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However, the city of Timbuktu entered a brief period of rule under the Tuaregs before it fell to the Songhai people. Despite major shifts in power, Timbuktu generally flourished until the Moroccans invaded the Songhai Empire in 1590 and began to occupy Timbuktu in 1591, after the Battle of Tondibi. In 1593, many of the city's scholars were ...
Oualata was a tributary of the Songhai Empire; also reflected within Africanus' book Descrittione dell’Africa explaining "In my time this region was conquered by the king of Timbuktu and the prince of Oualata fled into the deserts, whereof the king granted him peace conditionally that he pay great yearly tribute and so the prince has remained ...
Timbuktu, often referred to as the "City of 333 Saints," [1] is a historic city located in northern Mali. It was once a major center of Islamic scholarship and trade during the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire. [2] Timbuktu is renowned for its historic mosques, ancient manuscripts, and vibrant cultural heritage.
The original Songhai Empire only included the area from the region of Timbuktu to the east of Gao. Provinces were created after a military expansion under Sonni Ali and Askiya, whose territory was divided into three military zones:
By this time it had become a major centre of learning in the area. In the first half of the 15th century the Tuareg tribes took control of the city for a short period until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468. The Moroccan army defeated the Songhai in 1591, and made Timbuktu, rather than Gao, their capital.
The first settlers to move back here from Gao were the Sonni dynasty in 1493 followed by the Askia dynasty in 1591 who also settled here and further south in the Dendiganda and established smaller kingdoms after the invasion of the Songhai Empire by the Saadi dynasty of Morocco. [6]: 445 [7] [8] Songhai after the Moroccan invasion.
Map of the Pashalik of Timbuktu (yellow-striped) as part of the Saadi dynasty of Morocco (outlined black) within the Songhai Empire (outlined red), c. 1591 The Mali Empire and surrounding states, c. 1625
The Tomb of Askia, a 17-meter pyramidal structure built by Askia Mohamed in 1495 in Gao, symbolizes the Songhai Empire's power and wealth from the 15th to 16th centuries. It exemplifies West African Sahel's monumental mud-building traditions, featuring two flat-roofed mosque buildings, the mosque cemetery, and an open-air assembly ground.