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The Songhai Empire was a state located in the western part of the ... Sonni Ali increased the wealth of the Songhai Empire, which at its height would surpass the ...
The Askiya dynasty, also known as the Askia dynasty, ruled the Songhai Empire at the height of that state's power. It was founded in 1493 by Askia Mohammad I, a general of the Songhai Empire who usurped the Sonni dynasty.
Extent of the Songhai Empire. Askia Muhammad Ture I (1443–1538), born Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Turi [a] or Muhammad Ture, was the first ruler of the Askia dynasty of the Songhai Empire, reigning from 1493 to 1528. He is also known as Askia the Great, and his name in modern Songhai is Mamar Kassey.
The Zā dynasty (also rendered Dya, Zuwā, Zu’a, Juwā, Jā’, Yā, Diā, and Diu’a, sometimes equated with the Zaghe) were rulers of the Gao Empire based in the towns of Kukiya and Gao on the Niger River in what is today modern Mali; and rulers of the Songhai Empire through Sunni Ali, son of Za Yasibaya (Yasiboi), who established the Sonni Dynasty.
Askia Mohammed was the first Askia emperor and expanded the Songhai Empire. As a devoted Muslim, he felt obligated to make his pilgrimage to Mecca, which he returned from in 1495. He brought back with him the materials to make his tomb; all of the mud and wood came from Mecca. The caravan is said to have consisted of "thousands of camels".
Beginning with his father's deposition in 1528, the Songhai empire was shaken by a series of succession disputes until his brother Askia Ishaq I was peacefully elected Askia in 1539. [ 8 ] Dawud was appointed Kurmina-fari , a very powerful position ruling over the western half of the empire.
Estimates of the Songhai force range from 18,000 cavalry and 9,700 foot soldiers (according to the Tarikh al-fattash), to 12,500 cavalry and 30,000 infantry. [1] In any case, they outnumbered their opponents. Though the Songhai had a powerful cavalry, they lacked the Moroccans' gunpowder weapons, which would turn the tide of the battle. [2]
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.