Songhai Forces Seize Timbuktu

1458

Sunni Ali's cavalry briefly seized Timbuktu from Tuareg control before turning to larger military campaigns along the middle Niger River. The city's scholarly class viewed his rule with deep suspicion, recording his cruelty, impiety, and disdain for Islamic learning in their chronicles. Timbuktu would change hands yet again, but Songhai's claim to be the dominant military power in all of West Africa was now undeniable to friend and enemy alike.