Whether used during or after the monarch’s existence, the epithet often provides an apt description of the monarch. Epithets have ranged from a description of the height to the king or queen’s penchant for violence, and were occasionally appended to the monarch for one singular feat. For instance, Tervel, the Emperor of Bulgarians, had the epithet Savior of Europe after defeating Arabs in the Siege of Constantinople. There is pretty much nothing else known about him after that.
There are many monarchs known as “the Great”, a title that is quickly identified with Alexander of Macedon, or Alexander the Great. He who made a small kingdom become an empire that stretched from Europe and into Asia, almost reaching India, while another segment of the empire claimed Egypt in Africa.
Africa too had its own “Great” king, Askia Muhammad I, a usurper to the throne of the Songhai Empire who gained recognition for state building, and at the end of his reign, had made the empire reach its greatest extent.
For centuries, the Songhai Empire was a tiny vassal under the mighty Mali Empire, as Mali had conquered its capital. In about 1335, Songhai broke from Mali and the tiny kingdom (then) was engaged in several fronts for the next century, fighting to remain independent. The first king to ascend to the throne was Sunni Ali Ber (Ber means the great in Berber). Sunni Ali managed to bring the cities of Timbuktu and Djenne under the Songhai Empire, and in a series of conquests grabbed more land for Songhai. He created administrative provinces which were governed by trusted lieutenants.
When he died on his way home from battle, his son ascended the throne. Sunni Baru Dao, was the name of the next king, and his reign didn’t last very long. Unlike his father, a Muslim, Baru Dao practiced traditional religions, and this very much incensed his populace, a large section of whom were Muslim. He was instructed to convert, but he refused. And when words were no longer helpful, the Muslims went to battle, receiving support from much of the King’s Army. Consequently, Baru Dao was deposed and a Muslim General known as Muhammad Toure became king.
By all accounts, he shouldn’t have become king; he was not even a Songhai, the predominant tribe in the kingdom. He was most likely a Tukulor whose family had settled in Gao. The Tukulor are a Senegalese group, and the Songhai Empire revolved around modern day Mali. When he became king, Muhammad Toure styled himself Askia, a title which historians believed was used to ridicule the daughters of the deposed Sunni dynasty, who had said of him, “he will not be” (a si tya in Songhai). As history shows, he went on to be ruler, and his children after him.
On ascending to the throne, Askia Muhammad continued the expansion that had begun with Sunni Ali. West, east and north he sent his armies, conquering Hausas in northern Nigeria, taking over caravan routes in Agadez and expanding his reach to the Atlantic Ocean. When he had relaxed his conquering ways, he had 1.4 million km2 under his command, and the kingdom he had inherited had morphed into the largest empire on the African continent.
And he wasn’t just a conqueror, he was also an efficient statesman. He created a centralized government, modeled along Sunni Ali’s system, with provinces ruled by noblemen related to him.
His government had ministries to deal with taxes, people, defense (there was a standing army and navy), among other departments. He created standard weights and measures, and currency too, so that trade was harmonized within his empire. Islam was made the state religion, and Sharia law was used to resolve disputes, even among non-Muslims. There was a cultural revival, and the ancient universities at Timbuktu, especially the University of Sankore, grew in strength and resources, receiving visitors from Europe, Middle East and Asia to marvel at its libraries, to learn Medicine and Law.
The hegemony he now controlled was wealthy, having seized control of mines and commodity routes. His sons began squabbling for a share of his empire, and Askia the Great was deposed by his son in 1528. A decade later, the great king died, having lived to the ripe old age of 96. The empire he left behind would persist for a centuries, finally being ended in 1901 with the French conquering the Dendi Kingdom, which is what the great Empire had been reduced to after Songhai fell to Moroccans in 1591.
By Matengo Chwanya
Sources: teachtci/ blackpast/ third resurrection/ britannica/ whenweruled/ britannica/ britannica/
Africa Global News Publication
