Early Sudanic States

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Ghana Empire
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• It is believed to be the first of many
  empires that would rise in that part of Africa.
  
• It first began in the eighth century, when a
  dramatic shift in the economy of the Sahel area
  south of the Sahara allowed more centralized
  states to form.

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• Ghana's preeminence faded toward the end of the
  eleventh century, when its power was broken by a
  long struggle with the Almoravids led by Abdullah
  ibn Yasin.

• The Almoravid Muslim Empire

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Mali Empire
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Mali

• The Mali Empire was a medieval West African state
  of the Mandinka from c. 1235 to c. 1610.
  
• The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and
  became renowned for the wealth of its rulers,
  especially Mansa Musa I.
  
• The Mali Empire had many profound cultural
  influences on West Africa allowing the spread of
  its language, laws and customs along the Niger
  River.

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Sundiata

• Mali emerged against the back-drop of a declining
  of Ghana under the dynamic leadership of Sundiata
  of the Keita clan.
  
• But the region he took over had a past rich in
  trade and powerful rulers.

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Mansa Musa

• In the 13th year of his reign (1324), he set out
  on his famous pilgrimage to Mecca.
  
• It was this pilgrimage that awakened the world to
  the stupendous wealth of Mali.
  
• Traveling from his capital of Niani on the Upper
  Niger River to Cairo, Mansa Musa was accompanied
  by a caravan consisting of 60,000 men.
  
• He also brought with him 80 camels loaded with
  300 pounds of gold each.

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Mali was an Islamic Empire

• Islamic Mosque at Djenne

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Islamic University in Mali

• The Muslim city of Timbuktu was a center of
  learning and scholarship.

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• Gao would become the capital of Songhai Empire

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Songhai Empire
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Songhai

• The Songhai Empire was a pre-colonial African
  state centered in eastern Mali.
  
• From the early 15th to the late 16th century,
  Songhai was one of the largest African empires in
  history.
  
• This empire bore the same name as its leading
  ethnic group, the Songhai.
  
• Its capital was the city of Gao, where a small
  Songhai state had existed since the 11th century.
  
  
• Its base of power was on the bend of the Niger
  River.

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Sunni Ali

• When Sunni Ali came to power, Songhai was a small
  kingdom in the western Sudan.
  
• But during his twenty-eight-year reign, it grew
  into the largest, most powerful empire in West
  Africa. Painting by Leo Dillon.

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Muhammed Ture/Askia the Great
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Decline of Sonhai

• But in 1591 Morocco invaded Songhai.
• Although the invaders were not very numerous,
  perhaps 4,000 men, they were armed with firearms,
  not yet seen in West Africa, and thus possessed
  an enormous advantage over their more
  traditionally equipped foes.

• Ahmad al-Mansur (1549-1603)