The Songhai empire, which had completely eclipsed the previous empire by the late 14th century, was the last of what has been called the "Great Three" West African empires - after Ghana and Mali. Songhai built upon the existing Islamic tradition established by the Kingdom of Mali, and most of Songhai's 17 kings, the administrators, and the bureaucrats in urban centres were Muslim. The faith did not spread through the general population, however, and most of the kingdom's subjects retained their adherence to traditional religions. Many of those who did convert to Islam, including Songhai's rulers, combined elements of their ancestral religions with Islam.

The Songhai Empire in the 15th century
© The Applied History Research Group

Under the reign of Askia Muhammad (1493-1529), Songhai became the largest empire in West Africa at the time, covering much more territory than either Ghana or Mali ever had, and including over one thousand different cultures. The Songhai empire strengthened the trading ties that Mansa Musa had established with other Islamic empires in Africa - most notably, the Merinids in the Maghrib, and the Mamluks in Egypt. By 1591, however, the kingdom had become too large to administer, and an invasion from Morocco that year virtually destroyed the empire. Its Islamic legacy, however, remains in many places in West Africa today.