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Beffa 4 The Songhai Empire Alex Beffa Global History April 9, 2012 Beffa three or more The Songhai, also known as the Songhay, has not been only the last, but as well the largest and greatest disposition of traditional western Africa among 1000 and 1600 votre. i The previous empire was your Mali empire. Songhai was just a client state at the port of Gao, that was a major trading port for trans-Saharan control especially because it is located around the Niger river.

When the Mali empire began to decline in the 14 a century, the Songhai ruler declared freedom. i The Songhai empire was the many thriving western world African disposition for many causes but key ones are: the kings Sunni Ali and Muhammad Ture and also the conquering with the city of Timbuktu. Sunni Ali became ruler in 1464. He would not waste any moment waiting to begin with expanding. Soon after coming to electric power, he visited conquer the truly great trading port of Timbuktu from the Tuareg raiders. After Timbuktu was his, Sunni Ali’s armies went southern to the port of Jenne. In 1480, he attacked the Mossi states southern of the Niger river.

He had a strong military background which in turn helped him become one of the best conquerers and leaders in African disposition history until this point. His best property was his naval skills which is mostly likely why he typically conquered plug-ins along the Niger river. Among his key advancements was your the creation of a paperwork. This allowed the Songhai to be a more centralized disposition than the earlier empires of Ghana and Mali. To assist get the Muslim support, Sunni Ali believed to be a Muslim, though this individual never genuinely left the traditional beliefs supposedly due to the belief it turned out the source of his supernatural powers in battle.

In 1492, after having a successful cure, according for some oral customs, Sunni Ali drowned although crossing the Niger riv. Still other folks refuse to recognize this theory, insisting that he passed away in challenge. His reign was by 1464-1492. When Sunni Ali died, one among his daughters named Sunni Barou overtook. iii Sadly, unlike his father, Sunni Barou would not claim to always be Muslim but rather embraced the old tradition. This did not check out very well with the Muslim community in the disposition. Not long following taking the throne, Sunni Barou was overthrown by a very faithful muslim named Muhammad Ture.

Created around 1440, he was a very ruthless Delusione 4 monster. He also want in terms of to eliminate the rest of Sunni Ali’s family. As for his way of governing, the Islamic religion played a big part. He assumed that the pass on of islam was extremely important for two factors. One, he was a passionate muslim and felt that everyone must be. And second, he observed Islam as a way to unify the empire. He organized his own bureaucracy with 10 providences and an supervisor for each. This allowed him to guideline very successfully over a huge empire.

To reduce chances of a rebellion, Muhammad Ture probably would not allow the nobleman of the overcome to keep their very own power but instead he would replace these members of his own family. In 1495, Muhammad decided to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Contrary to other rulers, he was capable to leave pertaining to long periods of time because of how extremely stable his government was. After his journey, he felt the necessity to expand the empire. The moment Sunni Ali had died, a good number of the states Sunni Ali got conquered experienced declared freedom.

It was approximately muhammad to reassert the Songhai’s control over these territories. He had no problem with taking place an almost continuous military cure for near to two decades. Just like Sunni Ali, Muhammad Ture also extended the navy. After a army life like that, he was lucky to be around to experience old age. In 1528 Muhammad was so well older that he had lost the drive to keep the conquests. Also started to go blind, so his son Farimundyo Musa took over. Farimundyo Musa changed call him by his name to Askia Musa which is where the Askia dynasty originates from.

Askia Letras was assassinated in 1531 by one of his friends. Since Muhammad Ture was Islamic and education is actually a big a part of Islam, Muhammad obviously supported education. The University of Timbuktu was one of the first schools in all of Africa. It attracted many scholars, largely Islamic. Control helped provide prosperity towards the Songhai Disposition as well as these other advances. 4 Timbuktu has not been only, a major trading place, but likewise an educational capital. It had a big impact on the Songhai empire.

