Songhai people

For other uses, see Songhai.

Not to be confused with Songye people.

Songhai

A Songhai women in festival.
Total population
c. 8.4 million
Regions with significant populations
West Africa(Sahel) & North Africa
Niger	5,106,423 (21.2%)
Mali	1,984,114 (5.9%)
Benin	406,000 (2.9%)
Languages
Songhay languages (native Language), French, Arabic(Hassaniya Arabic, Algerian Arabic, Algerian Saharan Arabic, Sudanese Arabic), English language (colonial)
Religion
Predominantly Muslim

The Songhai people (also Ayneha, Songhay or Sonrai) are an ethnolinguistic group in West Africa who speak the various Songhai languages. Their history and lingua franca is linked to the Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century. Predominantly a Muslim community, the Songhai are found primarily throughout Niger and Mali in the Sahel and Sahara. The name Songhai was historically neither an ethnic nor linguistic designation, but a name for the ruling caste of the Songhai Empire which are the Songhai proper of Sonni and Askia decent found predominantly in present-day Niger. These people call themselves Ayneha. Although some Speakers in Mali have also adopted the name Songhay as an ethnic designation, other Songhay-speaking groups identify themselves by other ethnic terms such as Zarma (or Djerma, the largest subgroup) or Isawaghen. The dialect of Koyraboro Senni spoken in Gao is unintelligible to speakers of the Zarma dialect of Niger, according to at least one report. The Songhai languages are commonly taken to be Nilo-Saharan but this classification remains controversial. Nicolai considers the Songhai languages to be either Berber languages or a new subgroup of Semitic languages restructured under Mande and Nilo-Saharan influence. The lexicon of Songhai languages includes many complete lexical fields close to Berber languages. Dimmendaal (2008) believes that for now it is best considered an independent language family.

The Songhai are a Nilo-Saharan speaking group who have a long history of establishing and leading empires and kingdoms in the Sahel and Sahara regions. They are descended from the Za dynasty of the Gao Empire which later birthed the Sonni and Askia dynasties of the Songhai Empire, which was one of the largest contiguous land empires in history. Other notable Songhai-led states include the Dendi Kingdom, the Dosso Kingdom, and the Zabarma Emirates.

Proto-Songhay descended from Neolithic Saharan pastoralists in North Africa. These pastoralists formed the basis of the Tenerian culture in the Aïr Mountains, and over time absorbed elements from Afro-asiatic and Niger-Congo speaking populations.

The Songhay people are divided into two main groups: the Northern Songhay and the Southern Songhay. The Northern Songhay consist of Berberized pastoralists and nomads, such as the Idaksahak and Igdalen peoples, as well as inhabitants of the Oasis of the Sahara who cultivate date palms, such as the Belbali and Ingalkoyyu peoples. The Southern Songhay, located in the region known as the "hump of the camel" by historians, inhabit the loop of the Niger river and are known for their breeding of horses, camels, and cattle, as well as their farming of rice, millet, wheat, and tobacco. They are also skilled fishermen and hunters. The Southern Songhay includes the Zarma, Songhai proper, Arma and Dendi peoples. The Songhay are known for their military history, particularly their use of cavalry and their mastery of waterways. They converted to Islam in the 8th century through contact with Libyan Arab traders, and were among the first in West Africa to convert to Islam. They also played a role in the conversion of the Fulani people.

The Songhai cities of Timbuktu, Djenné, Gao are part of the World heritage for having been great intellectual and political historical centers of world renown.

History

za dynasty

Further information: za dynasty

The Za dynasty or Zuwa dynasty were rulers of a medieval kingdom based in the towns of Kukiya and Gao on the Niger River in what is today modern Mali. The Songhai people at large all descended from this kingdom. The most notable of them being the Zarma people of Niger who derive their name "Zarma (Za Hama)" from this dynasty, which means "the descendants of Za".

Al-Sadi's seventeenth century chronicle, the Tarikh al-Sudan, provides an early history of the Songhay as handed down by oral tradition. The chronicle reports that the legendary founder of the dynasty, Za Alayaman (also called Dialliaman), originally came from the Yemen and settled in the town of Kukiya. The town is believed to have been near the modern village of Bentiya on the eastern bank of the Niger River, north of the Fafa rapids, 134 km south east of Gao. Tombstones with Arabic inscriptions dating from the 14th and 15th centuries have been found in the area. Kukiya is also mentioned in the other important chronicle, the Tarikh al-fattash. The Tarikh al-Sudan relates that the 15th ruler, Za Kusoy, converted to Islam in the year 1009–1010 A.D. At some stage the kingdom or at least its political focus moved north to Gao. The kingdom of Gao capitalized on the growing trans-Saharan trade and grew into a small regional power before being conquered by the Mali Empire in the early 13th century.

Gao Empire and Gao saney

Further information: Gao-Saney

Further information: Gao Empire

Gao-Saney became well known among African historians because French administrators discovered here in a cave covered with sand in 1939 several finely carved marble stelae produced in Almeria in Southern Spain. Their inscriptions bear witness of three kings of a Muslim dynasty bearing as loan names the names of Muhammad and his two successors. From the dates of their deaths it appears that these kings of Gao ruled at the end of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth centuries CE. According to recent research, the Zaghe kings commemorated by the stelae are identical with the kings of the Za dynasty whose names were recorded by the chroniclers of Timbuktu in the Ta'rikh al-Sudan and in the Ta'rikh al-Fattash. Their Islamic loan name is in one case complemented by their African name. It is on the basis of their common ancestral name Zaghe corresponding to Za and the third royal name Yama b. Kama provided in addition to 'Umar b. al-Khattab that the identity between the Zaghe and the Za could be established.

Kings of Gao-Saney (1100 to 1120 CE)
Stelae of Gao-Saney		Ta'rīkh al-fattāsh	Ta'rīkh al-sūdān
Kings of the Zāghē	Date of death	Kings of the Zā	Kings of the Zā
Abū 'Abd Allāh Muhammad st. 1100	st. 1100	(16) Kotso-Dare	(16) Kusoy-Dare
Abū Bakr b. Quhāfa st. 1110	st. 1110	(17) Hizka-Zunku-Dam	(17) Hunabonua-Kodam
Umar b. al-Khattāb =

It appears from this table that Yama b. Kima (or 'Umar b. al-Khattab), the third king of the stelae of Gao-Saney, is identical with the 18th ruler of the list of Za kings. His name is given in the Ta'rikh al-Fattash (1665) as Yama-Kitsi and in the Ta'rikh al-Sudan (1655) as Biyu-Ki-Kima. On account of this identification the dynastic history of the Gao Empire can now to be established on a solid documentary basis. Apart from some Arabic epitaphs on tombstones discovered in 1939 at the cemetery of Gao-Saney (6 km to the east of the city) there are no surviving indigenous written records that date from before the middle of the 17th century. Our knowledge of the early history of the town relies on the writings of external Arabic geographers living in Morocco, Egypt and Andalusia, who never visited the region. These authors referred to the town as Kawkaw or Kuku. The two key 17th century chronicles, the Tarikh al-Sudan and the Tarikh al-Fattash, provide information on the town at the time of the Songhai Empire but they contain only vague indications on the time before. The chronicles do not, in general, acknowledge their sources. Their accounts for the earlier periods are almost certainly based on oral tradition and for events before the second half of the 15th century they are likely to be less reliable. For these earlier periods the two chronicles sometimes provide conflicting information. The earliest mention of Gao is by al-Khwārizmī who wrote in the first half of the 9th century. In the 9th century Gao was already an important regional power. Al-Yaqubi wrote in his Tarikh in around 872:

There is the kingdom of the Kawkaw, which is the greatest of the realms of the Sūdān, the most important and most powerful. All the kingdoms obey its king. Al-Kawkaw is the name of the town. Besides this there are a number of kingdoms of which the rulers pay allegiance to him and acknowledge his sovereignty, although they are kings in their own lands.

In the 10th century Gao was already Muslim and was described as consisting of two separate towns. Al-Muhallabi, who died in 990, wrote in a lost work quoted in the biographical dictionary compiled by Yaqut:

Their king pretends before his subject to be a Muslim and most of them pretend to be Muslims too. He has a town on the Nile [Niger], on the eastern bank, which is called Sarnāh, where there are markets and trading houses and to which there is continuous traffic from all parts. He has another town to the west of the Nile [Niger] where he and his men and those who have his confidence live. There is a mosque there where he prays but the communal prayer ground is between the two towns.

