniclers was pro Sunni Ali. “He surpassed all the kings, his predecessors, in numbers and valour of his soldiers he wrote, “his conquest were many and his renowned extended from the rising to the setting of the sun, if it is the will of God, he will be long spoken of.” Sunni Ali was certainly long spoken of by the Sudanese scholars but, alas, in controversial terms.

It is known that Sunni Ali was so busy about the affairs of this world that he paid litter attention to Islam. Indeed it was believed that he was a pagan. Therefore to the Muslim chroniclers who saw the promotion of Islam as the greatest duty of any ruler, Sunni Ali was bound to appear impious and a Sanguinary despot.

In spite of the testimony of the chrnoniclers however, the Ghanaian scholar Adu Boahene has described Sunni Ali as “easily the greatest of the rulers who ever mounted the throne of Gao. He laid the solid foundation on which his immediate successor built.” His verdict was that Sunni AU was “a clever politician, a brave soldier and an able administrator.”

Perhaps it was so for after all Sunni Ali is, to this day, more revered by the Songhai people of the present day Republic of Niger than any of the ancient rulers of the Songhai Empire.

Songhai under Mohammed Askia The Great

When Sunni Ali died in 1492, he was succeeded by his son Abu Bakr Dao.  He reigned for only a little over a year and was overthrown in a coup d’etat organised by Sunni Ali’s trusted Serahule general and prime minister, Mohammed Ture Ibn Ibi Bakr or Askia Mohammed who achieved so much in his long reign between 1493 and 1528 that he earned the title “Great”.

As one would expect, the first problem tackled by Askia Mohammed was that of legitimizing himself on the throne and ensuring that his children would rule in Songhai.  He achieved this in two ways.  First of all, he either killed or expelled from the Empire all the surviving members of the two previous ruling dynasties, the Za dynasty that had founded Gao and had ruled till 1275, and the Sunni dynasty that had ruled until 1493.

Askia Mohammed was so successful in this that the “Askia” dynasty he founded continued to rule in Songhai until the fall of the Empire.

After consolidating himself on the throne Askia Mohammed tried to win the support and allegiance of his people through the use of Islam which, he realised, could be strong unifying force.  Immediately after his accession to the throne, he courted the friendship of the Muslims whom he and his former master Sunni Ali had persecuted.

He appointed many of them as court advisers: To crown these efforts Askia Muhammed went on the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1497.  This pilgrimage to Mecca was organised on a scale that reminded one of that of Mansa Musa of Manding.  For instance he was said to have been accompanied by 1,000 infantry, and 500 horsemen carrying huge amounts of gold.  He spent huge amounts of gold on alms, presents and on a hostel which he bought in Cairo for the use of Sudanese pilgrims going to and returning from Mecca.

In recognition of his strict adherence to and promotion of Islam, Askia Muhammed was awarded the title “Caliph of the backs” by the Sharif of Mecca and he thus became the acknowledged Islamic leader of the Western Sudan.  Like Mansa Musa before him, Askia Mohammed returned from the pilgrimage with a number of celebrated Islamic scholars.  These served the Empire as educators, administrators, advisers, and judges.  As more Muslims were attracted to Songhai, so relations with the Muslim world improved, and this meant more trade and prosperity for Songhai.

The next problem tackled by Askia Mohammed was that of consolidating and extending the conquests of Sunni Ali.

With a well-trained and fully equipped army, he began his conquests by marching south and attacking the Mossi.  Though he failed to defeat the Mossi, like Sunni Ali before him, he was nevertheless able to strengthen he hold of Songhai on the southern regions.

From the south, he turned westwards and attacked and conquered what remained of the Kingdom of Manding after a war lasting thirteen years.  From the west, he marched eastwards and reconquered Agadez and reduced the Hausa states of Kano, Katsina and Zamfara to tributary state of the Songhai empire.  In the north, he also consolidated Ali’s conquest and extended Songhai political sway into the Sahara as far north as the salt mining centre of Taghaza.

Administration

To consolidate the territorial gains made himself and his predecessor, Askia Mohammed set up an electorate system of administration.  He first abolished the existing political divisions and redivided his entire empire into four regions and at the head of each he placed a governor.  Local rulers still had authority but they were responsible to the regional governors.

