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85-612: The Senegambia (other names: Senegambia region or Senegambian zone , Senegàmbi in Wolof and Pulaar ) is, in the narrow sense, a historical name for a geographical region in West Africa , named after the Senegal River in the north and the Gambia River in the south. However, there are also text sources which state that Senegambia is understood in a broader sense and equated with the term

170-414: A camel cavalry . They trained herds of long-horned bulls in the imperial stables to charge at the enemy in battle. Vultures were also used to harass opposing camps. The emperor was the strategist and commander-in-chief of the military, and the balama acted as minister of defence and army general. The janky was the army corps general, and the wonky were lieutenants in charge of a garrison. The head of

255-612: A 500-mile corridor upstream to Djenné or downstream to Gao. The Julla (merchants) would form partnerships, and the state would protect the merchants and port cities along Niger. Askia Muhammad I implemented a universal system of weights and measures throughout the empire. The Songhai economy was based on a clan system. The clan a person belonged to ultimately decided one's occupation. The most common occupations were metalworkers, fishermen, and carpenters. The lower castes mainly consisted of immigrants, who, at times, were provided special privileges and held high positions in society. At

340-593: A Portuguese invasion at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir , but were left on the verge of economic depletion and bankruptcy, as they needed to pay for the defences used to hold off the siege. This led Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur of the Saadi dynasty in 1591 to dispatch an invasion force south under the eunuch Judar Pasha . The Moroccan invasion of Songhai was mainly to seize and revive the trans-Saharan trade in salt, gold and slaves for their developing sugar industry. During Askia's reign,

425-596: A Senegalese national dish and notably known as Jollof rice , which is an international export, named after the Kingdom of Jolof in present-day Senegal, originated from Saint-Louis . Tigadèguèna , a peanut stew originated in Mali. Maafe called domoda in Gambia originated in Senegal. Youssou N'Dour , Africa's most famous singer (according to Rolling Stone magazine (2014)), and who held

510-558: A decree, as the effort by the Senegalese ministry of education was to be part of a multi-national standardization effort. This alphabet has been used since pre-colonial times, as the first writing system to be adopted for Wolof, and is still used by many people, mainly Imams and their students in Quranic and Islamic schools. Additionally, another script exists: Garay , an alphabetic script invented by Assane Faye 1961, which has been adopted by

595-652: A faint epenthetic schwa vowel. Of the consonants in the chart above, p d c k do not occur in the intermediate or final position, being replaced by f r s and zero, though geminate pp dd cc kk are common. Phonetic p c k do occur finally, but only as allophones of b j g due to final devoicing . Minimal pairs : Unlike most sub-Saharan African languages, Wolof has no tones . Other non-tonal languages of sub-Saharan Africa include Amharic , Swahili and Fula . In Wolof, verbs are unchangeable stems that cannot be conjugated. To express different tenses or aspects of an action, personal pronouns are conjugated – not

680-724: A monopoly on trade. In 1677, the French took the island of Gorée , and in 1681 they took control of Albreda on the Gambia River. This started a rivalry with the English, and in 1692 they briefly confiscated Gorée and Saint-Louis . In 1758, during the Seven Years' War , Gorée was captured by the British, who held it until 1763. In 1765, the British formed the Senegambia Province. In 1778, during

765-537: A pardon or offer refuge. The Assara-munitions , or "enforcers", worked like a police commissioner whose sole duty was to execute sentencing. Jurists were mainly composed of representatives of the academic community; professors were often noted as taking administrative positions within the Empire, and many aspired to be qadis . The upper classes in society converted to Islam, while the lower classes often continued to follow traditional religions. Sermons emphasized obedience to

850-631: A policy against the scholars of Timbuktu, especially those of the Sankore region who were associated with the Tuareg. With his control of critical trade routes and cities such as Timbuktu, Sonni Ali increased the wealth of the Songhai Empire, which at its height would surpass the wealth of Mali. Sonni Ali was succeeded by Askia the Great . He organized the territories his predecessor conquered and extended his power to

935-619: A prosperous, highly organized and lasting society." See the Senegambian stone circles, Serer ancient history and Serer religion articles for more on this. During the medieval period of Europe which corresponds roughly to the Golden Age of West Africa, several great empires and kingdoms sprang out from the Senegambia region, including but not limited to the great Ghana Empire , the Mali Empire ,

