The Songhai people were the nuclear group that was to build their name to the greatest African empire of the 15th and 16th centuries. They were one of those unique peoples who can be characterized as highly intelligent, industrious, and aggressively invincible as both traders and warriors. The Songhai Empire rose to its greatest height in the 16th century, and at the time was greater than any contemporary European state during medieval times. This massive African empire stretched from the Atlantic coast almost to the Indian Ocean and covered a vast territory equaling the same size as all Europe combined. The Songhai Empire consisted parts of the present-day countries of Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Northern Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, and the Gambia.
Image I (Left): Sunni Ali Ber
Image II (Right): Muhammed Touré I aka Askia “the Great”
According to Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Sunni Ali Ber and Askia “the Great” were two of the greatest Africans born in the last 2,000 years and they took the Songhai nation to “Africa’s great walk in the sun.”
“This accomplishment brings the greatest honor to the Black race, and merits from this point of view all our attention. In the 16th century, the Songhay (Songhai) land awoke. A marvelous growth of civilization mounted there in the heart of the Black continent.” – French Author Felix Dubois, Timbuctoo the Mysterious
At its height during the 16th century, the Songhai Empire was the same size as all Europe combined before the Transatlantic slave trade reached West Africa’s shores.
Felix Dubois continued to say:
“And this civilization was not imposed by circumstances, nor by an invader as is often the case even in our own day. It was desired, called forth, introduced and propagated by a man of the black race.”
The Songhai people themselves, were farmers, fishermen, hunters, craftsmen, traders, and warriors. They were a confederation of people who came to dominate the middle Niger around the region of Dendi. The first Songhai settlement was a town called Kukya, and it became the capital and attracted people from surrounding regions. When the Songhai captured the city of Gao, which eventually became the capital of the Songhai Empire, their success was assured because this kingdom was the important caravan center for international trade. It dominated the commerce of the central regions of the Western Sudan, controlling the flow of gold and ivory from the southern forests and the precious salt trade from the Taghaza mines in the northern desert. Gao was located downstream from Timbuktu on the Niger River. A mighty city-state that stubbornly refused to become a part of the Mali Empire that angered Mansa (i.e., Emperor) Musa to no end.
Gao had become a large city that manufactured iron works, gold, silver, and tin tools, and agricultural implements. Muslim traders settled in Gao and spreading Islam. From the 11th to the 14th centuries, Songhai’s biggest problem was the maintenance of its freedom and independence from the growing power of their almighty neighbor, the Great Mali Empire.
When Mansa Musa returned from his famous Hajj from Mecca (Saudi Arabia), one of his generals, Sagmandia was busy extending the Mali Empire. On Mansa Musa’s trip home, he was delighted to find out his soldiers had a “welcome home” gift for him. The Malian soldiers persuaded the kingdom of Gao to become part of the Mali Empire. Dia (i.e., Emperor) Assibai of Songhai came from the palace to the great gates of the city and surrendered his sword to Mansa Musa’s son, Maghan. Mansa Musa was so happy that he made a detour to see his gift, which was the capital of the Songhai people. As Dia Assibai escorted Mansa Musa to his palace, the eyes of the Malian emperor fell upon two handsome young men, about 15-years-old. These two boys were the favorite sons of Dia Assibai, born just hours apart but from two different mothers. The elder son, Ali Kolon and the younger, Sulayman Nar.
Once Mansa Musa noticed Dia Assibai couldn’t conceal the love and affection he had for his boys, Mansa Musa said, “Now, King, I know you have promised your loyalty to me, and that you will pay the taxes I shall impose for our mutual benefit, but I shall need some insurance for your promised loyalty. I shall take these two princes back to the capital of Mali, Niani, with me.” Dia Assibai’s love and affection for his children turned out to be his undoing, because he became anguished. He pleaded for Mansa Musa to spare his two sons. Mansa Musa said, “No harm will befall them. They will be treated as royal hostages. They will be treated as my own sons. But you must always remember to obey my edicts and remain loyal to the Malian empire.”
The two teenage boys said tearful goodbyes to their father and mothers as they mounted camels that were grandly outfitted. They began their sad 200-mile journey to the Malian royal city of Niani, vowing to themselves and whispering to each other that one day they will return home to the kingdom of Gao or die trying. When Ali Kolon and Sulayman Nar finally made it to Niani, their eyes became as big as saucers because they never saw so much wealth and splendor before. First, the two boys noticed the great farms of Mali that spread out as far as their eyes could see. The farms had Sorghum, rice, taro, yams, beans, and onions. There were huge herds of cattle, sheep, and goats, and poultry farms of many chickens. The Malian master chefs on the caravan prepared meals of thick hippopotamus, beef, buffalo, elephant, and crocodile steaks.
