Songhai people

The Za dynasty or Zuwa dynasty were rulers of a medieval kingdom based in the towns of Kukiya and Gao on the Niger River in what is today modern Mali. The Songhai people at large all descended from this kingdom. The most notable of them being the Zarma people of Niger who derive their name "Zarma (Za Hama)" from this dynasty, which means "the descendants of Za".[17][18]

Al-Sadi's seventeenth century chronicle, the Tarikh al-Sudan, provides an early history of the Songhay as handed down by oral tradition. The chronicle reports that the legendary founder of the dynasty, Za Alayaman (also called Dialliaman), originally came from the Yemen and settled in the town of Kukiya.[19] The town is believed to have been near the modern village of Bentiya on the eastern bank of the Niger River, north of the Fafa rapids, 134 km south east of Gao.[20] Tombstones with Arabic inscriptions dating from the 14th and 15th centuries have been found in the area.[21] Kukiya is also mentioned in the other important chronicle, the Tarikh al-fattash.[22] The Tarikh al-Sudan relates that the 15th ruler, Za Kusoy, converted to Islam in the year 1009–1010 A.D. At some stage the kingdom or at least its political focus moved north to Gao. The kingdom of Gao capitalized on the growing trans-Saharan trade and grew into a small regional power before being conquered by the Mali Empire in the early 13th century.

A stele found in Gao-Saney, now in the National Museum of Mali

Gao-Saney became well known among African historians because French administrators discovered here in a cave covered with sand in 1939 several finely carved marble stelae produced in Almeria in Southern Spain. Their inscriptions bear witness of three kings of a Muslim dynasty bearing as loan names the names of Muhammad and his two successors. From the dates of their deaths it appears that these kings of Gao ruled at the end of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth centuries CE.[23] According to recent research, the Zaghe kings commemorated by the stelae are identical with the kings of the Za dynasty whose names were recorded by the chroniclers of Timbuktu in the Ta'rikh al-Sudan and in the Ta'rikh al-Fattash. Their Islamic loan name is in one case complemented by their African name. It is on the basis of their common ancestral name Zaghe corresponding to Za and the third royal name Yama b. Kama provided in addition to 'Umar b. al-Khattab that the identity between the Zaghe and the Za could be established.

It appears from this table that Yama b. Kima (or 'Umar b. al-Khattab), the third king of the stelae of Gao-Saney, is identical with the 18th ruler of the list of Za kings. His name is given in the Ta'rikh al-Fattash (1665) as Yama-Kitsi and in the Ta'rikh al-Sudan (1655) as Biyu-Ki-Kima. On account of this identification the dynastic history of the Gao Empire can now to be established on a solid documentary basis.[25] Apart from some Arabic epitaphs on tombstones discovered in 1939 at the cemetery of Gao-Saney (6 km to the east of the city)[26] there are no surviving indigenous written records that date from before the middle of the 17th century.[27] Our knowledge of the early history of the town relies on the writings of external Arabic geographers living in Morocco, Egypt and Andalusia, who never visited the region. These authors referred to the town as Kawkaw or Kuku. The two key 17th century chronicles, the Tarikh al-Sudan and the Tarikh al-Fattash, provide information on the town at the time of the Songhai Empire but they contain only vague indications on the time before.[28] The chronicles do not, in general, acknowledge their sources.[29] Their accounts for the earlier periods are almost certainly based on oral tradition and for events before the second half of the 15th century they are likely to be less reliable. For these earlier periods the two chronicles sometimes provide conflicting information. The earliest mention of Gao is by al-Khwārizmī who wrote in the first half of the 9th century.[11] In the 9th century Gao was already an important regional power. Al-Yaqubi wrote in his Tarikh in around 872:

There is the kingdom of the Kawkaw, which is the greatest of the realms of the Sūdān, the most important and most powerful. All the kingdoms obey its king. Al-Kawkaw is the name of the town. Besides this there are a number of kingdoms of which the rulers pay allegiance to him and acknowledge his sovereignty, although they are kings in their own lands.[30]

In the 10th century, Gao was already Muslim and was described as consisting of two separate towns. Al-Muhallabi, who died in 990, wrote in a lost work quoted in the biographical dictionary compiled by Yaqut:

Their king pretends before his subject to be a Muslim and most of them pretend to be Muslims too. He has a town on the Nile [Niger], on the eastern bank, which is called Sarnāh, where there are markets and trading houses and to which there is continuous traffic from all parts. He has another town to the west of the Nile [Niger] where he and his men and those who have his confidence live. There is a mosque there where he prays but the communal prayer ground is between the two towns.[31]

The archaeological evidence suggests that there were two settlements on the eastern bank of the Niger:[32] Gao Ancien situated within the modern town, to the east of the Tomb of Askia, and the archaeological site of Gao-Saney (Sané in French) situated around 4 km to the east. The bed of the Wadi Gangaber passes to the south of the Gao-Saney occupation mound (tell) but to the north of Gao Ancien. The imported pottery and glass recovered from Gao-Saney suggest that the site was occupied between the 8th and 12th centuries.[33] It is possible that Gao-Saney corresponds to Sarnāh of al-Muhallabi.[34] Al-Bakri writing in 1068 also records the existence of two towns,[35] but al-Idrisi writing in around 1154 does not.[36] Both al-Muhallabi (see quote above) and al-Bakri[37] situate Gao on the west (or right bank) of the Niger. The 17th century Tarikh al-Fattash also states that in the 10th century Gao was situated on the Gourma side (i.e. the west bank) of the river.[38] A large sand dune, La Dune Rose, lies on the west bank opposite Gao, but at Koima, on the edge of the dune at a site 4 km north of Gao, surface deposits indicate a pre 9th century settlement. This could be the west bank Gao mentioned by 10th and 11th century authors. The site has not been excavated.[39]

Al-Sadi in his Tarikh al-Sudan gives a slightly later date for the introduction of Islam. He lists 32 rulers of the Zuwa dynasty and states that in 1009–1010 A.D. the 15th ruler, Zuwa Kusoy, was the first to convert to Islam.[40]

Towards the end of the 13th century, Gao lost its independence and became part of the expanding Mali Empire.[41] What happened to the Zuwa rulers is not recorded.[42] Ibn Battuta visited Gao in 1353 when the town formed part of the Mali Empire. He arrived by boat from Timbuktu on his return journey from visiting the capital of the Empire:

Then I travelled to the town of Kawkaw, which is a great town on the Nīl [Niger], one of the finest, biggest, and most fertile cities of the Sūdān. There is much rice there, and milk, and chickens, and fish, and the cucumber, which has no like. Its people conduct their buying and selling with cowries, like the people of Mālī.[43]

After staying a month in the town, Ibn Battuta left with a caravan for Takedda and from there headed north back across the Sahara to an oasis in Tuat with a large caravan that included 600 slave girls.

Sometime in the 14th century, Ali Kulun, the first ruler of the Sunni dynasty, rebelled against Mali hegemony, and was defeated.;[44][45] It was not until the first half of the 15th century that Sunni Sulayman Dama was able to throw off the Mali yoke. His successor, Sunni Ali Ber (1464–1492), greatly expanded the territory under Songhay control and established the Songhay Empire.

Towards the end of the 13th century, Gao lost its independence and became part of the expanding Mali Empire.[41]

According to the Tarikh al-Sudan, the cities of Gao and Timbuktu submitted to Musa's rule as he traveled through on his return to Mali.[46] According to one account given by Ibn Khaldun, Musa's general Saghmanja conquered Gao. The other account claims that Gao had been conquered during the reign of Mansa Sakura.[47] Both of these accounts may be true, as Mali's control of Gao may have been weak, requiring powerful mansas to reassert their authority periodically.[48] Both chronicles provide details on Ali Kulun (or Ali Golom) the founder of the Sunni dynasty. He revolted against the hegemony of the Mali Empire. A date is not given in the chronicles but the comment in the Tarikh al-fattash that the fifth ruler was in power at time when Mansa Musa made his pilgrimage[49] suggests that Ali Kulun reigned around the end of the 14th century.[41]

Both chronicles associate Ali Kulun (or Ali Golom) with the Mali court.[50] The Tarikh al-Sudan relates that his father was Za Yasoboy, and as a son of a subordinate ruler of the Mali Empire, he had to serve the sultan of Mali.[51]

The chronicles do not specify where the early rulers lived. As there is evidence that Gao remained under Mali control until the early fifteenth century, it is probably that the early Sunni rulers controlled a region to the south, with the town of Kukiya[52] possibly serving as their capital.[44] As the economic strength of Mali Empire relied on controlling routes across the Sahara, it would not have been necessary to control the area to the south of Gao.

