Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire

The principal text translated in this volume is the Ta'rikh al-sudan of the seventeenth-century Timbuktu scholar 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di.

Thirty chapters are included, dealing with the history of Timbuktu and Jenne, their scholars, and the political history of the Songhay empire from the reign of Sunni 'Ali (1464-1492) through Moroccan conquest of Songhay in 1591 and down to the year 1613 when the Pashalik of Timbuktu became an autonomous ruling institution in the Middle Niger region. The year 1613 also marked the effective end of Songhay resistance.

The other contemporary documents included are a new English translation of Leo Africanus's description of West Africa, some letters relating to Sa'dian diplomacy and conquests in the Sahara and Sahel, al-Ifrani's account of Sa'dian conquest of Songhay, and an account of this expedition by an anonymous Spaniard.