Songhai people (Gao-boro)

Songhai (Gao-boro)

Young Songhai man from Gao, 1920
Total population
1,188,114(2021)[1]
Languages
Koyraboro Senni, Tondi Songway Kiini, Humburi Senni, Koyra Chiini
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Songhai proper, Zarma, Tuareg

The Songhai people of Mali, often referred to as Gao-boro, Koyraboro, Gao-gao, Gaawo-boro, Koroboro are a subgroup of the broader Songhay ethnic group. They are primarily found in the region of Gao, Timbuktu and other regions in Mali. The expression "Gao-boro" or "Koroboro" means "the people of Gao" or "the town dwellers", as opposed to nomads like the Tuareg people and other transhumant people.

They speak the various southern Songhay dialects of Mali such as Koyraboro Senni, Tondi Songway Kiini and Humburi Senni. They are also found in large communicatites in neighboring coastal countries such as Ghana and Nigeria. The Songhai of Mali are mostly the descendants of the Songhai proper who stayed back after the Saadian invasion of the Songhai Empire in 1592 and the Arma who are descendants of the Morrocan army who intermarried with the Songhai.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

History[]

After the destruction of the Songhai Empire in 1591, the Moroccans settled into Djenné, Gao, Timbuktu and the larger towns of the Niger River bend thereby making the Songhai nobles flee these cities to settle down river in the only remaining part of the Songhai Empire which is the Songhai country and the Dendi in present Niger.

West Africa after the Moroccan invasion.

The Morrocan invaders never able to exert control outside their large fortifications, within a decade the expedition's leaders were abandoned by Morocco. In cities like Timbuktu, the men of the 1591 expedition intermarried with the Songhai, became small scale independent rulers, and some of their descendants came to be identified as minor dynasties of their own right. By the end of the 17th century, Bambara, Tuareg, Fula and other forces came to control empires and city-states in the region, leaving the Arma as a mere ethnicity. Due to these events, the true Songhay, after the seventeenth century are no longer the one of Timbuktu or Gao, but the one farther south in the current Songhai country. ^[10]

The Arma bear the title "Toure" which was a title adopted by Judar Pasha after the conquest, whiles the Askia Hamey (meaning, descendants of Askia) Songhai nobles that remained bear the title "Maiga" just like the Songhai proper in Niger. These Songhai cities (i.e Gao, Timbuktu, Djenne) and many other places that fell under the Saadi Morrocan control still have the Arma (Toure) as their chiefs.

See Also[]

• Songhai Empire
• Songhai people
• Gao
• Zarma people
• Arma people

References[]

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