The basis of the Songhai Empire’s wealth was much the same as for the kingdoms that preceded it: salt, cloth, and gold. Sunni Ali’s program of annexation greatly expanded Songhai. Growth continued under his successors, especially Askia the Great, who used Islam to further his control and brought Songhai into its golden age. Not only did its rulers consolidate state control over trans-Saharan trade, but they also made the empire an unparalleled center of Islamic learning and study in West Africa. The great cities of Timbuktu and Djenné drew merchants and traders engaged in the caravan trade from across Africa, while their grand mosques and schools made them magnets for pilgrims and scholars from across the Islamic world. Askia the Great’s successors could not maintain control of the empire, however, and in the sixteenth century, Songhai was defeated by Saadi forces from Morocco seeking to gain control of the trans-Saharan caravan routes.

All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/3-2-the-songhai-empire

Welcome to A Journey into Human History.

This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.

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Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production.