african kingdoms: the rise of sonni ali 'ber' and the sonni dynasty

when did sonni ali take power?

1464

what does 'ber' mean in sonni ali 'ber'

'ber' is an epithet for 'great' (sonni ali 'the great')

define 'dynasty'

a line of hereditary or blood-related rulers of a state, kingdom, empire etc. can effectively be thought of as a 'ruling family' or 'house'

main way sonni ali consolidated his power was through:

taking control of the main cities brutally and militarily (e.g. taking timbuktu from the tuareg nomads at the behest of the ulema or the 7 year siege of djenné)

examples of sonni ali's brutality include: (during the takeover of timbuktu)

-enslaving muslims
-driving mothers to committing infanticide
-executing daughters of rival lords in kabara

how did sonni ali secure control of djenné

7 year siege + kinship (marrying the ruler so tying the kingdom to songhai through familial means)

did sonni ali have legitimacy?

yes because:
-through hereditary means as he was related to sonni souleyman dam
-through his military prowess
-religious backing of the ulema
however:
-ethical argument as he seized power immorally

when did sonni ali capture timbuktu?

1468

religion of sonni ali:

-professed himself to be muslim yet his practices didnt show as such.
-he was largely syncretic in his beliefs, integrating aspects of animism and islam. al-maghili a berber scholar accused him of practices such as venerating trees and stones, black magic, fortune tellers.
-didnt implement shari'ah law in songhai
-didnt pray according to sunnah (e.g. saying maghrib maghrib for the maghrib prayer)
-didnt clamp down on islamic malpractice in songhai
-but repressed the ulema very harshly from 1468-73 and then 1477-85 after a brief reconciliation as he viewed ulema as more loyal to the tuaregs rather than the songhai

why did he pursue this religious policy?

-could be laziness/ unwillingness to practice islam
-appeal to rural traditional populations who were animist/ more tentative to accept islam
-ulema were simply an elite minority, everyone else would support this
-not concerned with religion, more military minded

other military achievements of sonni ali:

capturing the peoples of dogon, soninke, made and tuareg during his 28 year reign

what did these conquests rely on?

-organisation: each province had a governor controlling the military in his region
-technology: troops fought with metal breastplates, knives, sabres, lances, bows, arrows, cavalry, battle canoes

politics and organisation of sonni ali:

ali organised empire into provinces each with one chief who recognised his authority with 8 provinces and 3 royal residences

names of the eight provinces:

bara, dirma, bani, kala, tondi, katala, baghena, taraton

names of the royal residences:

kukyia, kabara, dirma

what was the political model of songhai?

suzerainty: provinces had some autonomy as long as they paid allegiance to the suzerain in some form of tribute

core of songhai:

djenné, gao (where the empire was run from), timbuktu

the periphery:

the outer, loosely controlled parts of the empire

who were the sounna?

an imperial council of military leaders

system for taxation as laid out by sonni ali:

organised individual farmers into villages who were collectively responsible for paying tribute/tax to ruler

governors of provinces were known as:

farma

types of farma were:

fari-mondiyo (overseer of royal estates + taxes)
jenne-montiyo (overseer of djenné)
yubo-kol (chief of the market)

niger related offices:

goima-koi (harbourmaster)
hi-koi (chief of boats)

military offices:

rabb al tariq: (commander of foot soldiers)
baray-koi (commander of cavalry)