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1020-506: A small number of Wolof speakers. The first syllable of words is stressed ; long vowels are pronounced with more time but are not automatically stressed, as they are in English. The vowels are as follows: There may be an additional low vowel, or this may be confused with orthographic à . All vowels may be long (written double) or short. /aː/ is written ⟨à⟩ before a long (prenasalized or geminate) consonant (example làmbi "arena"). When é and ó are written double,

1105-461: A trial were announced by the "town crier", and punishment for most trivial crimes usually consisted of confiscation of merchandise or even imprisonment since various prisons existed throughout the Empire. Qadis worked locally in important trading towns like Timbuktu and Djenné. The king appointed the Qadi and dealt with common-law misdemeanours according to Sharia law. The Qadi also had the power to grant

1190-703: A −ATR root, any further suffixes harmonize with the root. That is, the +ATR suffix/clitic is "transparent" to vowel harmony. An example is the negative -u- in, Door-u-ma-leen-fa /dɔːrumalɛːnfa/ begin- NEG - 1SG - 3PL - LOC Door-u-ma-leen-fa /dɔːrumalɛːnfa/ begin-NEG-1SG-3PL-LOC 'I did not begin them there.' where harmony would predict *door-u-më-léén-fë . That is, I or U behave as if they are their own −ATR analogs. Authors differ in whether they indicate vowel harmony in writing, as well as whether they write clitics as separate words. Consonants in word-initial position are as follows: All simple nasals, oral stops apart from q and glottal, and

1275-544: Is called maasir or kalir in Serer , kal by the Wolof , kallengooraxu in Soninke , sanaawyaa in western Mandinka , and agelor in Joola (Fogny) The griot caste are found extensively in the Senegambia region. They preserve genealogy , history and culture of the people. There is also a mutual exchange of cuisines among the inhabitants of this region. For example Thieboudienne

1360-482: Is most often written in this orthography, in which phonemes have a clear one-to-one correspondence to graphemes . Table below is the Wolof Latin alphabet and the corresponding phoneme. Highlighted letters are only used for loanwords and are not included in native Wolof words. The Arabic -based script of Wolof, referred to as Wolofal , was set by the government as well, between 1985 and 1990, although never adopted by

1445-697: Is one of the Senegambian languages , which are characterized by consonant mutation . It is often said to be closely related to the Fula language because of a misreading by Wilson (1989) of the data in Sapir (1971) that have long been used to classify the Atlantic languages. Senegalese/Mauritanian Wolof and Gambian Wolof are distinct national standards: they use different orthographies and use different languages (French vs. English) as their source for technical loanwords. However, both

1530-461: Is spoken by more than 10 million people and about 40 percent (approximately 5 million people) of Senegal's population speak Wolof as their native language. Increased mobility, and especially the growth of the capital Dakar, created the need for a common language: today, an additional 40 percent of the population speak Wolof as a second or acquired language . In the whole region from Dakar to Saint-Louis , and also west and southwest of Kaolack , Wolof

1615-509: Is spoken by the vast majority of people. Typically when various ethnic groups in Senegal come together in cities and towns, they speak Wolof. It is therefore spoken in almost every regional and departmental capital in Senegal. Nevertheless, the official language of Senegal is French . In The Gambia , although about 20–25 percent of the population speak Wolof as a first language, it has a disproportionate influence because of its prevalence in Banjul ,

1700-687: The American War of Independence , the French went on the offensive, and razed James Island in the River Gambia. In 1783, the Treaty of Versailles recognised British claims to The Gambia and French claims to Saint-Louis and Gorée, dissolving the Senegambia Province. The French pursued a policy of expansion and saw The Gambia as an obstacle. In the late 19th century, they proposed ceding Dabou , Grand Bassam , and Assinie in return for The Gambia. The negotiations broke down but were repeatedly brought up again. After

1785-560: The Jolof Empire or to jollof rice , a common West African rice dish. Now-archaic forms include Volof and Olof . English is believed to have adopted some Wolof loanwords , such as banana , via Spanish or Portuguese , and nyam , used also in Spanish: 'ñam' as an onomatopoeia for eating or chewing, in several Caribbean English Creoles meaning "to eat" (compare Seychellois Creole nyanmnyanm , also meaning "to eat"). Wolof

