The Askia Dynasty
Askia Muhammad’s rule is usually represented as the high point of the Songhay Empire. The territory claimed by the empire extended hundreds of kilometers north into the Sahara Desert to the salt mines of Taghaza and to Agades, east to the borders of Hausaland, and south to the River Bani.
During Askia Muhammad’s reign, commerce is said to have expanded as peace and security were established, and Muslim scholars found themselves favored by the court. In 1529, after a reign of more than 35 years, Askia Muhammad was deposed by one of his sons and sent to live out his life on an island in the Niger River called Kangaga. For the next 20 years, power was contested by many claimants to the throne and Songhay seemed to be in decline. But with the emergence of Askia Dawud as ruler in 1549 (he ruled until 1582), Songhay gained another period of stable rule that the chronicles recognize as a period of prosperity. Askia Dawud was the most politically successful of AskiaTable 23.1 Rulers of the Songhay Empire
| Sunni Sulaymän Däma | r. ?-1464 |
| Sunni Ali Ber | r. 1464-1492 |
| Sunni Bäru Däo | r. 1492-1493 |
| Askia al-hajj Muhammad | r. 1493-1529 |
| Askiya Musa | r. 1529-1531 |
| Askia Muhammad Bonkorra | ,r. 1531-1537 |
| Askia Ismä'il | r. 1537-1539 |
| Askia Ishäq Ber | r. 1539-1549 |
| Askia Däwüd | r. 1549-1583 |
| Askia Muhammad al- Häjj | r. 1582-1586 |
| Askia Muhammad Bäni | r. 1586-1588 |
| Askia Ishäq II | r. 1588-1592 |
| Askiya Muhammad Gao | r. 1592 |
| Askia Nüh | r. 1592-1599 |
another excursion to what is today Mauritania, the Moroccans turned their sights on the Niger Bend and sent an expeditionary force to try to enforce Moroccan claims to the whole region.
Under the leadership of a Spanish eunuch named Jawdar, the Moroccans succeeded in crossing the Sahara and reaching the Niger River in February 1591. On March 17, 1591, they were engaged by Songhay forces near Tondibi, 48 kilometers north of Gao. According to the Ta’rikh al-Sudan, the Moroccan force consisted of 3,000 musketeers, both mounted and on foot; the Songhay army was 12,500 cavalry and 30,000 infantry.[1691] The superiority of the Moroccan weapons was a factor in their victory (Songhay did not arm its soldiers with guns), although again according to the Ta’rikh al-Sudan, the bigger problem was that Songhay leaders were poorly prepared for the battle because they did not believe that the Moroccan army posed much of a threat. After the battle, the defeated Songhay forces retreated to the southeast, where they reconstituted themselves and resisted the Moroccan presence in the Niger Bend for a time. However, the Songhay state was never able to reconstitute itself on the scale it had known previously. A new collection of small polities emerged in its place, controlled by the Moroccan invaders and their descendants who remained in the Niger Bend. This state is known to historians as the Arma, named after the Moroccan riflemen (Arabic ruma) who defeated Songhay. Within several decades of the conquest of the Niger Bend, this state had become more or less independent of Moroccan control, and the social and political elite descended from the Moroccan conquerors—the Arma—had become Songhay speakers. However, the Arma Pashalik never rivaled the Songhay Empire in terms of scale or power. It suffered from internal divisions and competed with rival Tuareg, Arab, and Fulbe groups for regional hegemony.
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