HOLY CROSS HIGH SCHOOL

GRADE 10
HISTORY NOTES

Mr Kezhara. A

SONGHAI: An African Empire in the 15th and 16th Centuries

Important concepts

• Empire

• Oral Tradition

• Federation

• Mansa

• Caravans

• Civil war

• Absolute rulers

How African Kingdoms became powerful.

✓ Great Kingdoms emerged from about the year of 700 AD , in West Africa

✓ These kingdoms became powerful due to their control in gold and salt across the

Sahara Desert.

✓ Salt was valued because it preserved meat ,especially in the hot climates of Africa.

✓ Gold mined in West Africa had a huge market in the Arab world and as well in Europe.

✓ Arab traders were the link between Africa and the outside world.

✓ Trade routes across the Mediterranean desert took gold out of West Africa and

brought salt in ( to west Africa).

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✓ The Kingdoms that controlled trade routes became rich and powerful.

✓ The first of these was Ghana, followed by Mali and finally Songhai.

✓ Songhai as a kingdom became wealthy through trade.

Government and Society in Songhai

✓ In the middle of the 14th century, the Empire of Mali was at the height of its power .

✓ It was a federation of kingdoms which had been conquered and were controlled by

Mansa Musa, (a King of Mali in West Africa) who ruled the empire for 25 years.

✓ An Empire is defined as a group of countries or territories ruled by a single person

(emperor or empress).

✓ The emperor will be the chief of the state.

✓ Under Emperor Mansa Musa , knowledge of wealth of Mali spread throughout the

Arab world and parts of Europe.

✓ However, after Musa’s death , central control of the empire started to decline.

✓ The empire began to break up as different kingdoms broke away.

✓ One of these kingdoms was called Songhai.

✓ It had become wealthy through trade in the 13th century.

✓ It however became more powerful when Sonni Ali became its first king in 1464.

✓ As the Songhai King ,Sonni Ali was a great military leader.

✓ He was a brilliant administrator.

✓ He tolerated indigenous African religion.

✓ Sonni Ali used fleets of war canoes and a cavalry ( soldiers on horseback) of skilled

riders to take over a large area of land and build a big empire.

✓ Its capital was Gao.

✓ Most people lived on small farms , but there were also large cities like Gao ,

Timbuktu and D’jenne.

✓ These cities were very wealthy centres for trade across the Sahara .

✓ A later King , Askia Mohammed 1 became king in 1493.

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✓ Mohammed led military campaigns to further extend the Songhai empire.

✓ He created an efficient system of administration with separate ministries to look after

the different sections of government.

✓ Local chiefs could control their own areas but had to accept that they did so under

Songhai rule.

✓ They collected tax from local people but had to pay tribute to the King of Songhai as

well

✓ This was a sign of loyalty to the King.

✓ In return , the King would offer them support including military support.

✓ Askia Mohammed also developed new system of laws and taxation.

✓ He encouraged scholarship and learning.

✓ He took control of gold and salt mines .

✓ He also divided the empire into four parts and chose a viceroy to preside over each .

✓ A viceroy is an official who rules in place of a king or empire.

✓ This promoted peace , unity , stability and growth within the empire.

✓ He would marry his own daughters and nieces off to his subject chiefs and high

dignitaries , governors and judges.

✓ This also brought the empire together.

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 Women in the Songhai society

✓ They participated in several activities.

✓ Some were traders and worked in the markets as men.

✓ Wealthy women were very educated.

✓ They had control over their own property and resources.

✓ However, there was strong opposition of women by Muslim scholars.

✓ They did not want women to be independent.

✓ The rights of women became restricted in the 16th and 17th centuries.

✓ Poor women often worked as servants in wealthier households .

✓ A few were slaves and some were kept for sexual services.

Travel and Trade in Songhai society.

✓ Askia Muhammed 1 , and the kings that came after him , built a large army .

✓ The army kept order and sanity in the empire.

✓ Trade was carried peacefully throughout the empire.

✓ Over time, the gold and salt trade expanded to include trade in European cloth ,

weapons and horses.

✓ These were exchanged for slaves , leather goods and ivory from western Africa.

✓ Huge caravans of trade goods regularly crossed the Sahara Desert in both directions.

✓ Caravans are groups pf traders travelling together across a desert , usually by camel.

✓ Because of this trade , places like Timbuktu became commercial and cultural centres

where merchants ( traders) from North Africa , the Mediterranean and Europe came to

trade.

✓ Arab scholars and traders also lived in Timbuktu and Djenne at this time.

✓ They linked the Songhai empire to the extensive Muslim trading networks of Africa ,

the ,Mediterranean and Asia.

✓ A uniform system of weights and measures to regulate trade were put in place.

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Learning and culture in Songhai society.

✓ Arab traders had brought Islam to Africa in the 8th Century.

✓ Islam is a religion based on the teachings of the prophet Muhammed.

✓ A Muslim is a person who believes in Islam.

✓ Many African kingdoms and traders accepted and adopted Muslim ideas , learning,

and religion.

✓ At that time, Arab knowledge of mathematics, medicine and science were very

advanced.

✓ Askia Muhammed ,( a devout Islam) , welcomed Islamic scholars to Timbuktu which

was the centre of learning and culture in Songhai.

✓ Timbuktu was a vibrant centre for researchers and scholars .

✓ It had one of the first universities in the world.

✓ Scholars and traders from many countries went there .

✓ Gao and Djenne became well known centres of learning with impressive libraries .

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 The fall of the Songhai empire

Question : Explain the factors that contributed to the fall of the Songhai empire.
✓ After Askia Muhammed’s death, there was a considerable period of peace and
prosperity.
✓ However , during the 16th century, the Songhai Kings were losing control over the
empire.
✓ They could no longer control the trade and it declined.
✓ The struggle for power between kings led to a disastrous civil war which contributed to
weakening the empire.
✓ At the same time , Portuguese explorers had interest around the coast of west Africa.
✓ They established very strong trading centres in West Africa hence the existing trade
patterns in Songhai were affected.
✓ This worsened the already difficult situation in the empire’s trade activities.
✓ Small kingdoms were now trading directly with the Portuguese.
✓ However , the reason for the fall of the Songhai empire was Gunpowder ( an attack by
the Moroccan army on Songhai in 1591).
✓ Gunpowder refers to explosive material used to shoot bullets from guns.
✓ Although the Songhai army of 40 000 soldiers was ten times larger , it could not
match the guns and cannons of the Moroccans.
✓ The Songhai army was defeated, and resistance collapsed.
✓ Cities like Gao, Timbuktu and Djenne were destroyed by the Moroccan army.
✓ However , the Moroccans struggled to maintain control of the empire that they had
admired for its wealth and good environment.
✓ They withdrew after 25 years , leaving a mixture of separate independent kingdoms.
✓ By 1600 Songhai lost its position as major power on the African continent.

The End

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