Al-Sadi, the author of the Tarikh al-Sudan uses the word Sunni or Sonni for the name of the dynasty while the Tarikh al-fattash uses the forms chi and si'i.[53] The word may have a Malinke origin meaning "a subordinate or confidant of the ruler".[54]

Under the rule of Sunni Sulayman, the Songhai captured the Mema region to the west of Lake Débo.[55]

In 1464, the Songhai seceded from the declining Mali Empire, the Songhai country regained its total independence.

Formerly one of the peoples subjected by the Mali Empire, the Songhai asserted their control of the area around Gao after the weakening of the Mali Empire, founding the Songhai Empire which came to encompass much of the former Malian territories, including Timbuktu, famous for its Islamic universities, and the pivotal trading city of Djenné, and extending their rule over a territory that surpassed the former Mali and Ghana empires. Among Songhai's most noted scholars was Ahmed Baba— a highly distinguished historian frequently quoted in the Tarikh al-Sudan and other works. The people consisted of mostly fishermen and traders. Following Sonni Ali's death, Muslim factions rebelled against his successor and installed the general Askia Muhammad (formerly Muhammad Toure) who was to be the first and most important ruler of the Askia dynasty (1492–1592). Under the Askias, the Songhai empire reached its zenith.[56]

In 1528, Askia's children revolted against him and declared his son Musa king. Following Musa's overthrow in 1531, the Songhai Empire went into decline.

Between the political chaos and multiple civil wars within the empire, it came as a surprise when Morocco invaded Songhai unexpectedly. The Moroccan invasion of Songhai was mainly to seize control of and revive the trans-Saharan trade in salt and gold. During Askia's reign, the Songhai military consisted of full-time soldiers, but the king never modernized his army. On the other hand, the invading Moroccan army included thousands of arquebusiers and eight English cannons. In the decisive Battle of Tondibi on 13 March 1591, the Moroccans destroyed the Songhai army and proceeded to capture Gao and Timbuktu, marking the end of the empire.

After the empire's defeat, the nobles moved south to an area known today as Songhai in present Niger, where the Sonni dynasty had already settled. They formed smaller kingdoms such as Wanzarbe, AyerouGothèye, Dargol, Téra, Sikié, Kokorou, Gorouol, Karma, Namaro and further south, the Dendi which rose to prominence shortly afterwards.

Under the Songhai Empire, Dendi had been the easternmost province, governed by the prestigious Dendi-fari ("governor of the eastern front").[57] Some members of the Askia dynasty and their followers fled here after being defeated by the invading Saadi dynasty of Morocco at the Battle of Tondibi and at another battle seven months later. There, they resisted Moroccan Invaders and maintained the tradition of the Songhai with the same Askia rulers and their newly established capital at Lulami.[58] The first ruler, Askia Ishaq II was deposed by his brother Muhammad Gao, who was in turn murdered on the order of the Moroccan pasha. The Moroccans then appointed Sulayman as puppet king ruling the Niger between Djenné and Gao. South of Tillaberi, the Songhai resistance against Morocco continued under Askia Nuh, a son of Askia Dawud.[59] He established his capital at Lulami.[60][61]

West Africa after the Moroccan invasion

In 1591, a Moroccan force which left Marrakesh with between three and four thousand soldiers, together with several hundred auxiliaries[62] defeated the Songhai army at Tondibi and conquered Gao, Timbuktu and Djenné. The Pashalik of Timbuktu was then established and Timbuktu became its capital. Starting from 1618, the Pasha, who was then appointed by the Sultan of Morocco, became elected by the Armas.[63] However, while governing the Pashalik as an independent republic, the Armas continued to recognize Moroccan sultans as their leaders. During the civil war that followed the death of Ahmad al-Mansur in Morocco, the Pashalik supported the legitimate Sultan, Zidan al-Nasir,[64] and in 1670 they recognized the Alaouite sultans and pledged allegiance.[65] This however, was not to last for long; as the Pashalik was to revoke Moroccan suzerainty by the early eighteenth century. This event is preserved in local traditions as caused by the actions of an erudite scholar by the name of Gurdu, who is said to have put an end to slavery with supernatural powers he had. The tradition goes that he sent the youngest of his pupils to sign a document stating to never ask for a yearly exchange of slaves from Timbuktu again.[66] By the middle of the eighteenth century, the pashalik was in total eclipse. In about 1770, the Tuareg took possession of Gao, and in 1787 they entered Timbuktu and made the Pashalik their tributary.[67]

The Zabarma Emirate was an Islamic state that existed from the 1860s to 1897 in what is today parts of Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso. Although founded by the Zarma people, the Zabarma Emirate was a very heterogeneous entity in which the Zarma were actually only a minority. It was mainly Hausa, Fulani, Mossi and most importantly the Gurusi people who were their main allies and army men.

