African Kingdoms

Dendi Kingdom (Askia Dynasty in Lulami) (Songhai Empire) (Niger)
AD 1592 - 1901

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The Songhai state existed in Africa in one form or another for over a thousand years. This period covers the first settlement in Kukiya and then at Gao, on the eastern edge of the Mali empire. Following the rise of Mali, the Songhai became vassals and then masters, before further decline set in.

Always prone to raids from the Muslim north, the later Askia rulers of the Songhai empire governed territory which today forms much of Mali and Niger still managed a period of greatness in the sixteenth century which saw Islamic learning provided in important centres such as Jenne (Djenné) and Timbuktu.

Islam itself was actively promoted in the empire, but that did not protect it from a Moroccan invasion in 1591. The Battle of Tondibi saw the Songhai forces being routed by the use of gunpowder weapons about which the superior numbers of the Songhai could do nothing. The empire's important centres, including Timbuktu, were sacked and the empire was destroyed.

The ruling Askia dynasty survived, however, and its family members fled to their native Dendi region of Niger. They set up a new capital at Lulami (location unknown) and continued all the traditions of the Songhai empire.

This retreat led to relative obscurity. The rule of many of these kings - using the title askia or askiya - is fairly obscure. The first of them was Askia Nuh I, a brother of several previous askia. This included Ishaq II who was killed in the battle of 1591, the Muhammed Gao who seemingly acted as a puppet askia in Gao, and Sulayman, along with several more who succeeded Nuh himself.

While Askia Nuh joined the exodus back to Lulami, Sulayman remained in Timbuktu as its Saadi puppet ruler, thereby spawning a dynasty of his own. The gold trade from the region was a source of profit for the reformed kingdom, with some of it reaching Granada in Spain, but the Dendi kingdom never matched the power and prestige of its forebear.

By the end of the nineteenth century it was so wracked by internal dissention that its military forces were in no state to stand against the invading French forces. They were already appropriating territory in the River Niger and Sahara regions, and the Dendi kingdom was effectively terminated and incorporated into their colonial possessions, as French West Africa.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from the Tarikh al-Fattash and Tarikh al-Sudan (seventeenth century Timbuktu chronicles which end in 1599 and 1656 respectively), from Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sadi's Tarikh al-Sudan down to 1613 and other contemporary documents, John O Hunwick (2003), from Tedzkiret en-nisiān fi Akhbar molouk es-Soudān (in French), Octave Houdas (Ed & translator, Paris 1901), from Documents Scientifiques de la Mission Tilho (1906-1909) (in French), J Tilho (three volumes, Paris 1911), and from External Links: Nyaani Mansa Mamudu and the End of the Malian Empire, Yves Person (Publications of the French Society of the History of Overseasers, 1981, and available via Persée (in French)), and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and The Invasion of Morocco in 1591 and the Saadian Dynasty, Jonathan Michel.)

1592 - 1599

Brother of Songhai Askia Ishaq II. First Dendi king at Lulami.

1599 - ?

Brother.

Brother.

1609

Although they may have lost most their Songhai empire, the Dendi kings of Lulami have not given up hope of reclaiming their lost lands. The residents of one of their most important former cities, Jenne (Djenné), now rebel against their Moroccan Saadi governors and the Dendi kingdom supports them.

With the collapse of the Songhai empire following the Moroccan invasion of 1591, the Dendi remnant of the empire attempted to free the city of Jenne (here showing the city's mosque) from Saadi rule, but with the result that Jenne became independent of both sides

The Saadi eventually recover the city but little in the way of support is provided from Morocco itself. The city is soon abandoned to the Fulbe and Tuareg nomads, with the Dendi apparently being satisfied enough with the outcome not to try and reclaim it for themselves - and probably lacking the resources to do so. Instead, the Bamana of Jenne soon leads an independent state based around the reduced city.

? - 1611

Brother.

1611 - 1618

Brother. Reigned for 7 years.

? - 1639

Nephew. Reigned for 22 years. Deposed by his brother.

1639

Askia Dawud turns out to be a ruthless and dangerous ruler. He murders many members of his own family, supposedly to cement his hold on the throne, while the military and general populace are also not immune.

His brother, Isma'il, flees to the Saadi-held city of Timbuktu, seeking military support from the Moroccans. He returns with an army in 1639 and Dawud is removed from power. Then Isma'il attempts to get the Saadi forces to leave and is himself deposed. The Saadi general, Pashad Mesaoud sacks Lulami.

The Djemaa el-Fna market place in Marrakech would have been as familiar to the Saadi sultans who seized the city in 1541 as it is to tourists today - although the square actually was used for executions, shortly after the city was founded in AD 1070

1639

Brother. Deposed by the Saadi.

