Sonni ‘Alī

King of Songhai Empire (r. 1464-1492)

• Born: Middle fifteenth century
• Birthplace: Songhai Empire (now in Mali)
• Died: November 6, 1492
• Place of death: Gurma (now in Mali)

Sonni ՙAlī, a ruthless ruler but also an effective military strategist, laid the foundation for the expansion of the Songhai Empire into the last great state of the western Sudan. The empire would control major trade routes in the region through the sixteenth century.

Early Life

Little is known about the early life of Sonni ՙAlī (sawn-EE-ah-LEE), who would rule over the Songhai Empire , an ancient state that developed during the first millennium on the eastern bend of the Niger River. In the thirteenth century, the Songhai people were incorporated into the Mali Empire, but Malian power faded at the close of the fourteenth century, leaving the Songhai to expand their own empire. SonniՙAlī’s father earlier had raided and sacked the Malian capital.

Life’s Work

SonniՙAlī’s entire reign was devoted to warfare. He was an excellent strategist and tactician and had a gift for selecting capable officers to carry out his will. His martial abilities, combined with his reputation as a magician, gave him an aura of invincibility, an immense advantage in western Africa, where psychological warfare was often more decisive than having many warriors. He is said to have never lost a battle.

SonniՙAlī’s strategy of conquest centered on control of the Niger River and its banks, from which he made incursions inland. The key to SonniՙAlī’s success was mobility, and his most important battles took place usually on land that bordered the river. Songhai’s riverain navy consisted of warriors in large dugout canoes who served as marines, attacking from the water or on land as ferried infantrymen.

SonniՙAlī also used cavalry as part of his strategy of mobility. The cavalry provided land support for water-borne marine assaults and also made quick sorties inland. Cavalrymen were drawn from the Songhai nobility, with reckless bravery the surest avenue for advancement up the ranks of the officer corps. The king himself led the cavalry.

SonniՙAlī’s earliest campaigns were directed southward from the right bank of the Niger bend. Between 1464 and 1468, he attacked along a wide front, defeating the Dogon, Mossi, and Fulbe. Beyond its immediate rim, the southern front was raided more than it was conquered. SonniՙAlī struck deep into Mossi country (what is now Burkina Faso) on two occasions, returning with rich spoils. He could not hold land far from the powerful arm of the canoes, however.

The region to the southwest, upriver on the Niger, was vulnerable to conquest. Moving through the inland delta region, SonniՙAlī took the city of Jenne (Djenné) in 1473, a city that had controlled the interior trade routes for gold. Tradition states that the siege began seven years, seven months, and seven days before the fall of the city. After famine had ravaged both sides and the Songhai were preparing to withdraw, the starving city capitulated. Its people were accorded honors, and no massacre took place. SonniՙAlī married the mother of the city’s chief as a sign of respect.

Beyond Jenne lay the remnants of Mali, which Sonni ՙAlī attacked twice with mixed results. Songhai power proved overwhelming on the savanna, but in the tropical-forest region, Songhai cavalry could not be deployed effectively against the deadly Malian archers. Also, the canoes were hindered by a rough river. Ultimately, the Songhai annexed the area downriver of what is now called Ségou, which became an uneasy border between the two empires.

SonniՙAlī’s conquests on the north side of the Niger began in 1468, when he took the city of Timbuktu . In these battles, his major adversaries were the Tuareg, the tribal nomads of the Sahara. The Songhai military was not equipped to fight in the desert, as were the Tuareg, but in the cities, the Songhai prevailed and the Tuareg were vulnerable. Of the great cities that the Tuareg controlled, namely Timbuktu, Tadmekka, and Walata, SonniՙAlī was able to sack Timbuktu and destroy the ancient city of Tadmekka, scattering its inhabitants.

SonniՙAlī is best remembered for his conquest of Timbuktu. A large section of the city’s ulema, the ruling oligarchy of religious functionaries and scholars, left for self-imposed exile to Walata before the Songhai arrived. Sonni ՙAlī considered this a personal affront, and he vented his wrath on those who stayed behind, particularly the remaining ulema. Although the city offered no resistance, Timbuktu was put to the sword, pillaged, and partially burned.

During subsequent years, the breach SonniՙAlī had opened with the intellectuals of Timbuktu broadened, and the king continued to persecute the ulema. In this lopsided conflict, the ulema nevertheless had time on their side, so they defamed Sonni ՙAlī. Among the allegations recorded by chroniclers was that he castrated venerable old men and disemboweled pregnant women. In one anecdote, SonniՙAlī threw a baby into a grain mortar, forced the baby’s mother to grind her child to death with a pestle, and then fed the child’s remains to horses.

The devout Muslims of Timbuktu resented Sonni ՙAlī in another way. Although nominally Muslim, Sonni ՙAlī was one of the most famous magicians in African history, with charms as his specialty. He was thought to be able to turn himself into a vulture and to make his soldiers invisible. Much of his political power was based on his reputation both for magic and for being an intermediary between the corporeal and spiritual worlds.

In 1477, thousands of men dug a canal for the Songhai canoes to navigate to Walata. This was a huge undertaking, an effort that would have dwarfed the building of the Suez and Panama Canals had it been completed. Work continued until 1483, but when a Mossi raid distracted SonniՙAlī, he hurried off to meet the invaders. Work on the canal ended.

Significance

SonniՙAlī spent the last few years of his reign fighting in Gurma, south of the Niger bend. On November 6, 1492, as he was returning from a campaign against the Fulbe, he is reported to have drowned after falling from his horse while crossing a swollen river. Another account states that he was assassinated by one of his lieutenants, Mohammed Ture, who would become Songhai king Mohammed I Askia in 1493. Subsequently, Muhammed Ture overthrew SonniՙAlī’s son and established the Askia Dynasty by using the base established by Sonni ՙAlī, making the Songhai Empire the greatest state in sixteenth century Africa and one of the century’s largest empires not only in Africa but also in the world.

Bibliography

Hunwick, John. Shariՙa in Songhay. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Some years after Muhammad Ture assumed power, he interviewed a noted North African cleric with the intention of justifying his usurpation of the kingship. Embedded in Muhammad Ture’s questions is valuable information on SonniՙAlī’s life and reign.

Hunwick, John. Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sadi’s Ta’rikh al-Sudan Down to 1613 and Other Contemporary Documents. New York: E. J. Brill, 1999. From the don of Songhai studies, this work includes a lengthy interpretative essay and a fully annotated translation of the most important chronicle on the history of the Songhai. Sonni ՙAlī gets his own chapter. The place to start for research on this subject.

Kaba, Lansime. “The Pen, the Sword, and the Crown: Islam and Revolution in Songhay Reconsidered, 1464-1493.” Journal of African History 25 (1984): 241-256. Helpful analysis of SonniՙAlī’s reign, focusing on the rise of militant Islam and the resulting stress within the Songhai military that led to the end of Sunni Islam in Songhai.

Saad, Elias N. Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables, 1400-1900. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Assesses Sonni ՙAlī’s infamous struggle with the Timbuktu ulema.

Thornton, John K. Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800. London: UCL Press, 1999. Provides a good overview of West African warfare and a helpful description of the Songhai military.