Askia Mohammad I
 |
Tomb of Askia |
Askia Mohammad I (c.
1442-
1538, also
Muhammad Ture) was a
Soninke king of the
Songhai Empire in the late
15th century. He strengthened his country and made it the largest in
West Africa's history. At its peak under Muhammad, the Songhai Empire encompassed the
Hausa states as far as
Kano (in present-day
Nigeria) and much of the territory that had belonged to the
Mali Empire in the west. His policies resulted in a rapid expansion of trade with
Europe and
Asia, the creation of many schools, and made
Islam an integral part of the empire.
He is reputed to be buried in the
Tomb of Askia in
Gao, a
World Heritage Site.
The successor of
Sunni Ali Ber, Askia Muhammad was much more astute and farsighted than his predecessor had ever been. He orchestrated a program of expansion and consolidation which extended the empire from
Taghaza in the North to the borders of
Yatenga in the South; and from
Air in the Northeast to
Futa Tooro in
Senegambia. Instead of organizing the empire along Islamic lines, he tempered and improved on the traditional model by instituting a system of
bureaucratic government unparalleled in the
Western Sudan. In addition, Askia established standardized trade measures and regulations, and initiated the policing of
trade routes. He also encouraged learning and
literacy, ensuring that Mali's
universities produced the most distinguished
scholars, many of whom published significant
books. The eminent scholar
Ahmed Baba, for example, produced books on Islamic law which are still in use today.
Mahmoud Kati published
Tarik al-Fattah and
Abdul-Rahman as-Sadi published
Tarik as-Sudan (Chronicle of the Sudan), two history books which are indispensable to present-day scholars reconstructing African history in the
Middle Ages. For all his efforts, Mali experienced a cultural revival it had never witnessed before, and the whole land flourished as a center of all things valuable in learning and trade.
Askia Muhammad went blind in his old age, and was deposed in
1528 by his son
Askia Musa at the age of more than eighty years. He died several years later.
* The American Journey - ISBN 0-02-823218-6
*
Biographical information on historical African figures