The archaeological evidence suggests that there were two settlements on the eastern bank of the Niger: Gao Ancien situated within the modern town, to the east of the Tomb of Askia, and the archaeological site of Gao-Saney (Sané in French) situated around 4 km to the east. The bed of the Wadi Gangaber passes to the south of the Gao-Saney occupation mound (tell) but to the north of Gao Ancien. The imported pottery and glass recovered from Gao-Saney suggest that the site was occupied between the 8th and 12th centuries. It is possible that Gao-Saney corresponds to Sarnāh of al-Muhallabi. Al-Bakri writing in 1068 also records the existence of two towns, but al-Idrisi writing in around 1154 does not. Both al-Muhallabi (see quote above) and al-Bakri situate Gao on the west (or right bank) of the Niger. The 17th century Tarikh al-Fattash also states that in the 10th century Gao was situated on the Gourma side (i.e. the west bank) of the river. A large sand dune, La Dune Rose, lies on the west bank opposite Gao, but at Koima, on the edge of the dune at a site 4 km north of Gao, surface deposits indicate a pre 9th century settlement. This could be the west bank Gao mentioned by 10th and 11th century authors. The site has not been excavated.

Al-Sadi in his Tarikh al-Sudan gives a slightly later date for the introduction of Islam. He lists 32 rulers of the Zuwa dynasty and states that in 1009–1010 A.D. the 15th ruler, Zuwa Kusoy, was the first to convert to Islam.

Towards the end of the 13th century Gao lost its independence and became part of the expanding Mali Empire. What happened to the Zuwa rulers is not recorded. Ibn Battuta visited Gao in 1353 when the town formed part of the Mali Empire. He arrived by boat from Timbuktu on his return journey from visiting the capital of the Empire:

Then I travelled to the town of Kawkaw, which is a great town on the Nīl [Niger], one of the finest, biggest, and most fertile cities of the Sūdān. There is much rice there, and milk, and chickens, and fish, and the cucumber, which has no like. Its people conduct their buying and selling with cowries, like the people of Mālī.

After staying a month in the town, Ibn Battuta left with a caravan for Takedda and from there headed north back across the Sahara to an oasis in Tuat with a large caravan that included 600 slave girls.

Rule of the Mali Empire

Further information: Mali Empire

Further information: Mansa Musa

Towards the end of the 13th century Gao lost its independence and became part of the expanding Mali Empire.

According to the Tarikh al-Sudan, the cities of Gao and Timbuktu submitted to Musa's rule as he traveled through on his return to Mali. According to one account given by Ibn Khaldun, Musa's general Saghmanja conquered Gao. The other account claims that Gao had been conquered during the reign of Mansa Sakura. Both of these accounts may be true, as Mali's control of Gao may have been weak, requiring powerful mansas to reassert their authority periodically. Both chronicles provide details on Ali Kulun (or Ali Golom) the founder of the Sunni dynasty. He revolted against the hegemony of the Mali Empire. A date is not given in the chronicles but the comment in the Tarikh al-fattash that the fifth ruler was in power at time when Mansa Musa made his pilgrimage suggests that Ali Kulun reigned around the end of the 14th century.

Both chronicles associate Ali Kulun (or Ali Golom) with the Mali court. The Tarikh al-Sudan relates that his father was Za Yasoboy, and as a son of a subordinate ruler of the Mali Empire, he had to serve the sultan of Mali.

The chronicles do not specify where the early rulers lived. As there is evidence that Gao remained under Mali control until the early fifteenth century, it is probably that the early Sunni rulers controlled a region to the south, with the town of Kukiya possibly serving as their capital. As the economic strength of Mali Empire relied on controlling routes across the Sahara, it would not have been necessary to control the area to the south of Gao.

Al-Sadi, the author of the Tarikh al-Sudan uses the word Sunni or Sonni for the name of the dynasty while the Tarikh al-fattash uses the forms chi and si'i. The word may have a Malinke origin meaning "a subordinate or confidant of the ruler".

Under the rule of Sunni Sulayman, the Songhai captured the Mema region to the west of Lake Débo.

Songhai Empire

Further information: Songhai Empire

Further information: Sunni dynasty

Further information: Askiya dynasty

In 1464 the Songhai seceded from the declining Mali Empire, the Songhai country regained its total independence. In 1464 Sunni Ali Ber said the Shi where Ali the great acceded to the throne of the kingdom of Gao which had just gained independence from Mali and founded the Sunni dynasty , a true military genius he had 400 ships built at the head of which he appointed an admiral, the Hikoy and made reform the land army, with an insatiable thirst for conquest he launches invading armies in all directions, the leader of these own military operations with genius leads 32 wars in 26 years, all of which he wins and extends his territory over a good part of the Sahel and the Maghreb, always victorious never defeated, he chased the Tuareg invaders from Timbuktu and annexed the city, they submitted and annexed the Berbers kingdoms of the North, annexed the Empire of Mali in full decline, submitted and annexed the gourma, submits the Dogon, submits the Almoravids and conquers the country of birou (Oualata), they submit the Soninke and conquers the heir kingdoms of the former Ghana Empire, he conquers of Djenné after 7 years of siege, he reformed the administration and created new provinces, the Songhai knew in his time a strong militarization and they remained the father of several organizations and military tactics that the kingdoms which would come after the Songhai Empire would use , especially the Fula and Tuareg, they died out in 1492 after 27 years and 4 months of reign. Sunni Baru succeeded on November 6 1492 to his father Sunni Ali on the imperial throne but only lasted a few months, he was dethroned by his cousin Askiya Mohammed in 12 April 1493 during the Battle of Anfao pushed by the Ulemas of Timbuktu who saw in Sunni Baru a follower of his father's rigorous military policy, defeated, he retired to the dendi where he founded a new kingdom. Askiya Mohammed son of Princess Kassay sister of Sunni Ali Ber and Abubakar a non-member of the Royal clan to occupy the positions of general in the army and governor of the province of Hombori before his coup d'etat of April 12, 1493 , they founded the Askiya dynasty and resumed the predatory policy of his uncle, the invading armies were sent in all directions, at his time the Songhai began a period of massive expansion. pious Muslims they indulged less in cruelty and spared scholars, these wars looked more like holy wars. to the west askia Mohamed annexes the Empire of Great Fulo by defeating koli tenguella, they annex the Jolof Empire, the kaabu, they conquer all the Mandinka territories and ransack niani the capital of Mali, they annex the Fouta Toro , the bakhounou , the kingdom of Diarra and submits all of Senegambia , the Songhai now extends over the western Atlantic coast . To the east, the Songhai armies annexed the Dendi founded by Sunni Baru, to the north they conquered the Berber kingdoms of Takedda and the Ayar sultanate, with the help of the kanta kebbi they conquered the Hausa Kingdoms and plunges towards the dense forest where it will be stopped by the climate and the geography not favorable to the Sahelian accustomed to the dry and hot ground, in the East the limits of Songhai are fixed by a border with the Kanem Empire in Central Africa, it scrambles with the kanta kebbi on a story of booty and the two separated, he attempted a conquest of the borgou but was repelled. In 1497 the askia Mohammed made a significant pilgrimage to Mecca where he received the title of Caliph of Sudan, returning he launches the holy war against nassere king of the Mossi and submits him, then makes the annexation of the gourma.

Demographic

The Songhai people primarily inhabit the Sahel/Sahara region of Africa, stretching from northern Mali to Sudan in the east and from southwestern Algeria to northern Nigeria and Benin, with a majority concentrated in Niger. They are the second largest ethnic group in Niger and also have significant populations in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and other coastal countries where they have migrated over time.

Niger

The Songhai, generally referred to as Zarma in Niger are the second largest ethnic group in Niger, making up approximately 23% of the population. There are over five million Songhai individuals in the country, with a majority residing in the regions of Tillabéri, Dosso and Niamey, the capital city. There are also significant populations living as nomadic pastoralists in the northern regions of Tillabéri, Agadez , Tahoua , Maradi Zinder. In Niger, the term "Songhai" is often used to specifically refer to the Songhai proper who are descendants of the Sonni and Askia dynasties, while the term "Zarma" is used to refer to the broader Songhai population. The two names are sometimes referred to collectively as Zarma-Songhai.

Within the Songhai in Niger, there are two main subgroups: farmer-breeders, who primarily engage in agriculture and animal husbandry, and pastoralists, who lead a nomadic lifestyle centered around herding camels. The farmer-breeder subgroup includes the Zarma, Dendi and Songhai proper, as well as smaller factions such as the Wogo and the Fulani-Songhai mixed group known as the Kurtey. The pastoralist subgroup includes the Idaksahak people, Igdalen people, Ingalkoyyu people.

