The Songhai Empire: Gold, Griots, and the Glory of West Africa
The Songhai Empire: Gold, Griots, and the Glory of West Africa
Blog Article
In the shadow of the Sahara,
where the Niger River bends with grace,
rose one of Africa’s greatest empires: Songhai.
From the 15th to 16th century,
Songhai dominated West Africa —
in wealth, wisdom, and warfare.
It succeeded the Mali Empire,
but quickly surpassed it in size and strength.
Under leaders like Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad,
Songhai controlled trade routes that stretched from salt mines to gold fields,
from forest kingdoms to Mediterranean ports.
Timbuktu — a name that still evokes legend —
was its crown jewel.
There, scholars debated theology and science.
Libraries housed thousands of manuscripts —
astronomy, law, medicine, poetry.
I opened 안전한카지노 while zooming into digitized pages of a 16th-century text from Timbuktu.
Ink, not armies, was the soul of this empire.
Griots — oral historians —
sang the lineage of kings,
the battles fought,
the peace made.
Songhai’s administration was sophisticated.
It minted coins, kept records, and divided territory efficiently.
But in 1591, the empire fell to a Moroccan invasion
armed with gunpowder weapons.
Timbuktu was plundered.
The golden era ended.
Through 카지노사이트, I posted a painting of a scholar beneath a mosque’s shadow,
captioned: “Knowledge built this kingdom.”
The Songhai Empire reminds us:
Africa’s greatness was not hidden —
it was vibrant, literate, and global.