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1870-537: The Mali Empire 's attention. Mali conquered the city, profited from Gao's trade, and collected taxes from its kings until about the 1430s. Conflict in the Malian homeland made it impossible to maintain control of Gao. Ibn Battuta visited Gao in 1353 when the town was still a part of the Mali Empire. He arrived by boat from Timbuktu on his return journey from visiting the capital of the empire, writing: Then I travelled to

1955-659: The Neolithic coming from East Africa to mix with the Sorko fishing population and local Niger-Congo agriculturalists of the Niger River. At its peak, Timbuktu became a thriving cultural and commercial centre. Arab, Italian, and Jewish merchants all gathered for trade. A revival of Islamic scholarship took place at the university in Timbuktu. Overland trade in the Sahel and river trade along

2040-492: The Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu. He was interested in astronomy, which led to increased astronomers and observatories in the capital. Askia initiated multiple military campaigns, including declaring Jihad against the neighbouring Mossi. He did not force them to convert to Islam after subduing them. His army consisted of war canoes, a cavalry, protective armour, iron-tipped weapons, and an organized militia. He centralized

2125-624: The Songhai Empire , the Jolof Empire , the Kaabu Empire , the Kingdoms of Sine , Saloum , Baol , Waalo and Takrur . During this period, several great dynasties rose and fell, and some, such as the Guelowar Dynasty of Sine and Saloum, survived for more than 600 years despite European colonialism, which fell as recently as 1969, nine years after Senegal gained its independence from France. It

2210-507: The Songhai people . Sonni Ali established Gao as the empire's capital, although a Songhai state had existed in and around Gao since the 11th century. Other important cities in the kingdom were Timbuktu and Djenné , where urban-centred trade flourished; they were conquered in 1468 and 1475, respectively. Initially, the Songhai Empire was ruled by the Sonni dynasty ( c.  1464 –1493), but it

2295-566: The Western region . This refers to the coastal areas between Senegal and Sierra Leone , where the inland border in the east was not further defined. Geographically, the region lies within the tropical zone between the Sahel and the forests of Guinea , with Senegal and Gambian Rivers underpinning the region's geographical unity. The region encompasses the modern states of Senegal , The Gambia , and Guinea-Bissau , as well as portions of Mauritania , Mali , and Guinea . It should not be confused with

2380-459: The 1460s, Sonni Sulayman Dama attacked Méma , the Mali province west of Timbuktu. After the death of Sulayman Dama, Sonni Ali reigned from 1464 to 1492. Unlike the previous Songhai kings, Ali sought to honour the traditional religion of his people, taught to him by his mother of the Dendi people . This earned him the reputation of a tyrant by Islamic Scholars. In the late 1460s, he conquered many of

2465-526: The 1591 Battle of Tondibi , Songhai forces, despite vastly superior numbers, were routed by a cattle stampede triggered by the Saadi's gunpowder weapons. Judar proceeded to sack Gao, Timbuktu and Djenné, destroying the Songhai as a regional power. Governing so vast an empire proved too much for the Saadi dynasty . They soon relinquished control of the region, letting it splinter into dozens of smaller kingdoms. After

2550-509: The 9th and 3rd centuries BCE, several different groups of people collectively formed the Songhai identity, centered around the developing hub of ancient Kukiya . Among the first people to settle in the region of Gao were the Sorko people, who established small settlements on the banks of Niger. The Sorko fashioned boats and canoes from the wood of the cailcedrat tree , fished and hunted from their ships, and provided water-borne transport for goods and people. Another group of people that moved into

2635-424: The Empire saw increased centralization. He encouraged learning in Timbuktu by rewarding its professors with larger pensions as an incentive. He also established an order of precedence and protocol and was noted as a nobleman who gave back generously to people experiencing poverty. Under his policies, Muhammad brought much stability to Songhai, and great attestations of this registered organization are still preserved in

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2720-605: The Gambian capital, where 75 percent of the population use it as a first language. Furthermore, in Serekunda , The Gambia's largest town, although only a tiny minority are ethnic Wolofs, approximately 70 percent of the population speaks or understands Wolof. In Mauritania , about seven percent of the population (approximately 185,000 people) speak Wolof. Most live near or along the Senegal River that Mauritania shares with Senegal. Wolof

