African kingdoms: Songhay

Ghana was known for its gold and salt. Mali was known for its emperor. And Songhay was known for its size. It had a bunch of mosques, schools, mansions, and palaces with walls around them.

Leo Africanus was a muslim. When he was a kid, Ferdinand and Isabella were conquering the las t muslim kingdoms in Spain. His parents took him to North Africa. When he grew up he decided to leave North Africa and go down through the Sahara desert to Songhay. He wrote a book ut what he saw.

He said that there were houses made of clay bricks and thatched roofs, but the palace was made of stone. the women wore veils over their faces, except for the slave women. The emperor had a lot of gold. he said once he saw a gold bar that weighed a thousand pounds. Books were very valuable. The King usually led his army into battle, but only against those who refused to pay him tribute.

The Moroccans wanted to seize the salt mines and the gold mines, and they came down with an army of 3,000 men armed with guns and cannons. The Songhay people only had spears, shields and swords, and they couldn't resist the stronger weapons. the Moroccans got the salt mines but they couldn't find the gold ones, so they gave up. But the Songhay Empire had fallen apart -- the largest empire in medieval history had come to an end.