Simply by conquering this kind of major port early on inside the Songhai empire’s life, that established sort of foundation. Simply by controlling this kind of port together with a few other important cities, they basically dominated the trans-Saharan trade. Timbuktu Beffa several was founded by nomads from the Tuareg inside the early 12 th 100 years. In its early days, Timbuktu was thought to be second-rate to different major trading ports pertaining to trans-Saharan trade such as the metropolitan areas of Bekwai, ghana or Walata because they were more impressive. It did not consider long to change people’s thoughts.

Timbuktu as well as sister town Jenne, that was also soon conquered by Songhai, had been in greater position for the gold field than Walata. Another element in the rise of timbuktu was the nomad arabs that had been raiding caravans along the traditional western routes. In turn, more persons had been taking eastern tracks through Timbuktu. Finally, probably the most signif icant reason timbuktu was these kinds of a major dock, Timbuktu was on a level where 3 major trans-Saharan routes gone: the Mauritanian, Taghaza salt road, plus the route to In Salah using Arawan. Two of the most important key imports and exports from the Songhai empire were sodium and precious metal, but different items included slaves, ivory, cotton fabrics, grains, and ostrich down. vi To Timbuktu specifically, the major types were gold, salt, slaves, and kola nuts. It came from it mines inside the Sahara. The gold originated in Bure, Bambuk, and Tetao. The others, kola nuts and slaves were kinda of wide spread, originating from several spots and in demand at a lot more. Naturally being a major trading port, Timbuktu had ethnic diffusion.

Islamic ideas had been passed about especially when Muhammad Ture was at power. vii In 1591 a Moroccan force overthrew the last california king of the Songhai empire, hence ending the reign of the greatest european African disposition between 1100 and 1600. viii They took the capital at Gao and then moved on to timbuktu. ix It might make sense that trade would be the Songhai’s forte since when the Mali disposition was still in power, the Songhai was obviously a major trading spot with the city of Gao. And the big emphasis on having a great navy blue would likewise make sense taking into consideration they are situated on the Niger river.

The major reasons behind such an substantial and booming empire were the well-organized government, combined with outstanding kings, and never having a financial crisis simply because they conquered cities like Timbuktu and Jenne right from the start. Beffa some Bibliography Fritze, Ronald. “Timbuktu. ” In World History: Old and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2004-. Seen April sixteen, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. com/. Insoll, Timothy A. “Trade , Disposition.  Archeaology 53, no . 6 (november 2000): forty eight MAS Ultra-School Edition, Ebscohost (accessed March 5, 2012). Page, Willie F.

Encyclopedia of Photography equipment History and Culture. USA: A Learning Resource Book, 2001 William, Oscar. “Songhai Empire.  On planet History: Ancient and Middle ages Eras. ABCCLIO, 2004-. Accessed February five, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abcclio. com/search/display/601432? terms=songhai Universe History: Historic and Middle ages Eras, h. v. “Africa, 3000 BCE-1500 BCE,  ac cessed February some, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abcclio. com/search/display/588506? terms=medieval+africa+songhai World History: Old and Middle ages Eras, s i9000. v. “Askia dynasty, inch accessed The spring 16, 2012. http://ancienthistory. bc-clio. com/. World History: Old and Ancient Eras, s. v. “Muhammad Ture, ” accessed 04 15, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. com/. Globe History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, s. v. “Sunni Ali, inches accessed 04 8, http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. com/. 2012. we Oscar Bill. “Songhai Empire.  On planet History: Old and Ancient Eras. ABC- CLIO, 2004-. Accessed Feb . 5, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. com/search/display/601432? terms=songhai ii Universe History: Old and Old Eras, t. v. “Sunni Ali, inches accessed The spring 15, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. om/. iii World Background: Ancient and Medieval Eras, s. sixth is v. “Sunni Ali,  4 World Background: Ancient and Medieval Eras, s. versus. “Muhammad Ture, ” reached April 12-15, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. com/. v Ronald Fritze. “Timbuktu. ” On planet History: Historical and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2004-. Reached April sixteen, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. com/. vi Globe History: Old and Old Eras, h. v. “Muhammad Ture,  vii Fritze viii Community History: Ancient and Ancient Eras, h. v. “Askia dynasty, inch accessed 04 16, 2012. http://ancienthistory. abc-clio. com/. ix Fritze

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