In 1858, German explorer Heinrich Barth crossed the Sahara Desert, aiming for Timbuktu. His guides spoke of a vast ruined city called Gao, once the capital of Africa's largest empire. Barth found only small huts and overgrown ruins, a stark contrast to its former glory. He began documenting the remnants of this civilisation, later identified as the Songhai Empire, pondering its rise and fall.

Paul Cooper introduces The Fall of Civilisations podcast, focusing on ancient civilisations that rose and fell. This episode explores the Songhai people of West Africa, their ability to thrive in harsh conditions, unite warring tribes into a cosmopolitan society, and the reasons for their eventual collapse after only a century of glory.

The Earth's axial precession, a 25,000-year cycle, significantly impacted Africa's climate. Over the last 8,000 years, monsoon shifts created the Sahara Desert, forcing Neolithic humans to its borders. The Sahel region, south of the Sahara, became a vital area, defined by the fertile Niger River, supporting diverse communities like the Sorko, Gao, Doh, and eventually the equestrian Songhai, who harmonised disparate elements to thrive.

Empires, like the Ghana Empire (8th century), form when powerful states conquer and rule neighbours, extracting resources and imposing culture. This 'imperial cycle' often ends in instability and collapse. Ghana's success was tied to the introduction of camels around 300 AD, transforming trans-Saharan trade and connecting West Africa to Mediterranean markets, facilitating the exchange of goods like ivory, spices, and unfortunately, slaves.

West Africa possessed abundant gold, a resource that attracted significant trade. Contrary to European myths of a single gold mine, gold was gathered from rivers and prospecting sites. Seasonal prospectors traded gold dust with caravans using 'silent barter.' This trade, facilitated by camel caravans (some with up to 12,000 camels), funnelled immense wealth north, enriching early West African kingdoms. The 10th-century geographer Ibn al-Faqih noted gold 'grows in the sand like carrots.'

The Ghana Empire declined in the 13th century, giving way to the Mali Empire, which inherited its wealth and expanded trans-Saharan trade. Mansa Musa, Mali's most famous king (1312-1337), embarked on an extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 with a caravan of 60,000 men and 80 camels carrying 300 pounds of gold each, inadvertently causing economic chaos and inflation in the cities he visited. His journey highlighted Mali's immense wealth and cemented his place in history.

Historical accounts of West Africa come from three main sources: Arab travellers (like Ibn Battuta and Leo Africanus), oral traditions from griots (storytellers and historians), and the written chronicles of Timbuktu's scribes (Tarikh al-fataash and Tarikh al-Soudan). These sources, while sometimes divergent or embellished, offer valuable insights into the region's past, blending historical events with fantastical elements and political agendas.

The Songhai Kingdom, centred on the city of Gao, emerged in the 10th century. Gao was a thriving cosmopolitan market where goods like kola nuts, gold, ivory, slaves, spices, and palm oil were exchanged for Mediterranean products. Its wealth attracted Mansa Musa, who conquered it in 1325. Despite being under Mali rule, Gao prospered, impressing even critical visitors like Ibn Battuta, who lauded its abundance of food.

Mansa Musa's death in 1337 triggered a succession crisis in Mali. His son Maghan was usurped by his uncle Suleyman, leading to civil war and fragmentation. Weakened, Mali was unable to repel raids from the Mossi people or secure northern trade routes. This chaos allowed client states, including Gao, to declare independence. By the 1430s, the Songhai Kingdom was formally established, poised to become the next dominant power.

Rising from the ashes of Mali's decline, Sonni Ali (1464-1492) unified the Songhai Empire through ruthless military expansion. While revered by griots as Ali the Great, Timbuktu's scholars condemned him as a cruel tyrant due to his destructive campaigns, particularly against intellectuals and the Fulbe tribe. Ali modernised his army with large-scale horse breeding, iron cavalry armour, and a powerful river fleet, using terror as a military tactic.

Timbuktu, an ancient trading post and academic centre, became a symbol of Africa's intellectual heritage, housing hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. In 1468, Sonni Ali, an 'enemy of books and knowledge,' marched on the city. After a chilling warning, most inhabitants fled, and Ali's soldiers burned countless books and executed scholars, a brutal act attributed to his deep-seated insecurity and illiteracy.

Askiya Muhammed, a Songhai general, challenged Sonni Ali's tyrannical rule. Upon Ali's mysterious death in 1492, Muhammed overthrew Ali's son, Baro, in battle. In contrast to Ali's brutality, Muhammed was a diplomatic and administrative leader who promoted religious acceptance and scholarly pursuits. He expanded the Songhai Empire across West Africa, making it the largest in the continent, and fostered ethnic unity by including all groups in his pilgrimage to Mecca.

Askiya Muhammed's reign ended due to blindness and a succession crisis among his 37 sons. His son Musa usurped him, leading to civil war and widespread conflict among rival claimants. This period of instability, compounded by drought and famine, weakened the empire. The disruption of trade and the constant need for horses to fuel internal wars led to a dramatic increase in the trans-Saharan slave trade, with captured populations sold to fund conflicts.

The Songhai Empire's internal strife coincided with the rise of Morocco, emboldened by its victory over Portugal in 1578. Moroccan Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, seeking Songhai's gold and salt mines and aware of its weakness, dispatched an invasion force of 4,000 men under Spanish mercenary Judar Pasha in 1590. Despite its small size, this force brought a decisive advantage: gunpowder weapons.

In 1591, Judar Pasha's Moroccan forces, armed with muskets and cannons, met the much larger Songhai army (estimated at 40,000 to 80,000 men) at the Battle of Tondibi. The Songhai's cattle stampede tactic failed, and their cavalry and archers were no match for Moroccan gunpowder, leading to a devastating defeat. King Askiya Ishaaq II fled, and the Moroccans sacked Gao, Timbuktu, and Jenne, plundering their wealth and destroying much of their cultural heritage, including the burning of books. This marked the dramatic end of the Songhai Empire, accelerating its fragmentation and the expansion of the transatlantic slave trade.

The collapse of the Songhai Empire led to widespread chaos and fragmentation in West Africa. European powers exploited this instability, establishing trading posts and accelerating the transatlantic slave trade. Timbuktu's intellectual legacy faded, its manuscripts preserved by devoted families. The city of Gao dwindled to a shadow of its former self, its ruins rediscovered by Heinrich Barth in the 19th century. The episode concludes with a poignant excerpt from the Tarikh al-fataash, reflecting on the empire's downfall and the enduring importance of remembering its past glory.