2805-523: The Islamic historian Al-Sa'di expresses this sentiment in describing his incursion on Timbuktu: Sunni Ali entered Timbuktu, committed gross iniquity, burned and destroyed the town, and brutally tortured many people there. When Akilu heard of the coming of Sonni Ali, he brought a thousand camels to carry the fuqaha of Sankore and went with them to Walata ..... The Godless tyrant slaughtered those who remained in Timbuktu and humiliated them. Sonni Ali created

2890-586: The Niger were the primary sources of Songhai wealth. Trade along the West African coast was only possible in the late 1400s. Several dikes were constructed during the reign of Sonni Ali, which enhanced the irrigation and agricultural yield of the empire. Overland trade was influenced by four factors: camels, Berber tribe members, Islam, and the structure of the empire. Gold was readily available in West Africa, but salt

2975-723: The Senegambian Neolithic age. Located in south of Mbour (in the Thiès Region ), an ancient culture referred to as the Tiemassassien culture , Tiemassassien industry , Tiémassas or just Tiemassassien was discovered during a Senegalese excavation half a century ago. Descamps proposed that this culture pertains to the Neolithic Era about 10,000 years ago. Dagan however proposed the Upper Paleolithic Era. This culture

3060-582: The Songhai Empire's neighbouring states, including what remained of the Mali Empire. During his campaigns for expansion, Ali conquered several territories, repelling attacks from the Mossi to the south and conquering the Dogon people to the north. He annexed Timbuktu in 1468 after the leaders of the town asked him to help overthrow the Tuaregs, who had taken the city following the decline of Mali. When he attempted to conquer

3145-720: The Songhai Empire, ascended to power in a long dynastic struggle following the death of Daoud. In 1590, Al-Mansur took advantage of the recent civil conflict in the empire and sent an army under the command of Judar Pasha to conquer the Songhai and gain control of the trans-Saharan trade routes. The Songhai Empire collapsed after the defeat at the Battle of Tondibi in 1591. The Songhai Empire has been variously translated in texts as Zagha, Zaghai, Zaghaya, Sughai, Zaghay, Zaggan, Izghan, Zaghawa, Zuwagha, Zawagha, Zauge, Azuagha, Azwagha, Sungee, Sanghee, Songhai, Songhay, Sughai, Zanghi, Zingani, Zanj, Zahn, Zaan, Zarai, Dyagha, and possibly Znaga. In ancient times somewhere surmised between

3230-549: The Songhai military consisted of full-time soldiers, but the king never modernized his army. On the other hand, the invading Moroccan army included thousands of arquebusiers and eight English cannons. Judar Pasha was a Spaniard by birth but had been captured as an infant and educated at the Saadi court. After a march across the Sahara desert, Judar's forces captured, plundered, and razed the salt mines at Taghaza and moved on to Gao. When Emperor Askia Ishaq II (r. 1588–1591) met Judar at

3315-520: The Wolof people (40% of the population) but also by most other Senegalese as a second language. Wolof dialects vary geographically and between rural and urban areas. The principal dialect of Dakar , for instance, is an urban mixture of Wolof, French , and Arabic . Wolof is the standard spelling and may also refer to the Wolof ethnicity or culture. Variants include the older French Ouolof , Jollof , or Jolof , which now typically refers either to

3400-522: The accent mark is often only on the first letter. Vowels fall into two harmonizing sets according to ATR : i u é ó ë are +ATR, e o a are the −ATR analogues of é ó ë . For example, Lekk-oon-ngeen /lɛkːɔːnŋɡɛːn/ eat- PAST - FIN . 2PL Lekk-oon-ngeen /lɛkːɔːnŋɡɛːn/ eat-PAST-FIN.2PL 'You (plural) ate.' Dóor-óon-ngéen /doːroːnŋɡeːn/ hit- PAST - FIN . 2PL Dóor-óon-ngéen /doːroːnŋɡeːn/ hit-PAST-FIN.2PL 'You (plural) hit.' There are no −ATR analogs of

