The most successful of these was the Songhai Empire, expanding its power from about 1460, and eventually surpassing the Mali Empire in both territory and wealth.

In 1545 to 1546, the Songhai Empire took Niani.

The Songhai Empire, c. 1500

In 1591, Morocco invaded the Songhai Empire under Ahmad al-Mansur of the Saadi Dynasty in order to secure the goldfields of the Sahel.

The Bambara Empire, one of the states that broke from Songhai, sacked Gao.

In the latter half of the 16th century, Mai Idris Alooma modernized its military, in contrast to the Songhai Empire.

** Songhai emperors, see Songhai Empire

Present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire ( from which Mali is named ), and the Songhai Empire.

The empire later declined as a result of internal intrigue, ultimately being supplanted by the Songhai Empire.

In the late 14th century, the Songhai gradually gained independence from the Mali Empire and expanded, ultimately subsuming the entire eastern portion of the Mali Empire.

The fall of the Songhai Empire marked the end of the region's role as a trading crossroads.

After the collapse of the Songhai Empire, no single state controlled the region.

* Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire, c. 1500

Following the breakup of Mali a local leader named Sonni Ali ( 1464 – 1492 ) founded the Songhai Empire in the region of middle Niger and the western Sudan and took control of the trans-Saharan trade.

During the 16th century the Songhai Empire reached its peak, stretching from the Senegal and Gambia rivers and incorporating part of Hausaland in the east.

Spread along the Niger River in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, throughout the historic Songhai Empire, including its former capital Gao and the well-known city of Timbuktu.

Before the arrival of European settlers, the history of the Saharan region is mainly characterized by the consolidation of settlements in large state entities – the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire.

Askiya Nuhu and the Songhay army regrouped at Dendi in the heart of Songhai territory where a spirited guerrilla resistance sapped the resources of the Moroccans, who were dependent upon constant resupply from Morocco.

The Saadi Dynasty controlled Gao, Timbouctou, Djene, and related trade routes with much difficulty from the downfall of the Songhai at the Battle of Tondibi ( 13 March, 1591 ) to around the end of the 17th century.

The Islamic governments of the pre-colonial sub-Saharan empires of Mali and Songhai appear to have had a similar relationship with these territories, which were at once the home of undisciplined raiding tribes and the main trade route for the Saharan caravan trade.

* 1462: Sonni Ali Ber, the ruler of the Songhai ( or Songhay ) Empire, along the Niger River, conquers Mali in the central Sudan by defeating the Tuareg contingent at Tombouctou ( or Timbuktu ) and capturing the city.

* March 13 – Battle of Tondibi: In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi Dynasty led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.

Its slow decline starting at the end of the fourteenth century followed internal discord and revolts by vassal states, one of which, Songhai, flourished as an empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Arquebuses were also used in the Moroccan victory over the Songhai Empire at the Battle of Tondibi in 1590.

# support for student publications on more than fifty campuses including The Claremont Port Side at Claremont McKenna College, Songhai News: The Black Collegiate Voice at the University of Houston, The Big Green at Michigan State University, The Fine Print at the University of Florida, Vanderbilt Orbis at Vanderbilt University, and The Dartmouth Free Press at Dartmouth College.

The Songhai are thought to have settled at Gao as early as 800 CE, but did not establish it as the capital until the 11th century, during the reign of Dia Kossoi.

Mar is often credited with wresting power away from the Mali Empire and gaining independence for the small Songhai kingdom at the time.

With his control of critical trade routes and cities such as Timbuktu, Sonni Ali brought great wealth to the Songhai Empire, which at its height would surpass the wealth of Mali.

When Emperor Askia Ishaq II ( r. 1588-1591 ) met Judar at the 1591 Battle of Tondibi, Songhai forces, despite vastly superior numbers, were routed by a cattle stampede triggered by the Saadi's gunpowder weapons.

Smaller states in the region at this time included Takrur to the west, the Malinke kingdom of Mali to the south, and the Songhai centred around Gao to the east.

The Fulas of the region had for centuries been the vassals of larger states, including the Mali Empire ( 13th-14th centuries ), the Songhai Empire ( 15th century ), the Moroccan pashas of Tomboctou ( 16th century ), and the Bambara Empire at Ségou ( 17th century ).

Though the Songhai met them at the Battle of Tondibi with a force of 40, 000, they lacked the maghrebian's gunpowder weapons and quickly fled.

Meanwhile, Songhai ruler Askia Ishaq II assembled a force of more than 40, 000 men and moved north against the Moroccans ; the two armies met at Tondibi in March 1591.

Though Ishaq assembled more than 40, 000 soldiers to meet the Moroccans, his army fled the enemy's gunpowder weapons at the decisive Battle of Tondibi in March 1591 ; Judar soon seized and looted the Songhai capital of Gao as well as the trading centers of Timbuktu and Djenné, ensuring the Empire's destruction.

The slat idiophone bala, the 6-string doson n ' goni ( hunter's lute-harp ) and its popular version the 6-12 string kamel n ' goni, the soku ( gourd / lizard skin / horse hair violin adopted from the Songhai, soku literally means " horse tail "), and the modern guitar are all instruments commonly found in the Bamana repertoire.

Mali's slipping grip on its far-flung empire, thanks to the growth of the Songhai Empire, had allowed Djolof to become an empire itself.

This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai.

The Songhai state has existed in one form or another for over a thousand years if one traces its rulers from the first settlement in Gao to its semi-vassal status under the Mali Empire through its continuation in Niger as the Dendi Kingdom.

In 1340, the Songhai took advantage of the Mali Empire's decline and successfully asserted its independence.

At its peak, the Songhai city of Timbuktu became a thriving cultural and commercial center.

The empire saw its pre-eminent rise under the military strategist and influential Songhai king, Sonni Ali Ber.

Under the Askias, the Songhai empire reached its zenith.

Koyra Chiini (, literally " town language "), or Western Songhay, is a variety of Songhai in Mali, spoken by about 200, 000 people ( as of 1999 ) along the Niger River in Timbuktu and upriver from it in the towns of Diré, Tonka, Goundam, and Niafunké, as well as in the Saharan town of Araouane to its north.

In addition 30 % of its population, mostly Tuareg and Songhai were displaced to North Africa during the 1990s.

Then for a brief period of time, Yauri was invaded by Mali and it incorporated a few Songhai invaders into its social structure.

In search of new resources for his kingdom, Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi turned his attention to the empire of the Songhai where he erroneously believed the gold mines from which its wealth came from, were located.