The name Gurunsi actually comes from the Zarma language "Guru-si", meaning "iron does not penetrate". It is said that during the Zarma conquest of Gurunsi lands in the late 19th century, the Zarma leader by the name of Baba Ato Zato (better known by the Hausa corruption of his name: Babatu) recruited a battalion of indigenous men for his army, who after having consumed traditional medicines, were said to be invulnerable to iron.

In 1887, Zabarma Emirate forces raided Wa the capital of the Kingdom of Wala and caused much of the population to flee.[68]

This was the genesis of the play and ethnic slavery jokes that exist between the Zarma and Gurusi of Ghana till this day.

Despite being a minority, the Zarma were able to secure the services of their followers of different origins, coupled with a rather long-lasting loyalty.

The Emirs of the Zabarima Emirate are: 1. Hanno or Alfa Hanno dan Tadano 2. Gazari or Alfa Gazare dan Mahama 3. Babatu or Mahama dan Issa (Babatu in colonial literature )

Together with their local allies, the French successfully defeated Babatu and his Zarma army on March 14, 1897, at Gandiogo. The rest of Babatu's troops were defeated again on June 23, 1897, at Doucie. The survivors of this battle then fled south, prompting the British to take military action against them in October 1897. The fighting lasted until June 1898, when the last resistance of Babatu's former private army was finally defeated.

As the British military presence continued to grow in Gambaga and other areas east of the Black Volta, many of the remaining authorities of the Zabarma Emirate in the Gurunsi area fled eastward towards Dagbon.[69]

Then the zarma warriors and traders from the Niger valley east of Niamey attacked the Tagwana and Djimini defeating the former and signing a truce with the latter. A second Zarma attack brought all the Southern Senufo to the arms, and zarma retreated to the frontier with the Baoulé (1895) where they founded Marabadiassa, Mori Touré the warlord King of Maraba made the city a war capital and an Islamic commercial center attracting merchants and religious especially Mandé. The zarma rallied to Samori Toure and attacked the Senufo again.[70] Mori Touré dissuades Samori Toure not to attack the Baoulé People of Bouaké and the latter choose to be a protectorate of Maraba. Mori Touré gives dabakala to his friend Samori Toure to make it a stationing camp for the army of the wassoulou, the two organize several wars in the region before samori continues to the Zabarma Emirate. At its height, the Maraba conquered Katyono, Timbe and Katiola thus becoming the master of a territory extending from Dahakoloaa to the border of Baoulé and Bandama River to the N'zi. A mortal Zarma attack on Katiola led to a vast migration of Senufo from the south and great societal changes in the center and south of northern Ivory Coast.

• Zarma people
• Songhai proper
• Wogo people
• Kurtey people
• Igdalen people
• Ingalkoyyu people
• Arma people

• Belbali people

• Arma people
• Idaksahak people

• Dendi people

• Zarma people (zabarmawi)

The Songhay languages is classified in the group of Nilo-Saharan languages which also includes Nubian, Kanuri, Turkana, Maasai and other Nilotic and Maban languages, the classification of Songhai nevertheless remains controversial due to its strong Afro-Asiatic lexicon and its structure close to the Mandé languages, Nicolaï considers Songhai as a Berber creole, others like Gerrit Dimmendaal consider Songhai as an isolated language. The Nilo-Saharan hypothesis traces the origin of Songhai to the 7th millennium when the first speakers (Nomadic pastoralists of the Holocene) left the Nile valley to head towards the Aïr massif before continuing towards the loop of the Niger where it founded kukya.[79]

The geographical remoteness of Songhai from the other Nilo Saharan languages spoken in East Africa and Central Africa is the source of its differentiation from the other languages of the group. The foreign influences on Songhai would originate from the very turbulent history of the speakers who had to found great centers of knowledge, powerful and largest Empires.

The evolution of the Songhai language can be divided into five phases: Holocene Songhay, Ancient Songhai, Upper Songhai,Medieval Songhai, and Modern Songhay dialect. Each of its phases is linked to a phase in the history of language speakers.

