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Strong kingdoms also arose in other parts of Africa. Great Zimbabwe, for example, was a powerful kingdom in southern Africa. Great Zimbabwe was founded in the late 1000s as a small trading and herding center.
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Gold mining increased in the area in the 1100s. Farming expanded and the kingdom’s population grew. In time, Great Zimbabwe became the center of a large trading network
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In 1230 Sundiata built up an army and won back his country’s independence. He then conquered nearby kingdoms, including Ghana, in the 1230s.
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Sundiata introduced a new crop cotton. From the cotton fibers people made clothing that was comfortable in the warm climate. They also sold cotton to other people.
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Sundiata died in 1255. Later rulers of Mali took the title of mansa. Unlike Sundiata, most of these rulers were Muslims.
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Under skillful leadership, Mali reached the height of its wealth, power, and fame in the 1300s, with a leader named Mansa Musa.
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In the 1300s Mansa Musa conquered the Songhai, adding their lands to his empire.
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When the great leader Mansa Munsa died his son took the throne.
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When Mansa Musa died, his son Maghan took the throne. Maghan was a weak ruler.
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Trade made Great Zimbabwe’s rulers wealthy and powerful. They built a huge stone walled fortress to protect their capital.
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But as the Mali Empire weakened in the 1400s, the people of Songhai rebelled and regained their freedom.
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In 1431 the Tuareg nomads from the Sahara, seized Timbuktu. The people living at the edges of Mali’s empire broke away. By 1500 nearly all of the lands the empire had once ruled were lost. Only a small area of Mali remained.
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As the Songhai gained in wealth, they expanded their territory and built an empire.
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Songhai’s expansion was led by Sunni Ali, who became ruler of the Songhai in 1464. Before he took over, the Songhai state had been disorganized.
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He was followed as king by his son Sunni Baru, who was not a Muslim.
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The Songhai people feared that if Sunni Baru didn’t support Islam, they would lose their trade with Muslim lands. They rebelled against the king.
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The leader of that rebellion was a general named Muhammad Ture, After overthrowing Sunni Baru, Muhammad Ture chose the title askia, a title of high military rank. Eventually, he became known as Askia the Great.
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Songhai Falls to Morocco a northern rival of Songhai, Morocco, wanted to gain control of Songhai’s salt mines. So the Moroccan army set out for the heart of Songhai in 1591.
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The Moroccans destroyed Timbuktu and Gao. Changes in trade patterns completed Songhai’s fall. Overland trade declined as port cities on the Atlantic coast became more important.