Askia Mohammed also placed judges in the main towns throughout the empire.  In metropolitan Songhai itself, the king held direct control of the machinery of government.  He appointed council of ministers that assisted him in ruling not only metropolitan Songhai but the entire empire.  These ministers included the Balama or minister of defence, “the Fari Mundya” or Minister of Finance, the “Korey-farma” or Minister of Foreign Affairs and the “Bari Farma” or minister in charge or rivers, lakes and fisheries.

All these positions in the government were filled with people who were either from the kings’ own family or had married into it and he could depose any of them at any time.

Source of Imperial Revenue

To meet the cost of an administrative machinery of this magnitude and complexity as well as maintain a standing army, Askia Mohammed established reliable source of Income.  The most important of these sources were the royal estates established throughout the empire and worked by slaves under a “Fanfa” or estate manager.  Each estate had to produce a fixed quantity of a particular commodity per year.  

For instance, his estate called Abda in the province of Dendi, which had 200 slaves under four managers had to produce a fixed amount of rice per year; some had to produce corn and others bales of dried fish.  He also had certain groups of slaves who were craftsmen and had to produce a fixed number of say boats, arrows, or spears per year to maintain the army and navy.  Some were sold to replenish the imperial treasury.

The second main source of income was tribute from vassal states as well as from taxes on farmers and above all from customs duties.

To ensure maximum income from tolls and customs duties, Askia Mohammed did everything to promote trade and commerce.  He made sure that the trade routes were safe by rigidly controlling the troublesome Tuareg.  Furthermore he unified the system of weights and measures throughout the empire and appointed inspectors for all the important markets to check any falsification.  

The result of these measures was that trade boomed.  The commercial activities of Songhai were centred on its three main cities.  These were Timbuctu which controlled commercial relations with the west and northwest, Gao which served the regions to the east and north east like Kano, Tripoli and Egypt and Jenne which was the centre for internal commerce.  These towns also became important centres of industry.  The main exports of Songhai remained the traditional ones of gold, ivory and slaves, while her leading imports were salt from Taghaza and horses from North Africa. The medium of exchange was the usual cowries, though Leo Africanus noticed that gold coins, without any stamp, were in circulation in Timbuctu.

Education

Another great achievement of Askia Mohammed lay in the field of education.  Askia Mohammed, especially after his return from the pilgrimage to Mecca, encouraged the spread of education to a degree unparalleled in the history of the western Sudan.  Askia Muhammed cared not only for the material but also the spiritual development of his subjects.  

Hence, from the time of his return from Mecca till his death he did everything in his power to see that Islam was purified and education and learning were promoted.

For the purification of Islam, Askia Mohammed attacked illiteracy and saw to it that the ritual prayers and other duties of Muslims such as fasting and alms giving were observed and insisted that women should go about veiled.  He also ensured that his officials imposed no illegal taxes and that Judges gave Judgement according to the laws of the Islamic Sharia.

Perhaps more memorable and successful was Askia Mohammed’s encouragement of higher education.  As a result of the peace and order that prevailed in the empire, scholars and professors were attracted to Timbucu which became a great educational centre.  There were as many as 150 koranic schools in Timbuctu alone and university education were provided in the mosque of Sankore.  The University of Sankore produced a great number of distinguished jurists, historians and theologians.

One of them, already mentioned, was Mohammed Kati and another was the celebrated scholar Ahmad Baba who contributed to the literature of the western Sudan a biographical dictionary and as many as fifty books on Islamic Law.

This, then, was the picture of Songhai at the peak of its power in the sixteenth century.  Peace, order and security reigned, commerce boomed, Islam was purified and learning and intellectual activities flourished.  However, by the end of that very century, some sixty years after the death of Askia Mohammed, the largest empire ever created in Tropical Africa had faded out of the stage of history.

Decline and fall of Songhai

Askia Mohammed’s long reign marked the climax of the greatness of Songhai.  Many of the successors of Askia the great could not cope with the problems which contributed to the decline and final collapse of the empire at the close of the sixteenth century.

Various reasons have been given for the fall of the empire of Songhai.  To the Serahule writer Muhmud Kati Songhai collapses mainly because of internal weakness.  The Ghanaian scholar, Adu Boahene, rejects the view of internal weakness as causing the collapse of Songhai, and states that “when the Empire of Songhai did fall it was essentially due to external rather than to internal decline”.

Both views seem to underrate either the internal or external forces at work which contributed to the final collapse of the Songhai Empire.  The evidence would suggest newthat external factors precipitated the collapse of the Empire which had been weakened by many internal stresses.