When the boys passed through the cities and large towns of Mali, they noticed how industrious the people were because Mali skillfully put their country’s resources to use for the benefit of all and not a few. Each large city or middle-sized village had its own craftsmen, woodcarvers, silversmiths, goldsmiths, coppersmiths, blacksmiths, weavers, tanners, and dyers. The boys also saw great caravans of camels hauling salt and gold to and from Mali and places north of the Sahara. The homes they had seen in the Mali Empire were beautiful, and they were two and three stories high made of polish stone, sitting on tree-line streets. Like most teenage boys, they had trouble trying to conceal their pleasure while staring at the beautiful Malian maidens, dressed in their shinning, colorful clothing, their finely wrought leather shoes, and amazing hair designs.
When Mansa Musa finally got the boys settled in their assigned special apartments in his huge royal palace, he called together his 12 most trusted cavalrymen and said, “Don’t let them escape.” Though the boys couldn’t see the guards, they knew they were being watched. They were allowed to ride horses for miles, but they knew they were being followed at a respectable distance. If they rode to far, all the sudden, five or six of Mansa Musa’s guards would suddenly appear and lead them gently but firmly back to the palace. As the years went on, both Songhai princes learned how to hide provisions in secret places along the route to Gao.
One day in 1332, Mansa Musa died, and during the confusion, Ali Kolon and Sulayman Nar mounted their horses and escaped. On their way back home to Gao, the Songhai princes were spotted by Malian guards and the chase began in a span of six days. The guards rode in desperation trying to catch the princes as if their very lives depended on it. Both Ali Kolon and Sulayman Nar made it to Gao at the last minute, just as the huge gates closed against their pursuers. The boys, now grown men were safe, but found out their father Dia Assibai had died a year earlier of a broken heart. Ali Kolon, the elder of Dia Assibai’s sons was hailed as the successor to the Songhai throne which he assumed under his self-named title of “Sunni” which means “replacer.” Ali Kolon established a new dynasty in Songhai and as the new Songhai king, he dreamed of expanding the Gao Kingdom into a huge empire that he hoped would someday eclipse and swallow the Mali Empire.
The Songhai Empire would rise to great heights under the rule of two of Songhai’s greatest emperors, Sunni Ali Ber (descendant of Ali Kolon and Suylayman Nar) and Muhammed Touré I aka Askia “the Great.”
“Songhay’s (Songhai's) greatness was due to something more than the remarkable expansion of its empire over a larger territory than the continent of Europe. That was great, but greater by far was the grand scale on which the revival of learning spread among the Blacks of West Africa―The Western Sudan, or ‘Land if the Blacks.’ Three principal centers of learning were at Jenne, Gao, and Timbuktu.”
– Dr. Chancellor Williams, The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race From 4500 B.C. to 200 A.D., p. 219
Sunni Ali Ber ascended to the Songhai throne in 1464, and with the capture of Timbuktu in 1468, Songhai had become an empire. He became a world famous leader of this time, taking over the old empire of Mali. In 1473, Sunni Ali Ber captured the kingdom of Djenné, but the capture wasn’t easy. The kingdom was founded in the 13th century by the Sonike people in the declining years of the empire of ancient Ghana. Djenné was in the back waters of the Bani River, which was a tributary of the Niger some 100 miles southwest of Timbuktu. Djenné’s attractiveness was due to the beauty of the kingdom’s waterways and imaginative designs of many of its buildings. The kingdom was also protected by treacherous swamps and could only be reached by way of narrow twisting canals and streams. This made Djenné easy to defend. Past emperors of Mali, like Abubakari II made nine attempts to conquer Djenné, but the Malians efforts always ended in frustration. Djenné, along with the kingdoms of Timbuktu, Gao, and Walata with their universities of high repute and thousands of professors was very enticing to kings because of what they were able to produce. Many learned men were from these kingdoms and they lectured and conducted research on various subjects. Some of the disciplines were medicine, and surgery, like the removal of cataracts on the eye, the transplanting of limbs, and the study of bacteria.