The Proto-Songhay is those of Nomadic pastoralists originating from the Nile valley and which greatly influenced the Chadic languages, The ancient Songhai spoken by the inhabitants of the kingdom of Kukya evolves in upper Songhai at the time of Gao Empire. Main regional powers in the Sahara-Sahel zone the Gao Empire traded with the Caliphate of Cordoba, the Berbers and Jewish populations of North Africa fleeing the persecutions of the Arab invaders migrated to the Gao Empire, it is from there that the first waves of migrants will influence Songhay and adopt Songhay as their mother tongue, certain groups going further east will found the kingdom of Takedda where tishishit will develop. A colony of Songhai traders will found Tabelbala as a relay caravanserai between the Gao Empire and Muslim Spain. The songhay languages speak in the Gao Empire is the upper Songhai south while the Songhai speak in Takedda is the Northern upper Songhai.

Upper Songhai evolves into medieval Songhai between the periods of domination of the Mali Empire and in that of expansion of the Songhai Empire with the development of great centers of knowledge and trade such as Djenné, Gao and Timbuktu. Humburi senni is considered the closest dialect to medieval Songhai.

The fall of the Songhai Empire in 1592 led to the dispersal of many Songhai across the region, especially towards the west of Niger where the resistant kingdom of the dendi would be formed.

The disintegration of the dendi in several historical regions and the Moroccan influence in Djenné in Timbuktu allowed the formation of the many dialects known today.

The expansion of the dendi and its formalization in Parakou, Kandi, Djougou in bariba and yom country is the work of Songhai merchants and scholars.

The tassawaq, the emghedezi and the igdalan born from the break-up of the kingdom of takedda for the benefit of the sultanate of agadez continued to exist with the exception of the emghedezi which disappeared with the adoption of the Hausa language by the population of agadez

The Zabarma invasions in the 19th century did not allow an expansion of the Songhay language in the invaded regions due to the numerical weakness of the Songhai against the conquered population and the presence of the two major lingua francas of West Africa (Hausa and Mandé).

Hausa is used as a lingua franca in the Zabarma Emirate and will remain so even after its dispersion in the dominated regions, from there it will be taken up throughout Ghana to become the language of the Zongo, it is Ghaananci. In maraba it is the Mandé which will impose itself as the official language and this will result in a linguistic, cultural and ethnic assimilation of the Songhai by the Mandinka.

The Songhai language is also spread on the road to the hajj, especially in the Sudan where the Zabarmawi form a large community, the language is spoken there with a strong influence of Sudanese Arabic but it tends to disappear today with the youngest.

The Songhai settled in what is now Nigeria from the invasions of the Songhai Empire to the Moroccan invasion and the wars against Sokoto and European colonizers, the Songhai of Nigeria form the 3rd Songhai community. Recent migrations to coastal countries have also brought Songhai speakers to these countries (Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast).

The Songhai language is divided into two groups: the Northern Songhai languages spoken by nomadic populations and inhabitants of the oases, and the Southern Songhai language spoken by sedentary populations.

The Northern Songhai languages are the korandje language of the belbali of Tabelbala in Algeria, the Tadaksahak of the Nomadic Idaksahak, the group called Tishishit which includes the Tagdal language of the Nomadic Igdalen, the Tasawaq of the Isawaghan of ingal and Teguida n'tessmt, the extinct emghedezi of the city of Agadez.

The Southern Songhai languages include Zarma (standard Songhai and dialect with the most speakers) of the Zarma of Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Ghana, Benin with its influential group called the Songhaybore senni of the Songhai proper,[80] the koyraboro Senni of Gao, the koyra Chiini language of Timbuktu with its western group of Djenne called Djenné chiine, the Humburi Senni of Hombori, the Tondi Songway Kiini (speaking of the mountainous Songhai) of the mountainous massif of gandamia, the Dendi language of Niger, Benin and Nigeria.[81]

Songhai is the main lingua franca of Northern Mali and western Niger. Songhai-speaking towns are Niamey, the capital of the Republic of Niger, Dosso and Tillabéri, the historic towns of Djenné, Gao, Timbuktu.

Songhay is mostly a tonal, SOV group of languages, an exception being the divergent Koyra Chiini of Timbuktu, which is non-tonal and uses SVO order.

