Week 9:

Factors that Led to the Fall of the Ancient Songhai Empire: Internal Factors

The ancient Songhai Empire grew to become a powerful and influential kingdom which attracted other empires of the world such as the Morocco and British Empire. Both the British and Moroccans planned to seize Songhai and they succeeded. The empire fell beyond recovery in the 16th century due to the Moroccans' attack and a lot of other factors such as:

(i) Bad leadership: Many of the rulers who later controlled the empire failed to meet up with the expectations of the people. Some rulers were war and bloodthirsty such as Askiya Musa, Askiya Bonkana, Askiya Muhammad Bani, etc. They took extreme measures to protect their government by killing family members and some notable members of the army who threatened their rule. The more the rulers killed members of the army, royal house and court, the more they weakened the empire, lost followers and hatred spread among the royal court.

(ii) Succession dispute: The ancient Songhai Empire was patrilineal, which.... View More