Sunni Ali Ber devised a plan of siege instead of direct attack on the kingdom of Djenné. The siege lasted seven years, seven months, and seven days. During the period of no rain, the Songhai Army camped outside of the kingdom to cut off supplies. With a naval fleet of 400 large ships, Djenné was cut off during the rainy season. After seven years of suborn resistance, Sunni Ali Ber was ready to quit, even some of his own men urged him to give up the siege. Then suddenly, the ruling council of the kingdom decided to deliver Djenné into the hands of the Songhai emperor. The Queen Mother of Djenné was Queen Dara, and she rode into the Songhai camp to surrender to Sunni Ali Ber, but the emperor of Songhai greeted the ruling Queen Mother with profound respect, inviting her to sit by his side. It was at this time when a tradition began, and it gave the kings of Djenné the privilege of sitting with the emperors of Songhai. This was a sign of mutual respect. The Songhai people have always admired courage, and Sunni Ali Ber went out of his way to show the people of Djenné that he had no grudge. To seal the bond between Songhai and Djenné, Sunni Ali Ber proposed and married the beautiful Queen Mother of Djenné, Queen Dara.
After a distinguished career, Sunni Ali Ber died in 1492, and according to Dr. John Henrik Clarke’s The Empire of Songhai lecture, Sunni Ali Ber died by drowning when he and his horse got caught in an under bridge crossing a minor stream. An inglorious death of one of the mightiest emperors of Songhai. Sunni Ali Ber also may have been killed in a military campaign. After his death, Sunni Ali Ber was mummified, which is a very ancient African tradition.
Timbuktu during the 16th century
“If Songhay (Songhai) writers can be believed, Timbuktu was Paris, Chicago and New York blended into an African setting.” - Lerone Bennett, Before The Mayflower: A History of The Negro in America, 1619-1962, p. 35
“Thus politically, but far more intellectually was Songhay (Songhai) restored to its ancient position as a child of Egypt (Kemet).” – Flora Shaw (Lady Lugard), A Tropical Dependency, p. 185
Timbuktu was one of the most fabled cities of the medieval world, and Songhai historians were shocked to find out most of the people amused themselves with music, and love and pleasures of drinking. Music ranged from orchestras with both male and female singers, and midnight revivals were common. Women dressed extravagantly luxurious, and both men and women were fond of jewels; and the women were elegantly dressed with gold incorporated into their creative hairstyles. Timbuktu was a kingdom that dramatically displayed people dancing, fencing, gymnastics, and poetic recitations, which were popular.
About 93% of the ancestors of the present-day African Americans came from the Western Sudan (the whole Songhai Empire and some outside territories in West Africa), and this was what their life was like before the Transatlantic slave trade.
In the city of Timbuktu, there was the great University of Sankoré, with its thousands of students from all over the known world. The university structure consisted of a Faculty of Law, Medicine and Surgery, Letters, Grammar, Geography, and Art. There were thousands of students from all parts of West Africa and other regions. There were African scientists, doctors, lawyers, and other scholars at the University of Sankoré. In West Africa during the Dark Ages in Europe, caring for the sick through training schools was operated under the aegis of the emperors of the Songhai Empire. Arab traveler and historian, Ibn Battuta notes that at the College of Medicine of the University of Sankoré, in the kingdom of Timbuktu, his blind brother was made to see by an operation removing cataracts from his eyes. Leo Africanus, wrote in 1578, “Here in Timbuktu, there are great scores of doctors, judges, priests and other learned men, bountifully maintained at the king’s cost and charges.”
The art of physical healing was only part of the science of the physicians of West Africa, who were also taught the art of emotional and mental healing.
One of the Songhai’s hospitals. The scene of course is doctor, nurse and attendants caring for a sick person.
After Sunni Ali Ber died, his successor to the Songhai throne was his son Sonni Baro Dao. He vigorously fought and defended traditional African Spirituality-Philosophy (Maat, ancient Kemet, Egypt) up until he was dethroned in 1493 by Muhammed Touré I who was a former military general who became the new emperor of Songhai. Askia (i.e., Emperor) Muhammed inherited an empire that was already massive, yet he expanded north, east, and west by conquest. He is responsible for the Songhai Empire being the same size as all Europe combined. By 1514, the Askia’s armies captured the Hausa Confederation of present-day Northern Nigeria, the city of Agadez in Niger, and finally the regions to the far west reaching the Atlantic Ocean in the present-day region of Senegal and the Gambia. In some territories, Askia Muhammed allowed regional kings to rule as they had done before, just as long as they paid tribute and acknowledged Songhai overlordship.