Some Zarma-Songhai towns and villages include: Ayourou, Téra, Kokorou, Namaro, Dargol, karma, Diagourou, Mehana, Gothèye, Kollo, Dessa, Sinder, Kourteye, Boubon, Gorouol, Anzourou, Sakoira, Sikié, Ouallam, Simiri, Bani Bangou, Tondikiwindi, Damana, Tondikandia, Kollo, Hamdallaye, Kouré, Kirtachi, Dantchandou, Kiota, Libore, N'Dounga, Tiloa, Dingazi, Fabidji, Falmey, Koygolo, Harikanassou, N'Gonga, Mokko, Nikki Béri, Moussadey, Garankedey, Loga, Sandiré, Goroubankassam, Dioundiou, Gaya, Tanda, Bengou, Bana, Falwel, Sokorbé, Tessa, Yelou .

Oasis Town of In-Gall, Tegguiada In Tessoum

The cleric pastoralist group of Igdalen and iberogan camel herders occupies the east of the Tahoua Region, the west and south of the Agadez Region, the north of the Maradi Region, the north of the Zinder Region . their nomadization areas Includes the valleys of the azawagh, the irahzer, the azgueret, the plains of the talak, the Tamesna, the mountainous massif of the air, the high plateau of the Damagaram-mounio and the Damergou. their main centers of habitat and frequentation are:

Tamaya, Kokari , Akenzigi , Teggida N'adrar , Tiggerwit , Assaouas , In Gitane , Marandet , Aderbissinat , Tillia , Shadawanka , Abalak , Tofamanir , In Wagheur , Tchintabaraden , In Fagagan , Taza , Ibankar n'iklan , Telemcès , Dakoro , Bermo , Tagriss , Azagor , Tanout , Tarka

The other pastoralist group also present in Niger is that of the Idaksahak who nomadize with their herds of camels in the zarmaganda, the kourfeye, the imanan in the region of Tillabéri and in the azawak in the region of Tahoua. Their centers of habitat and frequentation are : Abala, Fillingué, Bonkoukou, Tarbiya.

Mali

Main articles: Regions of Mali, Cercles of Mali, Communes of Mali, Demographics of Mali, and List of cities in Mali

The North of Mali is the Historical Region of the Songhai People's.

The Songhai Numbering 1,984,114 people represents 6% of the population of Mali and is the 7th ethnic group in the country in terms of population .

The Songhai have always lived along the bend of the Niger River in Mali and constitute the most important ethnic group in Northern Mali before Tuareg, Arab and Fula.

In Mali the Songhai occupy the regions of Timbuktu, Gao, Mopti, they are the majority in the regions of Timbuktu and Gao and come second in the other two regions with Djenne, Hombori and kikara in Mopti and the nomads in Menaka .

The Sedentary Songhai subgroups of northern Mali are the Arma, the Songhai proper, the Songhayzed Fula and the Muslim [[Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)|Songhayzed Jews) generally called koyraboro (the townspeople) as opposed to the Nomads called gandjiboro (the people of the bush).

The cities of Timbuktu, Gao, Djenne and Hombori constitute the large centers of Songhai habitation in Mali, they constitute the majority population of these cities and the ruling class

Places

Niafunké, Banikane Narhawa, Dianké, Fittouga, Koumaïra, Léré, N'Gorkou, Soboundou, Soumpi, Arham, Binga, Bourem Sidi Amar, Dangha, Diré, Garbakoïra, Haïbongo, Kirchamba, Kondi, Sareyamou, Tienkour, Tindirma, Adarmalane, Alzounoub, Bintagoungou, Douékiré, Doukouria, Essakane, Gargando, Goundam, Issa Bery, Kaneye, M'Bouna, Razelma, Télé, Tilemsi, Tin Aicha, Tonka Alafia, Ber, Bourem-Inaly, Lafia, Salam, Bambara Maoudé, Banikane, Gossi, Hamzakoma, Haribomo, Inadiatafane, Ouinerden, Rharous, Séréré, Ansongo, Bara, Bourra (Tassiga), Ouattagouna, Talataye, Tessit, Tin-Hama, Bamba, Bourem, Taboye, Tarkint, Temera, Bagnadji, Batal, Berrah, Forgho Arma, Forgho Songhai, Kochakarey, Kokorom, Magnadoué, Seina, Zindiga Anchawadi (Djebock), Gabero (Haoussa Foulane), Gounzoureye (Wabaria), Tacharane, Arhabou, Sidibé, N'Tillit, Sony Aliber, Tilemsi, Labbezenga,Douentza, Gandamia (Kikara), Hombori, Dirma (Ambiri), Youwarou .

Percentage of Songhay people distribution in all major countries combined

  Niger (77.2%)

  Mali (18.3%)

  Benin (4.5%)

Niger

• Zarma people
• Songhai proper
• Wogo people
• Kurtey people
• Igdalen people
• Ingalkoyyu people
• Arma people

Algeria

• Belbali people

Mali

• Arma people
• Idaksahak people

Benin

• Dendi people

Sudan

• Zarma people(zabarmawi)

Ethnicity

The Songhai people are made up of several ethnic groups, themselves made up of several subgroups and clans. If some ethnic groups are recognized as being of authentic Songhai descent, others have become so by assimilation throughout history through various means, the za dynasty or zaghe remains the backbone to which it all has become to aggregate. If the tarikh and the oral tradition evoke a southern Arabian origin of the dynasty (probably from the kingdom of axum which dominated southern Arabia at the time when the zaghe settled in the sahel and whose names of the sovereigns resemble those of the za) and that European researchers see rather a Berber origin, the origin of the Za dynasty remains unclear as the classification of the Songhai language and the resolution of one of the dilemmas will bring that of the other.

Southern Songhai People

speakers of Southern Songhay languages (Sahel, Sahara, Horn of Africa)