3485-426: The administration of the empire and established a bureaucracy responsible for tax collection and the administration of justice. He demanded the building of canals to enhance agriculture, eventually increasing trade. He introduced a system of weights and measures and appointed an inspector for each of Songhai's major trading centres. During his reign, Islam became more entrenched, trans-Saharan trade flourished, and

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3570-531: The area to live off of Niger's resources were the Gao people. The Gao were hunters and specialized in hunting river animals such as crocodiles and hippopotamus. The other group known to have inhabited the area were the Do people, farmers who raised crops in the fertile lands bordering the river. Before the 10th century, these early settlers were subjugated by more powerful, horse-riding Songhai speakers, who established control over

3655-451: The area. All these groups gradually began to speak the same language, and they and their country eventually became known as the Songhai. The earliest dynasty of kings is obscure, and most information about it comes from an ancient cemetery near a village called Saney , close to Gao. Inscriptions on a few of the tombstones in the cemetery indicate that this dynasty ruled in the late 11th and early 12th centuries and that its rulers were given

3740-405: The camel cavalry, called gu , was led by the guy , or cavalry chief. The cavalry mainly consisted of Berbers recruited from the northern provinces. The Songhai included three military provinces, and an army was stationed in each. It was divided into several garrisons, the kurmina , led by the balama , the central province by the emperor himself and the dendi by the dendi fari . The army of

3825-428: The central government. The hi koy was the fleet commander who performed roles likened to a home affairs minister . Fari Mondzo was the minister of agriculture who administered the state's agricultural estates. The Kalisa farm has been described by historians such as Ki-Zerbo to be the finance minister who supervised the empire's treasury. Korey Farma was also the "minister in charge of White foreigners." The tax

3910-496: The closest military province was mobilized with that of the emperor. Those remaining on the spot ensured order in the three provinces; the emperor was obliged to be in front of the armed during a war of conquest. The Jinakoy ruled secondary provinces and their lieutenants in the regions of the provinces. According to Potholm, the Songhai army was dominated by heavy cavalry of "mounted knights outfitted in chain mail and helmets", similar to medieval European armies. The infantry included

3995-559: The cradle of the great empires of Ghana , Mali and Songhai " and "the centre of gravity for West Africa." According to Professor Abdoulaye Camara  [ fr ] of IFAN and the Senghor University in Alexandria , Egypt , early humans appeared in Senegal around 350,000 years ago. Benga and Thiam posit that, it is in the Falémé valley in the southeast of the country where we find

4080-530: The empire in poor financial condition, but the kingdom itself passed intact to Musa II . Mari Djata, Musa's kankoro-sigui , put down a Tuareg rebellion in Takedda and attempted to quell the Songhai rebellion in Gao. While he succeeded in Takedda, he did not re-subjugate Gao. Another round of dynastic instability in the 1380s and 90s likely allowed the Songhai to formalize their independence under Sunni Muhammad Dao. In

4165-406: The empire into a period of decline and instability. Askia's relatives attempted to govern the kingdom, but political chaos and several civil wars within the empire ensured the empire's continued decline, particularly during the rule of Askia Ishaq I . The empire experienced a period of stability and a string of military successes during the reign of Askia Daoud . Askia Ishaq II , the last ruler of

4250-458: The empire's defeat, the nobles moved south to an area known today as Songhai in current Niger , where the Sonni dynasty had already settled. They formed smaller kingdoms such as Wanzarbe , Ayerou , Gothèye , Dargol , Téra , Sikié , Kokorou , Gorouol , Karma , Namaro and further south, the Dendi which rose to prominence shortly after. The original Songhai Empire only included the area from

4335-481: The failed 1981 coup d'état in The Gambia, a Senegambia Confederation was proposed and accepted. This lasted until 1989. The Senegambia region has a rich culture including joking relationships ( Sanankuya ) between patrilineal clans and ethnic groups. This joking relationship ensures peaceful coexistence where one ethnic group can criticize or even insult another without the recipient taking offence. This bond of cousinage

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4420-426: The high vowels i u . They trigger +ATR harmony in suffixes when they occur in the root, but in a suffix, they may be transparent to vowel harmony. The vowels of some suffixes or enclitics do not harmonize with preceding vowels. In most cases following vowels harmonize with them. That is, they reset the harmony, as if they were a separate word. However, when a suffix/clitic contains a high vowel (+ATR) that occurs after