A devout Muslim, Askia Muhammed made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1496, like Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire. In Mecca, the Askia met the Caliph of Egypt, the Pope of the Islamic church. He requested that the Caliph appoint him as his religious representative in West Africa. The Caliph agreed and Askia Muhammed returned to Gao in 1497, with a new title: The Caliph of the Western Sudan, spiritual leader of all West African Muslims.
As the Songhai Kingdom turned into an empire, Askia “the Great” came up with new methods of government and establishing a strongly centralized administration. Among the most important posts were the Minister of Treasury, the Minister of Tax Collection, the Minister of the Army and Navy, and the Minister of Trade and Industry. Under Askia Muhammed’s reign, Timbuktu had a population of 100,000 people, filled with gold and dazzling women. One of the most fabled and exotic cities of the medieval world was Timbuktu, a Sudanese metropolis was celebrated for its luxury. The towering two great mosques dominated the face of the kingdom. From the Great Mosque, flat-roofed houses of wood and plaster radiated in all directions. Other buildings fronted narrow streets with factories and shops, where one could buy exotic goods from North Africa and Europe. In the narrow streets of Timbuktu, scholars mingled with rich Black merchants and young boys in the shade, reciting the Koran. Even visiting Arab businessmen wandered the streets, looking for the excitement for which the famous city was known for. Askia Muhammed was a liberal man who had several wives and 100 sons, and the last of whom was born when he was 90-years-old.
Timbuktu, one of the most fabled cities of the medieval world when undisturbed was carefree. According to Dr. W.E.B. Dubois, Timbuktu and the West African civilization ended abruptly because of two of the world’s reglions: Islam and (Western) Christianity.
The Fall of the Songhai Empire
Ahmadou Tall (Segou, Mali, ca 1833 – Sokoto, Nigeria, 1898), Toucouleur ruler and anti-colonial leader.
“… The first, and perhaps the most important fact is that the general enslavement of Africans, proclaimed to the world as savages, began during the very period and in very West Africa in the center of which one of the great universities of the world and other collages were located.” ―”The Black revival of Learning,” p. 247
West Africa’s Golden Age and the Songhai Empire was interrupted by an invasion by Morocco (Northwest Africa) in 1591. The Moroccans (Moors) were only the Berbers, Arabs, and Mixed-Africans (Afro-Arabs) and the darkest and black skinned Africans were called “Black-a-Moors.” In North Africa and Morocco in particular, all Muslim Arabs, Mixed-Africans, and Berbers were regarded as Moors. The Black-a-Moors originated from Mauritania (West Africa) and spread throughout the whole region of North Africa. When the Black-a-Moors occupied Spain in 700 AD, they established schools, libraries, hospitals and other great science centers. They are credited with lifting Europe (Spain) out of their intellectual darkness. When the Black-a-Moors were banished from Europe, Professor Stanley Lane-Poole said, “that no less than three millions of Moors (Black-a-Moors) were banished between the fall of Granada and the first decade of the 17th century.” Some returned to North and West Africa, but others fled elsewhere in Europe where they were gradually absorbed.
Moroccan Sultan Al Mansur spent many years convincing his Council of War of his conquest of the Songhai Empire. His Council of War hesitated about creating a war between the Moroccan and Songhai countries because the heat of the Sahara could take many lives just by crossing the desert known to have no vegetation, and birds even lose their way there. Sultan Al Mansur replied by saying the conquest would be an easy one, because the Sudanese know neither about guns or cannons, and they are not acquainted with the terrifying sound of muskets. The Songhai were only armed with spears and sabres. Plus, it was rumored the Songhai Empire was wealthier than all North Africa combined.
Sultan Al Mansur wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth I of England and requested England’s assistance in the conquest of the Songhai Empire. The queen of England was more than happy to supply Morocco with men and weapons because the possible rewards of looting the Songhai Empire for its gold was too great of an opportunity to miss. Queen Elizabeth supplied artillery, cannonballs, guns, and soldiers to Sultan Al Mansur’s army. The lure of Songhai’s wealth attracted other Europeans. In fact, of 4,000 men in Al Mansur’s army (Moors: Arabs, Berbers, and Mixed-Africans (Afro-Arabs), 2,500 were European (British and Spanish) mercenaries.
The Songhai army prepared to battle the Moroccans and they vastly outnumbered their opponent, but the Moroccans had an advantage, which were firearms. The Moroccans had large stocks of guns, ammunition and cannons, and the Songhai had none of these weapons. As the war commenced, vast numbers of Songhai were brutally slain. According to Es-Sadi, “Broke the army of the askiya in the twinkle of an eye…at the moment of their defeat, the soldiers threw their shields on the ground and sat on them cross-legged until [the] army came and killed them in cold blood where they were, for it was their custom not to flee when defeated.”
