9-th, 2004 - 09: 1   (Posted By: Webmaster)
Sonni Ali    

Sonni Ali
FOUNDER OF THE EMPIRE OF TIMBUCTOO (d.1493)

OF THE SEVERAL NEGRO KINGDOMS that rose in West Africa between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, the most notable was the Songhay, or Songhoi. This empire occupied the rich tract of land within the buckle of the majestic river Niger, whither centuries before its people had fled to escape the Mohammedan invasions from the northeast. At the height of its power it had expanded to stretch from the Atlantic Ocean across the vast width of Central Africa almost to the borders of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. In power and wealth it was the equal to any European country of that time.
Songhay had several flourishing cities, the principal being Jenny, which was strongly fortified and was one of the great commercial centers of Islam. Caravans came to it from all parts of the East, and Ibn Batuta, the celebrated traveler who visited it, tells of its grain, gold, cloth, cattle, salt markets, and of its vast wealth. " It is very prosperous," he comments. "God has accorded all His favors to this city as a thing natural and innate. Everyone finds great profit in going to Jenny and in the acquisition of fortunes of which God alone can tell the sum."
Similarly, Félix Dubois says:

This accomplishment brings the greatest honor to the Negro race, and merits from this point of view all our attention. In the 16th century the Songhay land awoke. A marvellous growth of civilization mounted there in the heart of the Black Continent. And this civilization was not imposed by circumstances, nor by an invader, as is often the case even in our day. It was desired, called forth, introduced and propagated by a man of the Negro race.

This man was Sonni Ali, whose fame as a conqueror was outstanding in his time. Sonni Ali, whose real name was Ali Kolon, began as a common soldier in the army of Kankan Musa, Mandingo ruler of the Mellestine empire, into which, he had been impressed after the defeat and subjugation of his people, the Songhays, by Kankan Musa. Forced even to fight his own people, Sonni Ali was overcome with rage at the cruelties of the Mellestine emperor and swore that one day he would take up arms to free them. As for the empire of Kankan Musa, it exceeded in wealth and magnificence anything he had ever imagined, and yet, common soldier that he was, he dared to feel that some day it should be his.
Kankan Musa, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, had displayed a lavish splendor never seen before in the African east. In addition to his foot soldiers, he had an escort of 60,000 mounted men. Preceding him were 500 slaves, each bearing a wand of gold weighing six pounds. Describing this pilgrimage, Houdas says:

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