• In the 11th century a tension leads to a division of the dynasty into two branches, an eastern branch having continued to lead the Empire of Gao and at the origin of the Sunni dynasty and Askiya dynasty and a dissident western branch which migrated to the region of Timbuktu . The development of the Gao Empire and the rise of the songhai commercial towns of the loop of the Niger allowed the installation in Songhai country of traders of various origins (Mandé, sanhadja, soninké, Tuareg, Peulh, Arabs...) who at the time was married and assimilated to the indigenous Songhai population . In the 8th century traders of Arab origin brought Islam to Songhai and cities like Timbuktu and Gao became poles of knowledge attracting even more people, the peak of the confluence of people on the bend of the Niger begins with the Mali Empire and continues with the native Songhai Empire which promotes the installation of Arab families from the Near East and Sephardic Jews of Sahara Expert in agriculture converted to Islam by the Askiya emperors, all these newcomers at the time of the power of Songhai, adopt the language of the leaders and are assimilated by the Songhai, an urban elite called koyrabore (people of the city) is formed in the big cities with the Koyra Chiini (Timbuktu) and Koyraboro Senni (Gao) dialects of Songhai as a language, it is to this category of Songhai that belongs Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti, Mahmud Kati and others . slaves brought from conquered countries are also assimilated to the culture of the country by their Songhai masters .
• The conquest of Djenne by Sonni Ali Ber was the starting point for the assimilation to Songhai of the populations of the region, the installation of garrison, the marriage between Sonni ali ber and the queen of Djenné, the importance of Djenné in As a market and center of knowledge, many Songhai migrated to the area, the newcomers made their language the main language of the city and all the Eastern Mandé peoples and Eastern Macina Fula assimilated into Songhai koyraboro and created a new variety of Songhai, the Djenné Chiini derived from Koyra Chiini.
• the Moroccans (Bedouin, Berbers) and renegade Spaniards, Portuguese, French, English of the army of the Saadian sultanate who invaded the Songhai Empire in 1500 was made up solely of men dispersed in garrison to call kasbah throughout the Songhai country (Forgho, Bourem , ha, hamakulaji....), The death of a good part of the songhai warriors at the battle of tondibi left many songhai widows, the saadian army being made up only of men, the saadian soldiers therefore marry the widows of the songhai who died and fled.their descendants from this interbreeding were absorbed by the songhai as a subgroup called Arma people , the Arma whose name derives from the Arabic word ar-rumah: rifleman, skirmishers, armada will lead the Niger loop with the pashalik of Timbuktu as a Sahelian province of the Saadi Sultanate of Morocco, the arma occupy the positions of Gao alkaydo (caid of Gao) and pasha of Timbuktu, they form since the fall of the Songhay Empire until the colonization the elite of the cities of Gao and Timbuktu, they are divided into several clans according to their origins, the Markashi (nobility) originating from Marrakech, the Fasi originating from Fez, the Filali originating from Tafilalet, the hala comprising the Bedouin tribes, the andalu comprising the European soldiers, they are part of Songhay Koyreboro and speak Koyra Chiini and Koyraboro Senni dialect.
• many Fula migrated from the historical regions of Macina and Fouta Toro to settle in Songhai country between Timbuktu Gao and Tillaberie, they adopted the Koyra Chiini and Koyraboro Senni dialects of Songhay as their mother tongue and abandoned the Peulh language, adopted the culture of the central Sahara of the Songhay and Arab-Tuareg but kept pastoralism and the Fulani clan names, and set up in the Gourma powerful chiefdoms, the most important group are the Gabero whose name comes from the Songhay Gaw Bero (the big village ), name which was given to them by the Arma people they are integrated into songhay koyraboro .They are established in large villages like Bazi, Hausa Fulane (fula from the right bank) with a social stratification similar to those of the Songhay, Tuareg and Arabs, the Tukulor occupation in Djenne and Timbuktu also brought back to songhay country several Tukulor came tu fouta toro, others came from the Sokoto caliphate for studies. all these Fulani are linguistically and culturally integrated into Songhay .
• The military expansions of the Gao Empire and Songhai Empire will bring the establishment of garrisons and songhai colony further in the lands of the right bank of the Niger river called Gourma or Aribinda on the lands of the Mandé , Dogon people and Gur peoples , The songhai people political entities will subjugate the region and create a province there, the Hombori, the city of Hombori at the foot of the Mount Hombori (Hombori tondo in songhai) will remain since the Songhai Empire the most important center of Songhai establishment on the right bank, the emperor askia Mohamed before are ascension will hold the position of Homborikoy governor of hombori province. from Hombori the Songhai will launch raids on the local Mandé and Gur populations, forcing many, including the Dogons to take refuge in the mountains, much safer to flee the Songhai slave hunters and escape the domination of the Gao emperors, with the fall from the Songhai Empire several princes of the Sunni dynasty and Askiya dynasty will come With their suites this refugees in the region, hombori remains the Center of power in the gourma but several principalities will be established by the newcomers, the Songhai of hombori speak the Songhai dialect to call Humburi Senni , the city of hombori is known for its ancient architecture made up of old stone houses with maze-shaped streets and defensive purpose against Arab slave hunters. The Songhai of Hombori will swarm to the north of present-day Burkina Faso ( Sahel Region ), where refusing to submit to the Mossi chief and moving each time With their spears of war, they will be named Marensés by the Mossi, which means 'those who refuse this submit to the chief', in the north of Burkina the towns and villages generally bear Songhai ( Gorom Gorom , Markoye ..) names, during their stories in the region they are either in alliance or at war With the Tuaregs of Oudalan, the Mossi kingdom, the Fulani Emirate of Liptako, the Jelgodji who was subject to them before freeing themselves from them, the Songhai of Jelgodji have been largely absorbed by their former Fulani shepherds, they are neighbors of the Zarma of the Tera region and their dialects resemble each other, more to the west of hombori, Songhai populations settled at the foot of the gandamia massif and founded the village of kikara where they speak the Tondi Songway Kiini (the Songhai language of the mountains), the Songhai population is called tondisongway (Mountain Songhai).
• A political conflict between the Pasha of Timbuktu and the Spanish Arma garrison of the Kasbah of Bamba leads to a war between the Pasha Al Harir allied with the Tuareg Tademekat and the Bamba garrison allied with the Tuareg Oudalan, the Pasha is victorious in the Kasbah of Bamba and the garrison of bamba and their oudalan allies leave the loop of the Niger to settle in the Sahel region in the north of Burkina Faso, the garrison is integrated as a tribe into the Tuareg imouchag of Oudalan and has taken the name of alkasseybatan which means: those of the Kasbah, their descendants who have become Tuareg today continue to speak the Songhai dialect of Timbuktu as their mother tongue.
• The western zaghe separated from the eastern zaghe began during the Songhai Empire a migration from their location in the dirma near Timbuktu to the East under the leadership of the patriarch divided into 7 clans following conflict with other groups, they begin a pastoral migration which will bring them to the west of the current Republic of Niger, they are at the origin of the Zarma people and the idaksahak according to oral tradition, the Sambo patriarch is described as the ishak brother, the ancestors of the idaksahak, on their arrival they settled on the plateau which they baptized zarmaganda (the heart of the zarma) and found on the spot Songhai and non-Songhai clans which they assimilated, with the fall of the Songhai Empire, princes of songhai took refuge in the south and linked up with the zarmas, at the time of the clan zarmas separated from those of zarmaganda to occupy the various other parts of western Niger, the waazi occupied the plateau of zidji and founded the kingdom of Dosso, the sega where tobili occupies the valley of the boboye where they hunt the mossi of the East, the fahmey occupies the plateau of the fakara, the kogori and the namari occupy the valley of the river and call all the region zarmatarey( the country of the zarmas), he thus founded two groups of distinct principalities, the principalities of zarmaganda and the principalities of zarmatarey, the zarma groups of zarmaganda are called kalley and those of zarmatarey golley, each principality is led by a zarmakoy whose power is symbolized by a drum of wars called toubal.
• After the seizure of power by Askya Mohamed, the deposed emperor sonni barou and his suite settled in the Dendi where they founded ayorou, joined by the Askya with the Moroccan invasion, they founded together several principalities (Téra, Namaro, kokorou, Dargol, Sikié, Gothèye, gorouol, Karma.. ) in the right bank (gourma) on the plateau of liptako-Gourma in front of zarmaganda and zarmatarey that he will baptize sonhoy (The Songhai) in memory of their fallen empire and call themselves sonhoyboro (Songhai proper) he speaks Songhoyboro Ciine dialects of zarma arrived in the gourma they found it occupied by the gourmantché whom they hunted for some, and assimilated by slavery or by neighborhood for others, it constitutes a subgroup of the zarma, because they also descend from za where zaghe, they are the political and military allies of their cousins of zarmatarey and zarmaganda during all the wars against the Sokoto Empire, the Tuareg confederations and during the zarma invasions on the voltaic plateau.
• Fulani clans from macina under the leadership of their leader Malick settled near the proper songhai of the river and assimilated linguistically and ethnically to them to form a new songhai sub-group called Kurtey people, the name kurtey derives from songhai kuru (herd ) and teh (it is realizing), when the men returned from the war the women cried kurutey: the herd its realizing. the kourtey were born from the Fulani and Songhai interbreeding, the kourtey generally live on the islands of the river and were once known for their raids on the neighboring populations, they arrived on the canoes to take away man, cattle, gold.
• the neighborhood between the Tuareg tribes of the river and the Songhai of the Sunni dynasty to bring an assimilation by interbreeding of several of these Tuareg clan to the Songhai from which they adopted the language and to develop their own dialect the wogo ciine and to form a subgroup of Songhai included among the zarma, the Wogo people , they occupy the islands of the river between tillaberie and gao, the largest islands are Ayorou (Niger) and Boura (Mali) some have spread to northern Nigeria at zaria kala kala
• Upon their arrival in the west of present-day Niger, the western zaghe found the northern Hausa who are the kurfey, the gubey, the arawa in addition to the formerly established songhay groups, their arrival and dispersion on the plateaus of zarmaganda and zarmatarey with the establishment of powerful chiefdoms to cause a division in two of the Hausa of the north, a large part of them integrated into the zarma by joining them while keeping their own clan name, adopted the songhay dialect of the zarma, the culture and the political and social organization of the zarma, the kurfey assimilated to the zarma of zarmaganda adopt the name sudje which is the Songhay appellation of the kurfey, the arawa arrived on the banks of the river with their chief mawrikoy neyni assimilated to all the songhay groups and took the mawri name which is the songhay name of the arawa, it's the Maouri people , the gubey assimilated to the zarma waazi of dosso, kept their gubey name and also created a new country with principalities, the Songhay and the Hausa therefore share the Maouri people , Kurfey and Gubay groups.
• The migration of the princes of the Askiya dynasty after their defeats at tondibi and the conquest of songhai by the Saadi Sultanate of Morocco to bring some of its princes further south to the southern tip of Niger and the extreme north of Benin present on both banks of the Niger River where they met Gur populations such as the Tyenga and Hausa groups whom they assimilated and made them adopt Songhai as their language, the Songhai princes in alliance with the Kyenga people and Hausa established principalities in Gaya which remains the most important, in bana, in bengou, in tanda for the extreme south of Niger, certain princes crossed the river Niger for the extreme north of Benin where they established a powerful principality there as in Karimama on the lands of the Gur, from there begins with itinerant Muslim merchants and marabouts coming from these principalities a vast songhaysation and linguistic assimilation of the southern gur, the Bariba of the Borgou country, the northern yoruba, the Borgou Fula all Major cities of Bariba adopted the songhay variant of Dendi, Parakou the second largest city of Benin, Djougou the capital of the Donga and its hinterland, Kandi capital of the Alibori and all the region are assimilated until that several cities change their name to adopt a Songhai name, the Songhai Islamizes all of northern Benin with the exception of Atacora, the entire Songhaised country is called Dendi (south), the Songhai of the region are called dendiboro Dendi people, and the region develops a Songhai dialect, the Dendi language influenced by the Gur languages ,dendi is the lingua franca of northern and central Benin.
• The Songhai invasions on the Voltaic plateau in the 19th century and the establishment of the Zabarma Emirate led several Songhai to settle in the south of the Sahel among their Gur peoples subject, European colonization but an end to their military hegemony but not to their migration towards the south which still continues with the young Songhai who leave their regions of origin to trade towards the coast of the Gulf of Guinea after the agricultural season, this is what has led to the formation of several Songhai communities in the large cities of Ghana in Yendi, Tamale, Wa, Kumasi, Accra... the same pattern is drawn in northern Nigeria where the descendants of the armies of the warriors of the zarmatarey allied to the kebbi Emirate against the Sokoto Caliphate , the descendants of the itinerant marabouts go to sokoto for Islamic studies, the descendants of the garrisons of the army of the itinerant marabout alfa shaybou resistant to French and British colonization are installed, they live in several villages s and towns in the states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Niger, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna and is around 1.5 million people.
• Islamized from the 8th century by Arab traders who came to trade in their countries, the Songhai have since then been among the most active African peoples for the religious pilgrimage to Mecca (from the Emperors to their peoples), the Askiya Mohamed 1st had built during his pilgrimage to Mecca places of accommodation for these citizens, many Songhai settled on the routes of the pilgrimage to Mecca, especially in the North East of present-day Sudan in the Horn of Africa where they form a community called zabarmawi , they are settled in their own villages but also in the big cities of the states of Al Qadarif, Kassala, Red Sea, Omdurman city and Khartoum in Khartoum, next to the Sudanese Arabs, the Beja, the Nubian with whom they are mixed and from which they have adopted many of their cultures while retaining a part of their own, if today the Arabic language has grown a lot in the community, the Zarma dialect my persists even if largely influenced by Sudanese Arabic and in decline With its abandonment by young people.