Songhay has a morpheme -ndi which marks either the causative or the agentless passive. Verbs can even take two instances of the morpheme, one for each meaning. Thus ŋa-ndi-ndi figuratively translates to "[the rice] was made to be eaten [by someone: causee] [by someone: causer]".[82]

The Songhai people have traditionally been a socially stratified society, like many West African ethnic groups with castes.[92][93] According to the medieval and colonial-era descriptions, their vocation is hereditary, and each stratified group has been endogamous.[94] The social stratification has been unusual in two ways; it embedded slavery, wherein the lowest strata of the population inherited slavery, and the Zima, or priests and Islamic clerics, had to be initiated but did not automatically inherit that profession, making the cleric strata a pseudo-caste.[88]

Louis Dumont, the 20th-century author famous for his classic Homo Hierarchicus, recognized the social stratification among Zarma-Songhai people as well as other ethnic groups in West Africa, but suggested that sociologists should invent a new term for West African social stratification system.[95] Other scholars consider this a bias and isolationist because the West African system shares all elements in Dumont's system, including economic, endogamous, ritual, religious, deemed polluting, segregative and spread over a large region.[95][96][97] According to Anne Haour – a professor of African Studies, some scholars consider the historic caste-like social stratification in Zarma-Songhay people to be a pre-Islam feature while some consider it derived from the Arab influence.[95]

The different strata of the Songhai-Zarma people have included the kings and warriors, the scribes, the artisans, the weavers, the hunters, the fishermen, the leather workers and hairdressers (Wanzam), and the domestic slaves (Horso, Bannye). Each caste reveres its own guardian spirit.[92][95] Some scholars such as John Shoup list these strata in three categories: free (chiefs, farmers, and herders), servile (artists, musicians and griots), and the slave class.[98] The servile group was socially required to be endogamous, while the slaves could be emancipated over four generations. The highest social level, states Shoup, claim to have descended from King Sonni 'Ali Ber and their modern era hereditary occupation has been Sohance (sorcerer). Considered as being the true Songhai,[4] the Sohance, also known as Si Hamey are found primarily in The Songhai in the Tillabery Region of Niger, whereas, at the top Social level in Gao, the old seat of the Songhai Empire and much of Mali, one finds the Arma who are the descendants of the Moroccan invaders married to Songhai women.[99] The traditionally free strata of the Songhai people have owned property and herds, and these have dominated the political system and governments during and after the French colonial rule.[98] Within the stratified social system, the Islamic system of polygynous marriages is a norm, with preferred partners being cross cousins.[100][101] This endogamy within Songhai-Zarma people is similar to other ethnic groups in West Africa.[102]

The Songhai people cultivate cereals and raise small herds of cattle and fish in the Niger Bend area where they live.[100] They have traditionally been one of the key West African ethnic groups associated with caravan trade.[100]

Agriculture is the primary activity of the Songhai populations. As they live in arid and semi-arid areas the agriculture is seasonal. The rainy season in the Sahel extends over three months, compared to eight to nine dry months. Irrigation is widely practiced near the river and in the oases. The Songhai mainly cultivate cereals; their most produced crop is millet, followed by rice grown on the banks of the Niger River, then wheat and sorghum. As elsewhere in the central Sahel, maize is grown less. Cereals that grow wild are also picked in season, such as panicum leatum or wild fonio. Other crops widely cultivated by the Songhai are tobacco, onions, spices, tubers and moringa. Date palms are cultivated by irrigation in the oases of the Sahara, e.g. Tindouf, Tabalbala and Ingal. Mango is the most widely produced fruit, followed by oranges, watermelons, melons and gourds.

The Songhai practice agriculture with plows pulled by oxen. Unlike the Hausa people, who mainly use the daba to cultivate, the Songhai more commonly use the hilar, the hoe, and the pitchfork.

In precolonial times, before the abolition of slavery by the French in the Sahel, the Songhai employed hundreds or even thousands of servile labor razzier. Following modernization agricultural equipment such as tractors and combine harvesters is widely used. Agricultural workers known as boogou are organized to help farmers with less labor. After the harvest the Songhai leave their fields to the Fulani and Tuareg herders so that their cattle clean the fields; Songhai who have large herds let their own cattle clean the fields.

The Songhai practice animal husbandry according to their way of life. The people settled in and around villages raise mainly cattle, goats (especially the Sahelian breed), sheep, poultry (especially guinea fowl), and donkeys. Camels are raised for travel and also consumption, especially in the zarmaganda, in Gao and Timbuktu.

