Geographic HistoryMap of the Songhai Empire
On the Geographic History map, the Songhai Empire appears from 1464 to 1591. It reaches its largest mapped extent in 1519: about 1.8 million km² across 26 provinces.
The Songhai Empire rose on the middle Niger under Sunni Ali, who took Timbuktu in 1468 and Djenne a few years later. Under Askia Muhammad it became one of the largest states in African history, with Gao as its capital and Timbuktu as a centre of scholarship. A Moroccan army armed with firearms defeated it at Tondibi in 1591.
The source dataset also uses this name outside 1464 - 1591; this page counts only 1464 - 1591.
Mapped area over time
The Songhai Empire on the world maps
Largest other states in 1519
| State | Mapped area |
|---|---|
| Ming | 3.8 million km² |
| Ottoman Empire | 2.3 million km² |
| Safavid Persia | 2.2 million km² |
| Russia | 2.1 million km² |
| Kazakh Khanate | 1.7 million km² |
| Sibir | 1.6 million km² |
| Mongolia | 1.6 million km² |
| Oirat Horde | 1.4 million km² |
About this map
Territory comes from the Chronas historical dataset used by the Geographic History app. Areas are approximate, computed from about 2,400 province shapes, and describe this map rather than official historical figures - border data for the ancient and medieval world is necessarily a reconstruction.
Every year has a map
Drag a timeline across 2,500 years in the free Geographic History app - every province, ruler and battle, also offline.
