Africa Mini-Lesson

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Africa Mini-Lesson

• By
• Evan Schreiber,
• Colin Seitz,
• Neil Appleton

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The Songhai Build an Empire

• As the empire of Mali was reaching its height,
  the Songhai kingdom was growing
• by 1300s Songhai became rich and powerful
• Strong enough to draw attention to Malis rulers
• Mansa Musa sent army to defeat Songhai

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The Birth of the Empire

• Malis government grew weaker, people of Songhai
  rose up and gained freedom
• Before conquered by Mali, leaders of Songhai were
  Muslims so they shared a religion with the
  Berbers
• Because they shared religion Berbers were willing
  to trade with Songhai
• This got Songhai to grow richer

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Growth and Conquest

• Songhai grew richer from Sahara trade expanded
  territory
• Gradually this built an empire
• Songhais growth was work of Sunni Ali
• leader in 1464 and worked to unify, strengthen,
  and enlarge the kingdom
• Much of land got from Mali
• In 1468 Mali asked Sunni Ali to help fight off
  Tuareg invaders

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Growth and Conquest

• Ali agreed to help but when he drove out the
  invaders he kept city for himself
• There he launched attacks to Djenne
• Ali encourage everyone to
• work together
• build peace between religions
• participate in both Muslim and local religions
• As result he brought peace to Songhai

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Quiz

• What was the Songhais capital?
• Gao
• Timbuktu
• Djenne
• Niger
• 2. Who did the Songhai trade with in the Sahara?
• Griots
• Askias
• Berbers
• Kentes
• 3. What religion did most of the Songhai
  practice?
• Christian
• Muslim
• Hindu
• Judaism

• 4. How did the religion help trade in the
  Trans-Saharan trade?
• Muslims wanted to build peace with Africans
• The traders shared the religion with the Songhai
• Both traders needed resources so religion was
  disregarded
• The religion caused a fight among traders
• 5. How did Sunni Ali build peace within
  religions?
• He required everybody to be Muslim
• He required everybody to follow local religions
• He demanded everybody must stop practicing any
  religions
• He practiced both Muslim and local religions to
  keep everybody happy