4505-466: The king. Timbuktu was the educational capital. Sonni Ali established a system of government under the royal court, later to be expanded by Askia Muhammad, which appointed governors and mayors to preside over local tributary states around the Niger Valley. These local chiefs were still granted authority over their respective domains if they did not undermine Songhai policy. Departmental positions existed in

4590-407: The media especially radio stations and newspapers are privately owned. On 4 October 1973, Radio Senegal (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision du Sénégal (ORTS) as it was known at the time), which had been in talks with Radio Gambia about producing a joint radio programme based on Senegambian history and broadcast in the local Senegambian languages came to an agreement, and the first ever recording of

4675-407: The mounted archers was called the tongue farma . The hike was second in the chain of command of the empire and served as its interior minister . He was assisted by two vice-admirals at the ports of Kabara and Ayourou and commanded over a thousand captains, ensuring the rapid movement of troops along the Niger River. The infantry was led by a general called the nyay hurry (war elephant), and

4760-448: The oldest traces of human life. In Senegambian Neolithic history, the period when humans became hunters, fishermen and producers (farmers and artisans) is well represented and studied. This is when more elaborate objects and ceramics emerged, testifying to various human activities. The Diakité excavation in Thiès shows evidence of human mobility over a distance of about 600 km, during

4845-433: The people's own culture and tells them about the history of their ancestors. The Senegambian zone is home to various Senegambian ethnic groups including Wolof , Peul (or Fula), Tukulor (or Toucouleur), Manding , Sereer (or Serer), Soninke , Susu (or Sousou), Joola , Nalu , Baga , Beafada , Bainuk , and Bassari . Wolof language Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, spoken natively by

4930-400: The programme Chossani Senegambia (the history of Senegambia) was made. The show was prerecorded and both Senegal and Gambia broadcast at the same time every Tuesday. That was the first show of its kind within the Senegambia region, where two media houses from different states broadcast the same show at the same time every week. The Gambian historian, and statesman Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof who

5015-562: The recent Senegambia Confederation , which was a loose confederation between The Gambia and Senegal from 1982 to 1989, set up just after The Gambia's 1981 coup d'état where the Senegalese government intervened to reinstate the democratically elected Gambian government. Spanning beyond the borders of the Senegambia Confederation, the Senegambia region was described by the Senegalese historian and scholar Professor Boubacar Barry of UCAD as historically "the main gateway to Sudan ,

5100-606: The region has a rich and old music and dance tradition. Traditional Senegalese wrestling called njom in Serer, laamb in Wolof and siɲɛta in Bambara is a favourite pastime and national sport in some parts of the region especially in Senegal. Senegambian media are varied and include several radio stations, television channels, newspapers and Internet. Some of these radio stations and TV channels such as Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise , Radio Gambia and GRTS are publicly owned, but most of

5185-679: The region of Timbuktu to the east of Gao. Provinces were created after a military expansion under Sonni Ali and Askiya, whose territory was divided into three military zones: The Songhai Empire at its zenith extended over the current territories of Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, most other Guinean Coast countries and Algeria. Its influence stretched as far as Cameroon over a vast contiguous ethnolinguistic , cultural, and political space of Mandé peoples , Gur , Dogon, Berbers, Arab , Fula , Wolof , Hausa , Soninke people , Akan people , and Yoruba people . An elite of Songhai horsemen led this population from nomadic Nilo-Saharan riders of

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5270-402: The rest on gifts for the people of Mecca to display his empire's wealth. Historians from Cairo said his pilgrimage consisted of "an escort of 500 cavalry and 1000 infantry, and with him he carried 300,000 pieces of gold". Islam was so important to him that, upon his return, he established more learning centres throughout his empire and recruited Muslim scholars from Egypt and Morocco to teach at

5355-422: The river. As trade in the region increased, the Songhai chiefs took control of the profitable trade around what would later become Gao. Trade goods included gold, salt, slaves, kola nuts , leather, dates , and ivory . By the 10th century, the Songhai chiefs had established Gao as a small kingdom, taking control of the people living along the trade routes. Around 1300, Gao had become prosperous enough to attract