Northern Songhai People

Speakers of Northern Songhay languages ( Sahara , North Africa )

The northern group is primarily made up of nomadic camel herders and date palm cultivating oasis dwellers generally classified as ethnic Pastoralists Berbers, but with genealogical ties to the southern group and the Za Dynasty , the northern group is part of the tribes that the Tuareg of the south call imazwaghan (the reds) and the Tuaregs of the north call them amamellan (the whites), the southern Songhai and the Tuareg tribes of the Aïr also call them iberkoreyan which means in songhai languages: white people, because of their white skin color, they are genetically and in physical appearance closer Mediterranean Berbers, Near Eastern Semitic, some are Caucasian and white-skinned, it is not uncommon to find blue-eyed individuals among the Northern group.

• The proto songhai group staying in the Aïr Mountains along the ighazer valley crossing the mountains and doing the cultivation of date palm will be joined in the 9th century by Messufa and Zenata Berbers tribes fleeing the Arab invasion of North Africa and in the 14th and 15th century by Cherifian Arab tribes, the newcomers will mix with the Songhay population indigenous through marriages and it will be completely assimilated by the inhabitants of the oases, interbreeding will be at the origin of the Isawaghen people where Ingalkoyyu people speaking the tasawaq dialect of Northern Songhay languages, they are made up of several tribes, the ingalkoyyu imusufan tribes and imesdragen will constitute the kingdom of takkeda with azelik as capital, they will be joined in the region in the 15th century by Arab cherif and by Tuareg tribes from the powerful confederations of the North (kel Ahaggar and kel Ajjer) in Ahaggar Mountains in ajjer and awdjila and at the base of the Tuareg kel Ayr, they also constitute the tribes which brought back the sultan of the Sultanate of Agadez of Istanbul as a mediator of the tribes of the central Sahara, the ingalkoyyu isherifan founded the city of In-Gall in 1450 where they live until today with the other ingalkoyyu tribes but hold the chiefdom, they are also founder of the city of agadez, it is after the Sultan will move his course from associated with agadez, he also founded teguidda n tessemt, the ingalkoyyu tribe of the inemegrawene is composed of nomadic camel herders nomadic herders den in aggar, tamaya and the city of Agadez where they occupy the district of agazirbere, the dialect of the city Agadez was Emghedezie, a dialect of the Songhay languages ​​of the North that had disappeared, replaced by Hausa language as the majority language of the city in the 19th century. the ingalkoyyu are reinforced by the southern Songhai with a garrison left to Ingal by the emperor askia Mohamed during his pilgrimage to Mecca, but completely absorbed by the natives, the ingalkoyyu are at the origin of the annual salt cure of the breeders of the Sahara which is organized in ingal and hold the salines of teguida with the land of natron necessary for the livestock of the breeders, the ingalkoyyu are under the direct authority of the Sultan of Aïr Massif even if they have linked relations with the Tuareg Iwellemmedan confederation and Kel Ayr confederation, with the ruling tribes of kel nan, kel Fadey, kel Ferwan and Kel Owey it constitutes a group of Muslim clerics they call themselves ingalkoyyu which means : the masters of ingal in tesawaq, the Tuaregs call them isawaghen which means : those who protect . The main tribes are the isherifan , the imesdraghene , the imussufan , the inemegrawene and share the same cultures as the Tuareg people.
• the Zenaga tribe from Morocco and the religious Arab groups having reached the Aïr massif before the 11th century settled in the Northern proto Songhai and intermixed with them, they will be linguistically assimilated by the Songhai to form the Igdalen people with are attached vassal groups called iberogan, the igdalen-iberogan speak the northern songhai dialect call Tagdal, they constitute peaceful religious Islamic tribes of nomadic pastoralists and camel herders, they are divided into two large tribes the kel amdit and the kel tofey nomadic between the Aïr Massif , the damergou, the irhazer valley and the azawak around the towns of Tanout and Tchintabaraden, they constitute the cleric tribes of the Tuareg confederations of the kel Ayr (kel Fadey, kel Ferwan, kel Owey ), aristocratic imezzurag tribes of the Zinder Region (tanout), ikherkheren of the Iwellemmedan of tamesna , they are also present in Mali and Algeria.
• According to the oral tradition of the songhai peoples ishak is the little brother of sambo patriarch of the western zaghe during their migration to the east and ancestors of the Zarma people , but in political disagreement with his brother he preferred to join the tuareg and these descendants were called Idaksahak people derives from idaw ishak (son of ishak), he would therefore also be a descendant of the Za Dynasty , the difference is reflected in the fact that they are white-skinned and the others descend from the za not, their origins should be sought among the Berber tribes of the North, and just as the igadalan would come from a Berbers and proto songhai mixture this time if from the south, the researchers propose an origin from the Za Dynasty among the idaksahak, they constitute a set of pastoral nomadic tribe camel herders and religious cleric attached to the Tuareg Iwellemmedan from the west of the Menaka region, former guardian of the herds of the Tuareg high castes before colonization many did not p returned to the high caste their herds and preferred to keep them, they have the largest herd of camels in the central Sahara, they speak the Tadaksahak , Dialect of Northern Songhay languages , it is the group closest geographically to the southern Songhai with whom they live in the same region, they nomadize between the north of Mali , the south of Algeria and the north west of Niger With a high concentration around ansongo and menaka, from colonization to today they are the basis of several armed rebellions, they were in fight against the French colonial occupation in 1950, against the Malian government during the 1963-64 rebellion , during the rebellion of 1990, they are at the base of secessionist organizations against the State of Mali for the creation of the State of Azawad for the populations of the North including the Popular Liberation Front of Azawad (1991-1993), National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (Tuareg rebellion (2012) and are engaged in Violent conflict With the Pastoralists Fulani and are also in conflict with other Tuareg groups and the jihadists of the Sahel, the main tribes are the kel tabahaw (ruling clan), the kel abakot , isheriffen , ibawen , kel baryo, kel tesheden , iduguriten , kel azar, kel agayok . Even if being part of the Tuaregs and having the same culture as them, the idaksahak have always been distinguished from other Tuareg groups who generally have disdain for them, they proclaim their belonging to the songhai, unlike the igdalen who do not marry with the Tuareg the idaksahak marry the Tuaregs. The idaksahak are the richest tribe in the central Sahara and it is not uncommon to find almost blond individuals and blue-eyed people among them
• since the Gao Empire the bend of the Niger had established strong commercial links with the political entities of the Mediterranean and Western Europe, the marble used for the construction of the palace of Gao-Saney from the za dynasty comes from the site of Almeria in Spain, which suggests relations between the Empire of Gao and the Emirate of Cordoba and Caliphate of Cordoba, Songhai caravan traders going to the ports of the Mediterranean make stopovers in the oases of the Sahara to rest long journeys, a colony from gao settles in one of the oases of Western Algeria near Morocco to serve as a relay between the Niger valley and the Mediterranean. the songhai population of the oasis is joined by the Berber tribe of Ait isful branch of the Berber confederation of Ait Atta came from Jebel Saghru in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco speaking Tashelhit and by the Arab tribes of the Rehemna or Ghenanma , by the Reguibat , the Berabiche and other groups, the interbreeding between the Songhai and these various tribes gives rise to the Belbali people (kwarandzey : a citizens in korandje language similar to koroboro term, a name of other Songhai subgroup) whose dialect is Korandje which is part of the Northern Songhay languages with a strong influence of close Berber languages and Arabic in the vocabulary, their oasis is called Tabelbala which means that of the Belbali, the oasis is flanked by three older fortified villages, or ksars: Cheraïa (Arabic: الشرايع, Ifrenyu in Korandje) to the west, Zaouia Sidi Zekri (Arabic: زاوية سيدي زكري, Kwara) and the tiny hamlet of Makhlouf (Arabic: مخلوف, Yami) to the east . The Belbali people are mainly cultivators of date palm by irrigation and livestock breeders (camels, goats, sheep), in the past the oasis was under the power of the nomadic Arab tribe of the ouled hamroun even if each kasbah had its chief representative, Tabelbala is home to 7 giant tombs of revered saints, the oasis has known several revered Muslim scholars from Algeria to Morocco such as sidi zekri, a Cherif descendant of Fatima Zahra daughter of the prophet Muhammad , sidi brahim, Sidi Makhluf al-Balbali , sidi larbi and other, all buried in Tabelbala . From the 13th to the 19th century Tabelbala remains an important relay between Timbuktu and Sidjilmasa, the city when it was taken was bombarded in 1908 by the French captain Martin because of the hostility of the Belbali to the French colonial conquest, especially the ksar de cheraya. The belbali are organized into tribes which are the ouled bouaza , ouled biri , ouled sidi Brahim , ouled belaciad , ouled sidi Larbi , Ait sful , Arib and chaamba , Significant numbers are also in the town of Tindouf

