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Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies

The Songhay Empire c.1450–1591: importance of Timbuktu and reasons for decline

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on importance of Timbuktu, the economy, including gold, salt, agriculture, trade, slavery, taxation, Islam and traditional religion, jihad, reasons for decline of Songhay Empire particularly succession crises.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

How did Islam and traditional religion coexist in the empire?

Who and when

What role did succession disputes play in weakening Songhay?

Key term

Name the two commodities that formed the backbone of Songhay's long-distance trade.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why was Timbuktu famous as a centre of learning?

    Model answer

    Its mosques, above all Sankore, supported hundreds of teachers and thousands of students in Islamic law, theology and grammar, and its trade in manuscripts made books one of the city's most valuable commodities.

  2. 2

    Name the two commodities that formed the backbone of Songhay's long-distance trade.

    Model answer

    Gold, brought north from the forest goldfields, and salt, mined in the Sahara at Taghaza and carried south, were the two staples of Songhay's trans-Saharan commerce.

  3. 3

    Apart from long-distance trade, what were the main sources of Songhay's wealth?

    Model answer

    Taxes and tolls on caravans and markets, grain farming on the Niger flood plain, and the labour of enslaved people settled in royal villages that fed the court and the army.

  4. 4

    How did Islam and traditional religion coexist in the empire?

    Model answer

    Islam was the religion of the court, the merchants and the towns and gave the state its law and prestige, while most rural subjects kept traditional beliefs, and rulers drew on both to hold a diverse empire together.

  5. 5

    Against whom did Askia Muhammad declare jihad, and why does it matter?

    Model answer

    He declared jihad on the Mossi kingdoms to the south around 1498; the campaign showed him using religious authority to justify expansion and to bind the clerical class to his dynasty.

  6. 6

    How far did Songhay expand, and how secure were its outer provinces?

    Model answer

    At its height it stretched from the Atlantic borderlands across the Niger bend to the Hausa states and the Saharan oases, but distant client states such as Kebbi paid tribute only while the army was near and broke away when it was not.

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