1639

Cousin. Saadi puppet. deposed by his own people.

1639

Askia Muhammad is the Saadi puppet ruler to be imposed on the Dendi kingdom following the removal of Askia Isma'il Muhammad. The length of his reign is unclear but seems to be little more than a few months. Then he is removed by the Dendi people, by which time it has to be assumed that the bulk of the Saadi forces have returned to Timbuktu.

1639 - ?

Son of Muhammad Surku Ilji.

Son of Harun Dancette.

Cousin? Son of Fari-Mondzo Hammad.

Cousin? Son of al-Mustafa.

Son of Dawud I (II).

1670

The Alawi rulers of Morocco have found it impossible to control such a vast empire across such long distances as the one they have taken from the former Songhai empire. By this date they have already begun relinquishing control of the region, allowing it splinter into dozens of smaller kingdoms.

The lives of the ordinary people of the Dendi kingdom probably altered relatively little during the kingdom's decline, albeit with an increased chance of internecine conflict affecting them more directly

Brother.

Son of Muhammad Surku Ilji.

? - c.1700

Brother. Last of the dynasty founded by Nuh I.

c.1700

Although the bulk of the former Songhai empire's leadership had transferred to Lulami in 1591, there had been a great many brothers of the first king at Lulami who remained scattered across the empire's now Saadi-dominated lands.

One of those had become the ruler of Timbuktu, founding a dynasty of his own there, while another had remained at the old city of Gao to found a local ruling dynasty there.

Around this date, El Hadjj Hanga, son of Ismai'la who is the son of Morobani of Gao, relocates to Lulami to challenge for the crown. He wins it for himself and his sons, but even this leadership is later challenged again from Gao. These struggles disrupt the weakening kingdom and send it on a course towards fragmentation.

Excavations which were undertaken within and near the modern city of Gao in Mali, at the sites of Gao Ancien and Gao Saney during the 1990s and early 2000s, uncovered the remains of two large brick-built ancient structures and several residential structures

c.1700 - 1761

Son of Ismai'la of a rival Askia dynasty at Gao.

1761 - 1779

Son.

1779 - 1793

Brother.

1793

Son of Samsu Beri. Deposed.

1793 - 1798

Son of Morobani of Gao.

1798 - 1805

Restored.

1798 - 1805

The Dendi kingdom fractures into three separate elements. Each has its own capital: at Gaya, Karimama, and Madékali, now on either side of the modern border between Benin and Niger.

All three rulers claim descent from the Songhai rulers of Gao and all survive into the French occupation period where they are documented. Dominant rule of the Dendi kingdom may be shared or rotated between the houses (its exact pedigree is unclear), with the descendants of Tomo and Bassaru dominating in later years.

The modern border between Benin and Niger is probably very much as it was in 1798, when the Dendi kingdom fractured into three separate states on either side of today's border

1805 - 1823

Son of Samsu Beri.

1823 - 1842

Brother.

1842 - 1845

Brother.

1845 - 1864

Son of Tomo.

1864 - 1865

Son of Fodi Mayrumfa.

1865 - 1868

Son of Tomo.

1868 - 1882

Son of Tomo.

1882 - 1887

Son of Bassaru.

1887 - 1901

Son of Tomo. Deposed by France.

1901

The French have had an occupying force in the region since 1890, with the effect that native power is greatly curtailed, although this does have the side benefit of reducing internecine conflict.

Despite the loss of Commandant Lamy, in 1900 the French managed to join up all of their West African possessions at the Battle of Kousséri, which took place on the banks of the River Chari, dividing modern Chad and Cameroon

Now, in 1901, with the French appropriating further territory in the River Niger and Sahara regions, the Dendi kingdom is effectively terminated and incorporated into their colonial possessions. Along with a number of other territories the former kingdom is now part of French West Africa.

1901 - 1905

Son of Bassaru. Puppet king until French rule is in place?

1902 - 1958

Two major administrative regions of French West Africa - Middle Niger and Upper Senegal - are re-merged in 1902 as Senegambia & Niger, and renamed in 1904 as Upper Senegal & Niger when a direct governorship is re-established. This would seem to affect the former Dendi region, and certainly affects French Sudan.

1958 - 1960

The territory becomes an autonomous republic of the 'French Community' of states in 1958. Two years later it gains independence from France, and becomes part of a modern Niger. One of the new nation state's first acts is to leave the 'French Community'. Areas of the former Songhai empire are folded into modern Mali.

The fourteenth century Sankore mosque which is shown here on a postcard of about 1905 was one of the leading centers of Islamic learning and scholarship in Timbuktu