Society

A Gorom-Gorom market selling Songhai pottery.

The language, society and culture of the Songhai people is barely distinguishable from the Zarma people. Some scholars consider the Zarma people to be a part of and the largest ethnic sub-group of the Songhai. Some study the group together as Zarma-Songhai people. However, both groups see themselves as two different peoples.

Social stratification

The Songhai people have traditionally been a socially stratified society, like many West African ethnic groups with castes. According to the medieval and colonial-era descriptions, their vocation is hereditary, and each stratified group has been endogamous. The social stratification has been unusual in two ways; it embedded slavery, wherein the lowest strata of the population inherited slavery, and the Zima, or priests and Islamic clerics, had to be initiated but did not automatically inherit that profession, making the cleric strata a pseudo-caste.

Louis Dumont, the 20th-century author famous for his classic Homo Hierarchicus, recognized the social stratification among Zarma-Songhai people as well as other ethnic groups in West Africa, but suggested that sociologists should invent a new term for West African social stratification system. Other scholars consider this a bias and isolationist because the West African system shares all elements in Dumont's system, including economic, endogamous, ritual, religious, deemed polluting, segregative and spread over a large region. According to Anne Haour – a professor of African Studies, some scholars consider the historic caste-like social stratification in Zarma-Songhay people to be a pre-Islam feature while some consider it derived from the Arab influence.

The different strata of the Songhai-Zarma people have included the kings and warriors, the scribes, the artisans, the weavers, the hunters, the fishermen, the leather workers and hairdressers (Wanzam), and the domestic slaves (Horso, Bannye). Each caste reveres its own guardian spirit. Some scholars such as John Shoup list these strata in three categories: free (chiefs, farmers, and herders), servile (artists, musicians and griots), and the slave class. The servile group was socially required to be endogamous, while the slaves could be emancipated over four generations. The highest social level, states Shoup, claim to have descended from King Sonni 'Ali Ber and their modern era hereditary occupation has been Sohance (sorcerer). Considered as being the true Songhai, the Sohance, also known as Si Hamey are found primarily in The Songhai in the Tillabery Region of Niger, whereas, at the top Social level in Gao, the old seat of the Songhai Empire and much of Mali, one finds the Arma who are the descendants of the Moroccan invaders married to Songhai women. The traditionally free strata of the Songhai people have owned property and herds, and these have dominated the political system and governments during and after the French colonial rule. Within the stratified social system, the Islamic system of polygynous marriages is a norm, with preferred partners being cross cousins. This endogamy within Songhai-Zarma people is similar to other ethnic groups in West Africa.

Livelihood

The Songhai people cultivate cereals and raise small herds of cattle and fish in the Niger Bend area where they live. They have traditionally been one of the key West African ethnic groups associated with caravan trade.

Architecture

The habitat of the Songhai is according to their types of life and their geographical regions, it is broken down into :

• Sedentary habitat

- The Mud and Stone architecture of the southern groups and the inhabitants of the oases, origin and jewel of the Sudano-Sahelian architecture and Saharan architecture.

- The sedentary habitat in Straw and Mats of the southern group and the inhabitants of the oases.

• Nomadic habitat

- The mat Tent habitat of the Igdalen nomads.

- The habitat of the Idaksahak nomads made up of vast sewn skin tents.

Sedentary habitat

The old town of Timbuktu with these universities and mosque, the old town of Djenne with these large mud houses and its large mosque, the Palaces of the Za de Gao-Saney and the pyramidal Tomb of Askia in Gao, the Kasbah of tabelbela, the old town of ingal, the old town of hombori and these labyrinth streets, the old town of tindirma, the palace of Zarmakoy in dosso and the many mud towns and villages of the Songhai country testify to the evolutionary history of the sedentary habitat of the Songhai peoples influenced by the periods of prosperity and invasion it experienced.

Sudano Sahelian architecture

The loop of the Niger is the place of birth and development of the Sudano-Sahelian architecture so characteristic of the historic cities of Timbuktu, Djenné, Gao, Hombori. It is above all an architecture of mud and stone, the proximity of Songhai towns and villages to the Niger River gives unrestricted access to the mud of the river banks.

Royalty

royalty ( koytarey: possession ) among the songhai occupies a major place, from the Emperors, Sultan and Emir of the past centuries to the current regional king the chief is considered as a sacred person who must be listened to and obeyed .

The chief

Guarantor of traditions and the law Islamic he has to ensure the maintenance of the honor of these administrators, he directs a country (laabu) or a city (kwara) , he is the first responsible for military and societal affairs, he is the possessors and distributors of land and livestock , helping in these functions by these ministers and the religious cleric. the King (koy: the one who owns) is also the head of the occult and the first responsible against the guardian jinn of royalty (the ruling families generally rent the services of Muslim jinns to protect their dynasty from attack from the invisible) , he is the first responsible for military and societal affairs, he is the possessors and distributors of land and livestock , helping in these functions by these ministers and the religious cleric. the king (koy: the one who owns) is also the head of the occult and the first responsible against the guardian jinn of royalty (the ruling families generally rent the services of Muslim jinns to protect their dynasty from attack from the invisible)

Eligibility

The leaders among the songhai are always of the highest caste and must be of the founding lineage of the kingdom where of the dynasty by paternal ancestry , he is elected by an electoral college formed by the heads of the great houses of the kingdom or of the city and by the religious leaders, in the event of incompetence or of major military defeat he can be dismissed by the advice and force into exile . in zarmatarey the clan responsible for organizing the election of the king is called saabir and their chief the sandi is responsible for the coronation.

