TITLE:
Economic and Political Factor of Songhay Empire the Emergence of Kebbi Kingdom Nigeria, c. 1500s
AUTHORS:
Seyni Mamoudou
KEYWORDS:
Songhay Empire, Kebbi Kingdom, Emergence, Economic, And History
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.4,
April
26,
2021
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.