SONGHAI• Use your Empires

Chart to take notes on– 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 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

Sunni Ali

Leaders: Askia the Great

• The people of Songhai wanted a Muslim king, so some of them rebelled

• The rebels defeated the non-Muslim 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• 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

Pilgrimage to Mecca

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. Sunni Ali and Mansa Musa

b. Sundiata and Sunni Ali

c. Ibn Battutah and Leo Africanus

d. 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