Symbols of royalty

- The Turban represents authority and nobility among the Songhai and is used for coronations, the king during his election is turbaned by the cadi or the sandi by a turban which is generally white or black dyed with indigo and chooses for the occasion . the Songhai emperors besides the turban had a crown in the shape of a helmet and a beak.

- The royal War drum called Tubale represents the central symbol of royal authority among the Songhai , only the great chiefs have it, it is made of a large bowl dug into the trunk of a tree, the bowl is covered with a cowhide and inside talismans are put, cowhide beaters are used to hit it , it is hit by the Craftsmen caste (garaasa) to announce a war , the coronation of a king , the death of a king and is also struck at feasts. He who possesses the tubal with full power. It is struck motionless to pose on a stand , or on a Camel during travel by the chief of the craftsmen who is himself seated on a neighboring camel. the most famous is the Sombokaane tubal , made of a gold Bowl and having belonged to several emperors and kings of the past, it was according to legend brought back from Yemen by za the great (za el ayamen) founder of the Za dynasty , lost during a war, find , it was in the possession of Sunni Ali Ber during his reign and was lost after his death , it is found and was in the possession of the patriarchs of the western za during their migration to the East and kept by the Zarmakoy of zarmaganda , it is stolen by the queen of zarmatarey by trickery and will be in the possession of the Royal House of the waazi (kingdom of Dosso) who will also lose it during a war (fall into a well according to the legend) to no longer be found until today , its stories are similar to those of the Ark of the Covenant of the Hebrews and like the Ark of the Covenant it guarantees a sure military victory to whoever has it, the Royal war drums also exists among the Tuaregs who call it Ettebel , among the Northern Hausa who call it Tambari, among the Fulani and the Arabs too, it is specific to populations of Sahelian culture.

- The large decorated white Boubou, the decorated kaftan and the leather shoes.

-the silver bow and the thoroughbred horse

-the long royal trumpets call algayta

- The royal parasol

- The upholstered wooden throne

- a Sword, a Spear and a Scepter.

among nomadic groups a large tent of red skins and finely crafted furniture is offered to the chief.

Songhay chief titles

-koy designates any person who has authority .

-bonkoyni designates the king .

-laabu koy designates the dear of the country .

Old Imperial titles

- za , zaghe , zaghay of Za dynasty

- Sonni

- Askiya

- Amenokal of Takedda

- wangugnya (mother of war) a marechal during wangarey zamano ( era of warrior)

Post Imperial titles

- Al kaydo ( Caïd )

- paasha( Pasha )

- Zarmakoy

- Gabdakoy

- Mawrikoy

- Gubekoy

- Amiiru ( Emir )

- wonkoy

- Mayaaci

- zaarumay

- Amghar

- Sultan

- kwarakoy

Military

Songhai military organization and tactics enabled the Songhai Empire to conquer nearly all of West Africa, along with parts of North Africa and Central Africa. The Songhai Empire remains one of the largest contiguous land empire with the conquests of the Mali Empire , Jolof Empire , Empire of Great Fulo, Hausa Kingdoms, sultanate of Agadez, Takedda, Nomadic people and many other Kingdom. The military power of the Songhai armies lies in their excellent mastery of the waterways and the fights on the water and also in their mastery of the Horse and Camel.

Organization

A Songhai army is organized in symmetry with the very hierarchical Songhai society, it revolves around the Tubal (war drum) symbol of authority. The Songhai Empire and the era of the wangari of the 19th century were periods of strong militarization that the Songhai experienced under the aegis of a strategist of which Sunni Ali remains the greatest, each period had an organization depending on its field of activity. action but was not very different from each other, it was always a cavalry constituted with a majority of ethnic Songhai in front of an infantry formed by the conquered peoples and the slaves, helped by the allies or the vassals (typical organization of Songhai Empire and Zabarma Emirate). only Issa korombé had an army mainly formed of zarma riders and extremely structured in a garrison town ramifications held by lieutenants under the orders of the general of a military region.

• Songhai Empire

the Songhai Empire had a larger scale organization. the Songhai Empire included three permanent army corps, each stationed in one of the three central provinces of the empire and branched into several garrisons,

• The kurmina army corps (Timbuktu-djenné) stationed in the west east region led by the Balama, minister of defense of the emperor. The balama in the surveillance of all the western provinces up to the Atlantic (Mandé, senegambia) where the revolts are frequent and he is responsible for deploying forces there and putting down the revolts.
• The army corps of the central province of Gao is under the direct orders of the emperor, the emperor is seconded in his central province by the surgukoy in the north in charge of the Berber contingent and the surveillance of the Maghreb, the Tondi farma of the hombori in charge of the surveillance of the Mossi province.
• The army corps of the eastern province called Dendi is under the orders of Dendi Fari, the provincial governor, the dendi fari supervises the ayar and the Hausa states .

The Hi, the fleet of the empire is under the command of Hi koy the admiral who is also Minister of the Interior, he has commanders under his orders attached to the ports of the central provinces and acting in tandem with the provincial army has where they are attached . The provincial governors are followed by generals the jinakoy themselves followed by lieutenants holding garrison towns, the vassals are obliged to support the army corps which concerns them, each unit is organized and includes a wonkoy military chief of regiment, a gukoy chief of the cavalry, a Tongofarma chief of the mounted archers, in the event of war they are gathered under the command of a higher rank. In time of campaign the province which is in the direction of the region concerned priority to organize these troops, the army corps of the central province is always mobilized when the emperor goes to war, in all the Songhai empire with three mobilizable armies.

• zarmatarey of wangaari

Naval Force

The expansion of the Songhai Empire is due to the reform brought in the army of the Kingdom of Gao by Sunni Ali Ber during his ascension to the throne , he built more than 400 Ships and created the position of Admiral , the Hikoy , these ships were carried out by crews of Sorko fishermen , they were the centerpiece of the conquests of Sunni Ali , they were capable of transporting large numbers of soldiers over thousands of kilometers of waterway allowing them to besiege and conquer the islands and the cities bordering the Niger River. The Tarikh al-Fattash mentions 1000 ships belonging to the Askiya during a census carried out.

Cavalry

• The horse occupies a major place in the Songhai armies , the Songhai country is also known to be called the country of war horses . The cavalry is called Gu (mounted gathering ) in the Songhay language , the war horse bari-gu and the commander-in-chief of the cavalry is called gukoy , post generally entrusted to the prince dauphin or to the warrior of confidence of the sovereign but necessarily of noble ancestry . Sunni Ali ber reforms the Songhai Cavalry by developing and importing new breeds of horses , including the bagzane , the songhai horse and extends its territory over more than 1.4 million km , askya Mohamed and the following emperors in their use to extend the empire, the possession of the horse goes hand in hand with war and in the songhai language the warrior is called wangaari the saddle man and the rider barikar the driver of the horse , issa korombé had used an army made up solely of horsemen to defeat the Sokoto Caliphate , he loses more than 5000 horses during his defeat of bumba . Babatu dominates the voltaic plateau thanks to his great cavalry. The horses of the kingdom of dosso are generally covered with padded protection whose riders wear helmets topped with ostrich feathers . The cavalry mainly comprised Songhai nobles, but some slaves who had shown loyalty to their masters and courage in battle could also integrate it until they reached high rank in the Songhai armies.

• The Camel cavalry occupied an important place in the songhai armies , it was used on the desert lands of the Sahel and the Sahara , recruitment was done by military conscription in the Berber kingdoms of the north conquered and submitted by the songhai ( kingdom of tademekkat, Takedda , Sultanate of Agadez ) , the berbers knowing better the sahara and these tracks , the command of the company was ensured by the surgukoy , chief of the berbers and governor of the provinces of the sahara . the company is used by emperor Askia Ishaq I to punish the sultan of the Saadi Dynasty of Morocco Muhammad Al-Arak for his attempted invasion of the saltworks of Teghaza in 1544 belonging to the emperor, the company (2000 mounted men) plunders southern Morocco the Dara Valley , the tafilalet and forced the sultan to flee his capital Marrakech , .

311 years after issa korombé reconstitutes a Camel cavalry to fight the Tuareg of tagazart and the iwillimiden, it assures him of a victory over them at the battles of mbama and leleh in 1855.