On the authority of Dr. John Henrik Clarke, when the Moroccan army invaded Songhai’s most prominent cities, the Songhai said, “Wait! Wait! We are your family in religion!” Sadly, the Songhai's words fell on death ears because they were murdered in cold blood. The Songhai government and its people were devout Muslims and the Songhai government felt since Morocco was also a Muslim country that “two Islamic brothers should not use guns of the Europeans against other Muslim brothers,” and they also said, “Real men met on the battlefield with sword and shield face to face.”
According to Es-Sadi, “The people (of the Songhai Empire) had grown fat and soft on luxury and good living. At this moment, faith was exchanged for infidelity; there was nothing forbidden by God which was not openly done. Men drank wine, they gave themselves up to vice. … As to adultery, it became so frequent that indulgence in it was almost accepted as permissible. Without it there was no elegance and no glory…. Because of these abominations, the Almighty in his vengeance drew upon the Songhai the victorious army of the Moors.”
The Songhai Empire was sacked, pillaged, and kingdoms like Djenné, Gao, Timbuktu, and Walata were burnt to the ground. The Songhai people experienced their water wells being filled in, fields of crops were destroyed, wholesale slaughter, rape, doors were ripped off homes, trees were cut down, looting, gold and salt mines were captured, and the Songhai treasury was seized by the Moroccan army. The Moors burned the books of the University of Sankoré and all of this was done in the name of Allah (Islam), just like lynchings in the U.S. was done by white Christians (Western Christianity). The fall of the Songhai Empire was done by the Moors, and not the real indigenous (Moors) Black-a-Moors because it wouldn’t have been in their best interest to burn their own books.
“It is abundantly clear that the vast majority of Black Africans and particularly of the Western Sudan responded bravely against the European-Moor conspiracy. They enjoyed the advantage of the gun. However, in all other aspects of the conflict such as generalship strategy and battle tactics, it is clear that we, Africans, more than held our own against the graduates of the best military academics of Europe. Africans armed only with spears, bows and arrows and swords, displayed greater valor than whites and the Moors firing guns from a safe distance. A king of the Nedebele observed that… 'A gun is a weapon of a coward.” – Dr. Calvin Robinson, Dr. Edward W. Robinson, and Redman Battle, authors of The Journey of the Songhai People
Another fact is Black African Muslims were not spared from destruction by the Muslim Moors (Arabs, Berbers, and Afro-Arabs). Although Askia Muhammed and his sons were devoted to the Muslim faith, it did not stop the invasion by fellow Muslims from Morocco to conquer the Songhai Empire in 1591. In the Muslim destruction of the Songhai Empire, the age-old practice of seizing all men of learning and skilled craftsmen for enslavement and service to the conquerors were carried off to the Maghreb (North Africa). Also, the all-important fact was the non-enslavement of Mixed-Africans (Afro-Europeans or Afro-Asians) were classified as “white,” Egyptians and Moors.
Morocco received gold dust, musk, slaves, and other valuable objects from their conquest of the Songhai Empire. The gold that was stolen from Songhai was used to make gold coins, necklaces, and jewels. The Moroccans rejoiced in the city of Marrakesh for three days with public celebrations and congratulations.
The Songhai’s spears and bow and arrows were forced to give way to Moroccan and European gunfire. The Songhai split up into small units to harass enemy garrisons and outposts in surprise attacks. These attempts to dislodge the invaders lasted for 70 years, but the Songhai of glorious memory was no more. It was the invention of the gun in the early 1500s that gave European nations along with the Moors the edge to conquer the Songhai Empire.
One of the great professors at the University of Sankoré was Ahmed Baba, and he was the head of the University. In 1593, he was captured by the Moors and deported to Morocco in chains. Ahmed Baba had written 1,600 books, each on a separate subject. He was detained in Morocco for 12 years, and he complained about the Moroccan sultan’s lack of manners, ill treatment he received during his original arrest, the sacking of his private library, and ultimately, the destruction of his country, the Songhai Empire. In Morocco, Arab scholars petitioned to have him released from jail. He was released a year later from jail, and eventually, Ahmed Baba received permission from Sultan Al Mansur’s successor to return to Songhai. Just before his departure across the Sahara, scholars of Marrakesh gathered around to say goodbye to their “father in religion.” Ahmed Baba said, “May God never bring me back to this meeting, nor make me return to this country!”