5440-429: The salt mines of Taghaza were brought within the empire's boundaries. In 1528, Askia's children revolted against him, declaring his son Askia Musa king. Following Musa's overthrow in 1531, the Songhai Empire went into decline. Following the death of Emperor Askia Daoud in 1583, a war of succession weakened the Songhai Empire and split it into two feuding factions. During this period, Moroccan armies annihilated

5525-414: The sonorants l r y w may be geminated (doubled), though geminate r only occurs in ideophones . (Geminate consonants are written double.) Q is inherently geminate and may occur in an initial position; otherwise, geminate consonants and consonant clusters, including nt, nc, nk, nq ( [ɴq] ), are restricted to word-medial and -final position. In the final place, geminate consonants may be followed by

5610-449: The south and the east. Under his rule, the Songhai military possessed a full-time corps of warriors. Askia is said to have cynical attitudes towards kingdoms lacking professional fighting forces. Al-Sa'di, the chronicler who wrote the Tarikh al-Sudan , compared Askiya's army to that of his predecessor: "he distinguished between the civilian and the army unlike Sunni Ali [1464–92] when everyone

5695-551: The spoken and written languages are mutually intelligible. Lebu Wolof , on the other hand, is incomprehensible to standard Wolof speakers, a distinction that has been obscured because all Lebu speakers are bilingual in standard Wolof. Note: Phonetic transcriptions are printed between square brackets [] following the rules of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The Latin orthography of Wolof in Senegal

5780-502: The title as Africa's most powerful and biggest music export before Akon (who incidentally is also from this region) for several decades is from this region. The African Renaissance Monument built in 2010 in Dakar , standing at 49 m (161 feet) is the tallest statue in Africa . From the old and sacred music genre of njuup , to the modern mbalax beats (derived from the Serer njuup tradition),

5865-572: The title of Malik (Arabic for "King"). Other tombstones mention a second dynasty whose rulers bore the title zuwa . Only myth and legend describe the origins of the zuwa . The Tarikh al-Sudan ( History of Sudan ), written in Arabic around 1655, provides an early history of the Songhai as handed down through oral tradition. It reports that the founder of the Za dynasty was called Za Alayaman (also spelt Dialliaman), who originally came from Yemen and settled in

5950-539: The top were noblemen and descendants of the original Songhai people, followed by freemen and traders. At the bottom were prisoners of war and enslaved people who mainly worked in agriculture. The Songhai used slaves more consistently than their predecessors, the Ghana and Mali empires. James Olson described the Songhai labour system as resembling trade unions , with the kingdom possessing craft guilds that consisted of various mechanics and artisans. Criminal justice in Songhai

6035-575: The town of Kukiya . What happened to the Zuwa rulers is yet to be recorded. The Sanhaja tribes were among the early people of the Niger Bend region. These tribes rode out of the Sahara Desert and established trading settlements near the Niger. As time passed, North African traders crossed the Sahara and joined the Tuaregs in their settlements. Both groups conducted business with the people living near

6120-537: The town of Kawkaw, which is a great town on the Nīl [Niger], one of the finest, biggest, and most fertile cities of the Sūdān. There is much rice there, milk, chickens, fish, and the cucumber, which has no like. Its people conduct their buying and selling with cowries, like the people of Mālī. Following the death of Mansa Sulayman in 1360, disputes over who should succeed him weakened the Mali Empire. The reign of Mari Djata II left

6205-415: The trading town of Djenné , the townspeople resisted his efforts. After a seven-year siege, he was able to starve them into surrender, incorporating the town into his empire in 1473. The invasion of Sonni Ali and his forces negatively impacted Timbuktu. Many Muslim accounts described him as a tyrant, including the Tarikh al-fattash , which Mahmud Kati wrote. According to The Cambridge History of Africa ,

6290-456: The verbs. Therefore, the term temporal pronoun has become established for this part of speech. It is also referred to as a focus form. Songhai Empire The Songhai Empire was a state located in the western part of the Sahel during the 15th and 16th centuries. At its peak, it was one of the largest African empires in history. The state is known by its historiographical name, derived from its largest ethnic group and ruling elite,