Infantry and archers

It constitutes the military branch of the mass of slaves that the songhai possessed, it was either to integrate it or to be sold as slaves , those who showed courage could be freed and join the cavalry, this policy was to be used by all predatory entities founded by the Songhai, the songhai being demographically small they kept the cavalry and integrated the peoples subject to their infantry, the Askia Ishak II opposed 9,700 (30.000 in other sources) infantry to the Moroccan army and it was only those of the province Central Gao during Battle of Tondibi . They were mostly armed with spears, antelope skin shield and sword.

The Mounted archers occupy an important place in the armies and are the prerogative of the Songhai castes of the gaw where hunter and their skills have earned the Songhai decisive victories , they flooded the enemy cities with their poisoned arrows. the Tukulor invasion army commanded by the son of El hadj Omar Saidou Tall and armed with rifles is decimated by the Songhai army of the emir of dargol and issa korombé consisting solely of archers during the battle of dambou Beri at the end of the 19th century , and chased the Toucouleur from Songhai territories.

Animals of terror

Sunni Ali Ber and Babatu are the Songhay rulers who most used the means of terror in their conquest. Two animals were mainly used:

- the great scavenger Vultures , considered by the ancient Songhai as the symbol of war, the spirit of war among the Songhai is Kaguta , the great White vulture . Sunni Ali ber and babatu had raised in their various camps entire squadrons of vultures to strike fear in the hearts of enemy peoples, they accompanied the columns of the Songhai armies and had the mission of cleaning up the battlefields, it was not rare that prisoners are given to them as food when the military campaigns ceased. Songhai traditions said of Sunni Ali ber that he himself had the magic gift of transforming himself into a vulture and transforming his horse into a vulture to watch over his immense empire.

- The second animal used by the Songhai armies is the ox, the Bulls with the largest sizes and the longest horns are carefully chosen to integrate the herds of the imperial army, they are only dedicated to a military purpose and are therefore not not slaughtered for consumption, they are fed during the campaign with doping herbs which make them furious, they are entrusted to shepherds and precede the infantry and the cavalry.

Culture

The Songhai being Sahelosaharians they share a broad culture in common with their immediate Sahelian neighbors who are the Tuareg with whom they have the most cultural affinity, then the Arabs of the Sahel and the Maghreb followed by the Hausa, the Fula people and others Sahelian group both Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan, to the east in Sudan they have adopted several cultural characteristics from the Sudanese Arabs, Nubians and Beja people.

Economy

The proto-Songhay (Nilo-Saharan or Afro-asiatic pastoralists of Neolithic) who migrated in the 4th millennium BC from North East Africa (Nile Valley) to the central Sahara (Aïr Mountains) were essentially nomadic pastoralists. Their settled descendants are partly farmers, breeders, traders, caravanners, fishermen, hunters, sedentary craftsmen occupying large historic cities and large villages and for another part nomadic herders camel breeders in the immensities of the Sahara and living in nomadic tents.

Agricultural activities

Agriculture is the primary activity of the Songhai populations. As they live in arid and semi-arid areas the agriculture is seasonal. The rainy season in the Sahel extends over three months, compared to eight to nine dry months. Irrigation is widely practiced near the river and in the oases. The Songhai mainly cultivate cereals; their most produced crop is millet, followed by rice grown on the banks of the Niger River, then wheat and sorghum. As elsewhere in the central Sahel, corn is grown less. Cereals that grow wild are also picked in season, such as panicum leatum or wild fonio. Other crops widely cultivated by the Songhai are tobacco, onions, spices, tubers and moringa. Date palms are cultivated by irrigation in the oases of the Sahara, e.g. Tindouf, Tabalbala and Ingal. Mango is the most widely produced fruit, followed by oranges, watermelons, melons and gourds.

The Songhai practice agriculture with plows pulled by oxen. Unlike the Hausa people, who mainly use the daba to cultivate, the Songhai more commonly use the hilar, the hoe, and the pitchfork.

In precolonial times, before the abolition of slavery by the French in the Sahel, the Songhai employed hundreds or even thousands of servile labor razzier. Following modernization agricultural equipment such as tractors and combine harvesters is widely used. Agricultural workers known as boogou are organized to help farmers with less labor. After the harvest the Songhai leave their fields to the Fulani and Tuareg herders so that their cattle clean the fields; Songhai who have large herds let their own cattle clean the fields.

Animal husbandry

The Songhai practice animal husbandry according to their way of life. The people settled in and around villages raise mainly cattle, goats (especially the Sahelian breed), sheep, poultry (especially guinea fowl), and donkeys Camels are raised for travel and also consumption, especially in the zarmaganda, in Gao and Timbuktu.

Nomadic idaksahak and igdalen pastoralists breed large livestock. The families of breeders travel the valleys of the azawakh, the azgueret, the irhazer, the tilemsi, the banks gourma of the river and the foothills of the mountains of Aïr and Adrar of the iforas. Their herds are primarily constituted of camels, but they also herd goats, sheep and oxen. They live in tents and eat mainly dairy products.

The horse is a central element of Songhai society. The Songhai country is widely known as the land of horses, and the Songhai have developed their own breeds of horses: the djerma is a cross between the Dongola and the barb, raised along the Niger River; and the Bagzan from the Aïr Mountain, which is prized for war. The Niger rivals the Ethiopian plateau in terms of horse ownership. The Songhai introduce their children to horses from adolescence. Nobles possess large quantities of horses, which are used for parades, surveillance of cattle and fields. The Songhai languages have names for any type and coat of horse. In Songhai country the value of a man was measured in terms of the nobility of his horse. Historically the Songhai delegated guarding and the maintenance of their horses to their most trustworthy captives. villages used to hold horse racing competitions especially on market days.

Notable Songhai people

• Za el-Ayamen or zaber ( za the great) or zabarkhane ancestors of Songhai, founder of the Za dynasty and the Gao Empire, originally from southern Arabia according to the tarikh, probably from the kingdom of Axum and belonging to the ethiosemitic ethnic groups .
• Za kosto Moslem Dem: first king of the Gao Empire to formalize Islam as the state religion in the year 1009.
• Sonni Ali Ber: 1st Emperor of Songhai empire
• Sonni Baru: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askia Muhammad: founder of Askia dynasty, Emperor of Songhai empire
• Askiya Musa: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askia Mohammad Benkan: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askiya Isma'il: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askiya ishaq I: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askiya Dawud: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askiya Mohammad El haj: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askiya Muhammad Bani: emperor of Songhai empire
• Askiya Ishaq II: emperor of Songhai empire
• Zarmakoy Sambo : zarma migration patriarch and ancestors of zarma people a Songhai people subgroup.
• Ishak bolombooti: ancestors of nomadic idaksahak Songhai speakers, and brother of zarmakoy Sambo according oral traditions.
• Za arsiyaye : zarma patriarch
• Za khaman duksa: zarma patriarch
• Za armaley : zarma patriarch
• Zarmakoy taguru : great zarma monarch and patriarch
• Yefarma ishak : military leader having defeated the Moroccan army and stopping its southern advance
• Issa korombeyzey Moodi: or wangunya Issa (Issa the mother of war) military leader, marshal (wangugna) of the boboye having defeated the sokoto caliphate and stopping its northern advance.
• Hama bugaran or hamam bakara : military leader of the zidji plateau having defeated the caliphate of sokoto
• Dawda bugaran : military leader of zidji plateau having defeated the caliphate of sokoto and gwandu, and zarmakoy of Dosso kingdom
• Gabeylingah Hama kassa: military leader of liptako gourma plateau.
• Alfa hano : itinerant Muslim monk, military chief, 1st emir and founder of the zabarma Emirate.
• Gazari : horse Herder and traders, military chief, 2nd Emir of zabarma Emirate
• Babatu: Horse Herder and traders, slave raiders, military leader, 3rd Emir of zabarma Emirate, founder of the garrison town of kasena, defeated by German colonial armies in Togo, by the British in Ghana and by the French in Burkina Faso, his empire collapsed.
• Zarmakoy Attiku : king of Dosso, defeated the Tukulor armies and killed Ali Buri Ndayaye last king of kingdom of jolof .
• Alfa chayib : itinerant blind Muslim monk, resisting against colonization in Niger, he declares jihad to the French and the British, he galvanizes the sultan of sultanate of Damagaram and the sultan of sokoto caliphate to revolt.

See also

• Zarma people
• Zin Kibaru
• Songhai proper

References

Primary sources

• Khaldun, Ibn, Kitāb al-ʿIbar wa-dīwān al-mubtadaʾ wa-l-khabar fī ayyām al-ʿarab wa-ʾl-ʿajam wa-ʾl-barbar, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000
• al-Sadi, Taʾrīkh al-Sūdān, translated in Hunwick 1999

Bibliography

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