Economic and Political Factor of Songhay Empire the Emergence of Kebbi Kingdom Nigeria, &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;c.&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; 1500s

Seyni Mamoudou

doi:10.4236/jss.2021.94026

Abstract

The influence of the Almoravids movement in 1076 was one of the landmark developments that engendered the collapsed of Ghana Empire, from whence, Mali came into the limelight of political history in Western Sudan. From the second half of the 15th century, Mali Empire became weakened and disintegrated and thus eventually led to the emergence and rise to glory of the Songhay Empire. The Songhay was the last of the great Empires of the Western Sudan and the language called the Emghedesi remained the lingua franca until the middle of the 19th century. The expansion of the Songhay Empire since the second half of the 15th century was mainly along the large arc of the Niger River, from Dendi (Gaya Dosso region-Niger) on Nigerian border. The Niger River became important commercial waterways with the development of Timbuktu and Jenne as the principal extrepots of Western Sudan trade. Besides, Kanta Mohammad (Salih), a local chief of a vassal area gave military supports to Songhay Empire and defended it against Air and Borno having been aided by Kano and Katsina. In addition, between 1516 and 1517, Kanta Mohammad and his army took part in a Songhay expedition against Agadez in which afterward quarreled with Dendi-fari over division of booty. With these developments, Kanta broke away with Songhay and established himself as an independent State of Kebbi. As a result of vicissitude of time, Leka became the early capital of Kebbi kingdom with the celebrated attack on Borno in 1561, the wall of Surame was already built. In the meantime, the heartlands of Kebbi which lie to the west of Sokoto fall between the lands bordering the Niger, inhabited by the Songhay-speaking people territories of Zamfara and Katsina. The paper adopted the qualitative analysis as well as synthesized research methodology has so far examined and interrogated of the factor of Songhay Empire in the emergence of Kebbi in c.1500s.

Highlights

The thrust of this study is a reconfiguration of the chequered history of the factor of Songhay Empire in the emergence of Kebbi in c. 1500s
The influence of the Almoravids movement in 1076 was one of the landmark developments that engendered the collapsed of Ghana Empire, from whence, Mali came into the limelight of political history in Western Sudan
It was from whence that Mali came into the limelight of political history in Western Sudan (Anene & Brown, 1966)

Summary

Introduction

The thrust of this study is a reconfiguration of the chequered history of the factor of Songhay Empire in the emergence of Kebbi in c. 1500s. Most critical and apposite to development are the military tactics, commercial interests and the Niger River advantages that spurred the territorial expansion Songhay Empire in the 14th and 16th centuries. It was some of these factors or their wholesome combinations were responsible for its weakness and the collapse in the tail end. This, no doubt is unconnected with the south-south migration and warfare, which is important feature in the history of many people in West Africa, especially in the pre-colonial period It is against the above prism, this paper is carved to explore and investigate the factor of Songhay Empire in the emergence of Kebbi in c. It is amazing to understand that quite a number of areas in Nigeria; notably Kebbi, Zamfara and Katsina traced their origins to defunct Songhay Empire in the present day Niger Republic (Abubakar, 2011)

Territorial Description of Songhay Empire and Kebbi Kingdom

The Dispersion and Territorial Expansion of Songhay Empire’s Dependency Areas

Kebbi Army Sophistication and the Defence of Songhay Empire

Concluding Remark