Nomadic idaksahak and igdalen pastoralists breed large livestock. The families of breeders travel the valleys of the azawakh, the azgueret, the irhazer, the tilemsi, the banks gourma of the river and the foothills of the mountains of Aïr and Adrar of the iforas. Their herds are primarily constituted of camels, but they also herd goats, sheep and oxen. They live in tents and eat mainly dairy products.

The horse is a central element of Songhai society. The Songhai country is widely known as the land of horses, and the Songhai have developed their own breeds of horses: the djerma is a cross between the Dongola and the barb, raised along the Niger River; and the Bagzan from the Aïr Mountain, which is prized for war. The Niger rivals the Ethiopian plateau in terms of horse ownership. The Songhai introduce their children to horses from adolescence. Nobles possess large quantities of horses, which are used for parades, surveillance of cattle and fields. The Songhai languages have names for any type and coat of horse. In Songhai country, the value of a man was measured in terms of the nobility of his horse. Historically, the Songhai delegated guarding and the maintenance of their horses to their most trustworthy captives. Villages used to hold horse racing competitions especially on market days.

• Za el-Ayamen: Founder of Gao Empire
• Sonni Ali Ber (1464-1492): Military leader, conqueror, founder and 1st Emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Sonni Baru ( 1492-1493): emperor of Songhai Empire
• Askia Muhammad(1493-1529): founder of Askia dynasty, Emperor of Songhai Empire, Caliph and Amir al-Mu'minin of Land of black.
• Askiya Musa (1529-1531): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Askia Muhammad Bonkano (1531-1537): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Askiya Isma'il (1537-1539): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Askiya ishaq I (1539-1549): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Askiya Dawud (1549-1582 or -1583): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Askiya Mohammad El haj (1582-1586): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Askiya Muhammad Bani (1586-1588): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Askiya Ishaq II (1588-1592): emperor of Songhai Empire.
• Zarmakoy Sambo : zarma migration patriarch.
• Babatu: Military leader and 3rd Emir of Zabarma Empire
• Djibo Bakary: president of the government council of Niger and leader of Sawaba party.
• Hamani Diori: 1st president of Niger Republic (1960-1974)
• Seyni Kountche: Military President of the Republic of Niger (1974-1987) and Head of the CMS, High Supreme Military Council (exceptional regime).
• Ali Saibou: Chief of the High Supreme Military Council and 3rd President of Niger (1987-1993).
• Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki:Prime Minister of Niger from 27 November 1997 to 3 January 2000.
• Amadou Toumani Touré: Army general and 4th President of Mali from 8 June 2002 to 22 March 2012.
• Salou Djibo: Army corps general, Chairman of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy. President of Niger from 18 February 2010 to 7 April 2011.
• Madaki Hawa Askya (15th-16th centuries): Daughter of Emperor Askia Muhammad I, wife of Sultan Muhammad Rumfa of the Sultanate of Kano, Queen of Kano, initiator of the office of Madaki in the Hausaland and grandmother of Sultan Muhammad Kisoki.

• Doctor Aben Ali ( 14th-15th centuries), Doctor at the Imperial Court of Gao, Doctor to Princess Salma Kassay, Doctor to Charles VII King of France on March 4, 1419, Founder of the traditional medicine Office in Toulouse, France.
• Mahmud Kati (1468-1552) Scholars of Timbuktu, Askia Muhammad I secretary, author of Tarikh al-fattash from Songhai Koyraboro subgroup.
• Mohammed Bagayogo (1523-1593]]: Sheikh, teacher of Sankore Madrasah, Philosopher, Arabic grammarian, from Songhai Koyraboro subgroup.
• Abdrahamane Sa'adi (1594-1655), son of Mahmud Kati and grandson of Askia Muhammad I,scholar, cadi of Djenné and author of Tarikh al-Sudan, from Songhai Koyraboro subgroup.
• Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti (1556-1627), (culturally and linguistically Songhai, descended from Berber and Songhai ancestors), Teacher, Jurist, Scholar, Arabic, Grammarian of Songhai Empire and Saadi Sultanate, from Songhai Koyraboro subgroup.
• Makhluf al-Balbali( unknown-1533), Islamic scholars of North Africa and West Africa, jurist and teacher in Timbuktu, Kano, Katsina and Marrakesh, from Songhai Belbali subgroup of Tabelbala.