6375-518: The weakened Mali Empire to expand Songhai rule. Under the rule of Sonni Ali, the Songhai surpassed the Malian Empire in area, wealth, and power, absorbing vast regions of the Mali Empire. His son and successor, Sonni Bāru , was overthrown by Muhammad Ture , one of his father's generals. Ture, more commonly known as Askia the Great, instituted political and economic reforms throughout the empire. A series of plots and coups by Askia's successors forced

6460-476: The works of Maghreb writers such as Leo Africanus , among others. The Sonni dynasty practised Islam while maintaining many aspects of the original Songhai traditions, unlike their successors, the Askiya dynasty . Askia Mohammed I oversaw a complete Islamic revival and made a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Songhai armed forces included a navy led by a hikoy (admiral), a cavalry of mounted archers , an infantry , and

6545-521: Was a soldier." He opened religious schools, constructed mosques , and opened his court to scholars and poets from throughout the Muslim world. His children went to an Islamic school, and he enforced Islamic practices but did not force religion on his people. Askia completed one of the Five Pillars of Islam by taking a hajj to Mecca, bringing a large amount of gold. He donated some of it to charity and spent

6630-421: Was also out of this region that the ancient lamanic class sprang. The ancient lamanes were the landowning class and kings. According to Barry, the "lamanic system is the oldest form of land ownership in precolonial Senegambia." From the 15th century, the region became a focus of Franco-British-Portuguese rivalry. The Portuguese were the first to arrive in the region in the 1450s. Until the 16th century, they held

6715-592: Was based mainly, if not entirely, on Islamic principles, especially during the rule of Askia Muhammad. The local qadis were, in addition to this, responsible for maintaining order by following Sharia law under Islamic domination, according to the Qur'an . An additional qadi was noted as a necessity to settle minor disputes between immigrant merchants. Kings usually did not judge a defendant; however, under exceptional circumstances, such as acts of treason, they felt obligated to do so and thus exerted their authority. Results of

6800-401: Was former Director of Programmes and Head of Local Languages at Radio Gambia was one of the pioneers of that joint programme. In his book, Senegambia - The land of our heritage (1995), p 12, Cham Joof writes: The programme Chossanie Senegambia... has a higher audience in the Gambia and Senegal than any other programme broadcast by ORTS and Radio Gambia. It is the only programme that goes into

6885-438: Was imposed on peripheral chiefdoms and provinces to ensure Songhai's dominance; in return, these provinces were given almost complete autonomy. Songhai rulers only intervened in the affairs of these neighbouring states when a situation became volatile, usually an isolated incident. Each town was represented by government officials, holding positions and responsibilities similar to today's central bureaucrats. Under Askia Muhammad,

6970-524: Was later replaced by the Askia dynasty (1493–1591). During the second half of the 13th century, Gao and the surrounding region had grown into an important trading centre and attracted the interest of the expanding Mali Empire . Mali conquered Gao near the end of the 13th century. Gao remained under Malian command until the late 14th century. As the Mali Empire started disintegrating, the Songhai reasserted control of Gao. Songhai rulers subsequently took advantage of

7055-448: Was named after Thiès, the region it is in. The Senegambian stone circles are also located in this zone. Numerous tumuli, burial mounds, some of which have been excavated, revealed materials that date between the 3rd century BC and the 16th century AD. According to UNESCO  : "Together the stone circles of laterite pillars and their associated burial mounds present a vast sacred landscape created over more than 1,500 years. It reflects

7140-579: Was not, so the gold-salt trade was the backbone of overland trade routes in the Sahel. Ivory, ostrich feathers, and slaves were sent north in exchange for salt, horses, camels, cloth, and art. While many trade routes were used, the Songhai heavily used the way through the Fezzan via Bilma , Agades , and Gao. The Niger River was essential to trade for the empire. Goods were offloaded from camels onto either donkeys or boats at Timbuktu. From there, they were moved along

7225-434: Was set by government decrees between 1971 and 1985. The language institute " Centre de linguistique appliquée de Dakar " (CLAD) is widely acknowledged as an authority when it comes to spelling rules for Wolof. The complete alphabet is A, À, B, C, D, E, É, Ë, F, G, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, Ŋ, O, Ó, P, Q, R, S, T, U, W, X, Y. The letters H, V, and Z are not included in native Wolof words. They are only used in foreign words. Wolof

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