Sonni Ali Builds Songhai Navy on the Niger

1461

The Songhai warrior-king constructed a formidable fleet of war canoes on the Niger River, creating the first organized inland navy in West African military history. His riverine forces could strike upstream and downstream with devastating speed, faster than any cavalry column could march along the seasonal floodplain. The Niger became a military highway under exclusive Songhai control, connecting the empire's three great cities of Timbuktu, Djenne, and the capital at Gao.