Sonni Ali

The Full Profile

Sonni Ali, Emperor of Songhai, expanded Songhai into a major West African empire controlling key Niger River and trans-Saharan trade centers. Sonni Ali transformed Songhai from a regional kingdom into a major empire. His campaigns brought cities such as Timbuktu and Djenné under Songhai influence and strengthened control of Niger River trade routes. He combined military mobility, river power, and centralized authority to reshape the politics of the western Sahel. His Niger war fleet gave Songhai a mobility no rival could match, and his sieges of Timbuktu and Djenné secured the great trading cities of the Sahel; the Askia dynasty that followed built its empire on his conquests.