Which kings led songhai

Instead he centralized the bureaucracy, appointing virtually all of the mayors and provincial governors, established Sharia law throughout the empire, expanded Sankore University in Timbuktu and built numerous schools through Songhai.

Askia Muhammad Toure also strengthened political and cultural ties with the rest of the Muslim world, encouraging the immigration of scholars and skilled workers from Arabia , Egypt , Morocco and Muslim Spain.

He was the first West African ruler to allow the exchange of ambassadors with these and other Muslim states. That period of peace and stability ended in when a civil war created an opportunity for Morocco Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi to send an army to conquer Songhai. Al-Mansur hoped to control the West African gold fields and establish himself as the Caliph of Sudan. The Songhai fell back in confusion particularly after Ishaq was killed by the Taureg who were allied with the Moroccans.

The Moroccan Army, however, soon realized that conquering Songhai was far easier than governing it. Constant rebellions and resistance and shortages of supplies forced Morocco to send additional resources across the Sahara. Faced with these logistical problems and the near impossibility of controlling the gold mines which prompted the initial invasion, the Moroccans withdrew from the region in The Songhai Empire started out as a fishing and trading center on the Niger River in a place called Gao where West African and Muslim traders visited often.

Just like Ghana and Mali , the Songhai people were influenced by Islam, and many people even converted. For many years, Songhai people were ruled for many years by Mali , and were forced to pay taxes. In addition, Songhai people were forced to kneel before Mali kings as a sign of submission.

One of the sons, Prince Ali Kolon , accepted his education but always was very angry towards Mali. He was not a devout Muslim. Sunni Ali had a daring plan to conquer Mali which involved using his navy to control the Niger River and using his army to conquer the trading cities of Jenne and Timbuktu.

Passing traders and a growing population in the Asante towns demanded increasing supplies of food. The slave trade with the Portuguese continued until the early s. The Akan people supplied the Portuguese with slaves to work on sugar plantations in Brazil. A small number of slaves were kept in the Asante kingdom. However, by this period, the Atlantic slave trade dominated trade with West Africa. Kingdoms like the Asante and Dahomey used their power to raid societies like the Bambara, Mende, and Fulanis for slaves.

The kingdom of Benin is the only known kingdom in West Africa to abolish slave trading in Benin. The slave trade ban was succesful and forced the Portuguese to search for slaves elsewhere in West Africa.

However, Dutch traders took over the role. From the s the Dutch dominated the West african and Atlantic Slave trade. The Portuguese and Dutch governments were unable to colonise West African kingdoms because they were too strong and well organised. As a result, the slave and ivory, rubber and gold trades remained under the control of Asante, Fon, and Kongo kingdoms.

In , the British government abolished the slave trade. Because West African kingdoms did not co-operate with the British, the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean continued. However, the slave trade declined in areas where the British had influence, for example the Gold Coast.

Industrial development in Britain led to increasing trade with West Africa in agricultural products like palm oil, rubber, and cocoa. To supply Britain with these products, the Asante kingdom kept the slaves they had captured for the Atlantic slave trade and used them as farm workers instead. This led to the growth of slavery in West Africa because each kingdom wanted to profit from this new trade.

West African slavery came to a slow end towards the end of the 19th century when many of these kingdoms were colonised by the French and British. Former slaves became the landless lower classes. Due to the many rivers, which cross over each other, the main source of transport was by canoe. Unlike other West African states, Niger ones were different in character.

They were small states that maintained contact through war, trade and migrations. The Atlantic trade brought about great prosperity in this region. Their long history of internal trade had brought these small states together and led to economic growth of Bonny also known as Igbani and Warri states.

The Kingdom of Dahomey also known as the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey was the southern part of the Republic of Benin, a country that divides the dense forest of Nigeria from those of modern Ghana.

Dahomey was the most prominent coastal state in the region. It was ruled by a king on the authority of the queen mother who held the power to appoint an heir.

The king and queen mother ruled Dahomey from their capital Abomey. Dahomey began emerging as a great power in the early 18th century because of the slave trade. It also managed to overtake other coastal states competing for control of both the slave and inland trade.

The Fon army was unusual in West Africa because its soldiers were women feared by other neighbouring coastal states. In about there was a great demand from the West Indies sugar plantations for African slaves. The Fon people used their position as sea-merchants to ensure that they held a monopoly of the slave trade. The Dahomey kingdom also relied on its strong military to dominate weaker inland states and to conquer coastal states.

States looking to trade in the region were expected to pay a fixed amount of tax and fixed prices for slaves. Custom duties were paid in respect of each ship as well. By the 18th century the Fon king had absolute power and under his rule Dahomey became strong enough to capture neighbouring coastal states. The Fon were still paying tribute to the Oyo kingdom and this meant that they had to appease the Oyo with guns and other goods each year. In , Dahomey conquered the Oyo kingdom, and three years later they pushed south to Savi and Whyad, Jakin was taken in but it was only in that the Fon won complete control when Whydah became a Fon colony.

This ushered in control of the coast and even visiting Europeans had to gain prior permission to go ashore. The arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century in search of new trading opportunities changed the trade networks in West Africa. An important change was the new direction of the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean instead of the Sahara desert. This increased the power of small West African kingdoms like the Asante and Dahomey kingdoms.

It also contributed to the fall of the Songhai Empire, because the slave and gold trade were no longer going through the Songhai kingdom. As a result, the Songhai rulers could not claim tribute and taxes from these kingdoms. The other change came from the growing slave trade. Portugal, Spain, France and Britain were the key players in this slave trade, which lasted for more than years.

Because Portugal was the first to establish itself in the region and to enter treaties with West African kingdoms, it had the monopoly on the slave and gold trade. As a result, Portugal was responsible for transporting over 4. During the 18th century however, Britain was responsible for almost 2.

Due to expanding market opportunities in Europe and the Mediterranean, they increased trade across the Sahara and later gained access to the interior using the Senegal and Gambia River, which bisected long-standing trans-Saharan routes. The Portuguese brought in copper ware, cloth, tools, wine and horses and later included guns, in exchange for gold, pepper, slaves, and ivory.

The growing trade across the Atlantic came to be called the triangular trade system. The Atlantic Slave Trade also known as the triangular trade was a system of trade that revolved around three areas. The first point of the triangle would begin in Africa, where large shipments of people were taken across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas The Caribbean, North and South America to be sold to work in colonies on plantations as slaves. Once the slaves were offloaded in the Americas, the same ships would then load products from plantations such as sugar, cotton and tobacco.

These products would be sold in Europe. From Europe the ships would carry manufactured goods such as cloth, iron, rum and guns, which they would use in exchange for slaves and gold.

Most captured slaves were taken between and , from the West African interior with the co-operation of African kings and merchants.

There were occasional military campaigns organised by Europeans to capture slaves, especially by the Portuguese in what is now Angola.