Professor Ahmed Baba enjoyed a high reputation in the Islamic world. Amongst the Songhai, he was known as “The Unique Peral of his Time.” Ahmed Baba returned to a ruin Timbuktu and died in 1627.
During the Moorish occupation of the Songhai Empire and the Western Sudan, they wrecked and ruined what West Africans called civilization. When Europeans arrived in this part of Africa in mass and saw conditions created by the Moors, they assumed that nothing of order and value had existed in these countries. The past Golden Ages are part of the history that the explorers of Africa want the world to ignore. In 1889, French forces captured Gao, which completed their conquest of the old territories of the former empires of ancient Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. During France’s rule, the country now known as Mali was called the French Sudan. In 1960, both Mali and Niger gained independence from French colonial rule.
The Songhai Empire dominated West Africa for 129 years.
Songhai (Mali). Mausoleum of Askia the Great in the city of Gao. 1538. This building resembles a step pyramid.
What the African Diaspora Needs to Know..
Image I (Left): Alkebu-lan (Africa, “land of the Spirit People"): The Motherland of the Blacks
Image II (Right): Location of Africa’s various precious mineral resources, including gold, diamonds, iron ore, copper, oil, uranium, etc.
“Amidst the ignorance, fabrication and prejudice lay pearls of truth regarding the bright achievements of Africans and African culture.”
– Historian Wayne B. Chandler
“The invaders raiding into the continent (Africa) from Asia and Europe formed the second centuries-long battlefronts against which the Blacks had to fight for survival. These wars spanned several thousand years, and in an earlier chapter (The Destruction of Black Civilization) I ‘wondered out loud’ ─how any people, weakened by perpetual hunger and disease, could possibly carry on wars of resistance to the white invaders for over 5,000 years,” Dr. Chancellor Williams said. “This they did─and this their descendants must know and remember with pride: That Black resistance to white domination covered over 5,000 years. When the enslavers pressed upon them from the North, from the East, From the West, and from the South, they continued while the continent was being depopulated by it with the active participation of many Black chiefs and kings seeking wealth and the white man’s promise of security from all of their Black foes."
Asian and European invasions into Africa
"PAFO (The Pan African Federation Organization) is attempting to show that Africans in our West African homeland had a great and beautiful civilization. Had this civilization not been interrupted by a calculated sneak invasion―with the aid of mercenaries, there is no telling how far world civilization might be advanced."
– Dr. Calvin Robinson, Dr. Edward W. Robinson, and Redman Battle, authors of The Journey of the Songhai People
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Captivating History. The Songhai Empire: A Captivating Guide to One of the Largest States of Medieval West Africa (Western Africa). Captivating History. March 4, 2022. Aug. 22, 2022. p. 55, 58.
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Clarke, J. Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust: Slavery and the Rise of European Capitalism. Publishers Group. May 7, 2015. Aug. 22, 2022. p. 43.
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Jackson, J. Huggins, W. Introduction to African Civilizations. Black Classic Books. (Aug. 16, 2013). Aug 22, 2022. Location: 1562.
Mahere, F. Africa Investment Conferences are good. But they must be held in Africa. On the invitation of Africans. Deliberating on an agenda set by Africa. Africans must have a common position. Did we learn nothing over the last century? Twitter. Jan. 18, 2020. Aug. 23, 2022. http://mobile.twitter.com/advocatemahere/status/1218799915779928070
Meme. Classical Afrikan Indigenous Civilizations Before Asiatic or European Invasion 200,000 bcc-350 bcc. Meme. Aug. 23, 2022. http://me.me/i/numidia-ehenu-gnawa-foubou-wauad-kush-hausa-ande-nok-alan-13806844
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Walker, R. When We Ruled: The Ancient and Mediaeval History of Black Civilizations. Black Classic Press. (May 1, 2011). Aug. 22, 2022. p. 55, 378, 383-385, 389-392, 419, 547.
Williams, C. The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Third World Press; 3rd Revised ed. edition. (Feb. 1, 1992). Aug. 22, 2022. p. 102, 208, 217, 219, 221-223, 315-316.
TV108 - The Black Side. Dr. John Henrik Clarke | Empire of Songhai. TV108 – The Black Side. YouTube. YouTube. Feb. 17, 2017. Aug. 22, 2022. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6qn0K1wLPM&t=3019s