Sonni Ali Ber

Sonni (" the saver ") Ali Ber (? - 1493) was probably the largest hero of the legends of the Empire songhaï. Shining strategist, it carried out 32 wars in 26 years and gained them all. Authenticate military engineering, it reformed its armed forces quickly, builds a professional force divided into cavalry and infantry. A big part of the cavalry consisted of noble, but even the slaves and the prisoners were accepted there. It created the station of hi-koï (commander-in-chief) for the navy, which counted more than four hundred boats carried out by crews of fishermen Sorkos. Those were the showpiece of its successes along the river Niger, while being able to quickly transport troops on thousands of inland kilometers of waterways.

His/her mother was originating in the town of Fara where the people observed a crossbred Islam of Animisme. Their religious leaders were the soothsayers and the wizards of the traditional religions of the Songhaï but, being a Sudanese prince, Ali Ber were to be Moslem and poured its mite with the mosques of Gao. It began its reign in 1464 by demolishing the tribes Dogon and fulani, rivals of the Songhaï, then dispersed for good the plunderers mossis. January 20th 1468, Ali Ber took the control of the city of Tombouctou which was set fire to and made kingdom of Gao an empire. The Tuaregs were expelled or reduced in vassalage. Thanks to the Sorkos, Sonni Ali Ber melted quickly on the cities of Oualata and Djenné, which had just gained their independence on the Mali. Located at 400 kilometers in the south-west of Tombouctou, Djenné was attacked by an army songhaï brought by several hundreds of boats, but the seat took several years however. When Djenné was taken, Sonni Ali Ber married the queen-mother of the city and attached it to its empire, thus gathering under only one authority the three large commercial cities of the African west. He did not hesitate to reduce in slavery overcome, even if they were Moslem.

The coherence of a so vast empire which cannot be maintained with the only force of the weapons, Sonni Ali Ber organized the government in an effective bureaucracy, making conquered countries of the provinces directed by governors and founding standards. This organization differed largely from the preceding empires of the area which rested much more on feudal alliances and relations that on the high degree of centralization characteristic of the Empire songhaï. Specific measures were taken however for Tombouctou and some other Moslem provinces.

The empire arrived to its apogee, Sonni Ali Ber died on the way of return of one énième victorious countryside, a forwarding against the Dogons (Falaise of Bandiagara) and the kingdom of Gourma in 1493. His/her son Sonni Baro reigns only a few months, because one of lieutenants d' 50 years old Ali, Mohammed Touré, a Soninké originating in the Tekrour, is drawn up against him. The troops of the two men meet in Ankoo, close to Gao. The rebels of Mohamed Touré are victorious and Sonni Baro must take refuge with Ayorou, in the south-east of the Songhaï, where he will die without to have been able to reconquer his throne.

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