{{short description|First king of the Songhai Empire}} {{Infobox royalty |title= |name=Sonni Ali |succession=King of Songhai |successor=Sunni Baru |reign=1464 – November 6, 1492 |succession1=Sunni dynasty |successor1=Sunni Baru |predecessor1=Sunni Suleiman |reign1=1464 – 1492 |death_date=1492 |religion=Islam |father=Sonni Muhammad Da'o{{sfn|Levtzion|1977|p=424}} }}
'''Sonni Ali''', also known as '''Si Ali''', '''Sonni Ali Ber''' (Ber meaning "the Great"),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Robin |title=The West African empire of Songhai in 10 easy lessons : introduction to black history |date=1999 |publisher=Concept Learning Ltd |others=Siaf Millar |isbn=1-903181-00-3 |location=Birmingham |oclc=47678165}}</ref> reigned from about 1464 to 1492 as the 15th ruler of the Sunni dynasty of the Songhai Empire. He transformed the relatively small state into an empire by conquering Timbuktu, Massina, the Inner Niger Delta, and Djenne.
==Early life== Sunni Ali was born the son of Sonni Muhammad Da'o, who appears in the kinglists of the ''Tarikh al-Sudan'' and ''Tarikh al-Fattash'' as the 10th Sonni ruler. His mother was from Fara, an area that was still heavily pagan, and Ali was raised in this milieu. As a Sonni, he also received an Islamic education, but practiced a syncretic, unorthodox faith.{{sfn|Levtzion|1977|p=424}}
==Reign== Upon Sunni Ali's accession, the Songhay already controlled the Niger river basin from Dendi to Mema. His first major conquest was the ancient city of Timbuktu. Controlled by the Tuaregs since the Malian retreat a few decades earlier, in 1469 the Timbuktu-koi 'Umar asked for Songhai protection. He conducted a repressive policy against the scholars of Timbuktu who he saw as associated with the Tuareg.{{sfn|Levtzion|1977|p=421}}
Sunni Ali organized a powerful fleet on the Niger river, and in 1473 used it to lay siege to Djenne, which surrendered only after being reduced to starvation. In order to bring his fleet to bear in an attempt to conquer Walata, he tried to dig a canal hundreds of kilometers to the town from Ras el Ma. In 1483 he had to abandon this project, however, to defeat an invasion by the Mossi people.{{sfn|Levtzion|1977|p=425}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kane |first1=Oumar |editor1-last=Fall |editor1-first=Mamadou |editor2-last=Fall |editor2-first=Rokhaya |editor3-last=Mane |editor3-first=Mamadou |title=Bipolarisation du Senegal du XVIe - XVIIe siecle |date=2021 |publisher=HGS Editions |location=Dakar |page=54 |language=French |chapter=La Formation du Royaume Jaalalo du Kingi par Tenghella}}</ref> He also conquered the lands of the Sanhaja called Nunu. He conquered the lands of Kunta and was determined to seize the lands of Borgu but was unable to.<ref>{{Citation |title=Chapter XII - Mentioning The Infamous Tyrant Sonni Ali |work=Sankore' |url=https://siiasi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Chapter-12-The-Biography-of-the-Tyrant-Sonni-Ali-Baar.pdf |publisher=Institute of Islamic - African Studies International}}.</ref>
===Domestic policies=== In addition to external enemies, Sunni Ali fought campaigns against the Fulani of Massina and other nomadic peoples raiding within his borders.{{sfn|Levtzion|1977|p=426}} His main capital was Gao, but he was also based at Kukiya, Kabara, and Tindirma at different times depending on where he was campaigning.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunwick |first=John O.| author-link= John Hunwick | title= Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sadi's Tarikh al-Sudan down to 1613 and other contemporary documents | publisher=Brill| place=Leiden | year=2003 |chapter= Songhay: an Interpretive Essay| isbn=978-9004128224|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/john-o.-hunwick-timbuktu-and-the-songhay-empire-al-sa-dis-ta-rikh-al-sudan-down-/page/n35/mode/1up|page=xxxviii}}</ref> Sunni Ali ruled over both urban Muslims and rural non-Muslims at a time when the traditional co-existence of different beliefs was being challenged. His adherence to African animism while also professing Islam leads some writers to describe him as outwardly or nominally Muslim.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Saʻdī |first=ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAbd Allāh |title=Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire : Al-Saʻdi's Taʼrīkh al-Sūdān down to 1613, and other contemporary documents |date=1999 |publisher=Brill |others=John O. Hunwick |isbn=90-04-11207-3 |location=Leiden |oclc=40602667}}</ref> However, he did observe the Islamic prayers, fasted and gave alms.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa: A Quest for Inter-religious Dialogue | date=October 2014 | publisher=Simon and Schuster | isbn=978-1-78074-685-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IB29DwAAQBAJ&dq=sonni+ali+muslim&pg=PT75 }}</ref> Toby Green notes that, he did not "permit the acceptance of Sharī’a in Songhay, and he saw no barrier to enslaving Muslims." That none of this prevented the Songhay empire expanding so rapidly under his leadership therefore posed a serious ideological and political challenge to the scholars of Timbuktu, who reacted with concomitant fury in their texts regarding him. As Al-Maghīlī put it, “he used to worship idols, believe in the soothsayers’ [pronouncements], seek help from magicians, and venerate certain trees and stones by slaughtering at them and by giving alms.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Toby |date=2015 |title=African Kingdoms: A Guide to the Kingdoms of Songhay, Kongo, Benin Oyo and Dahomey c.1400 – c.1800 by Dr. Toby Green. |url=https://africankingdoms.co.uk/online-e-book/ |page=11}}</ref>
However, Toby Green further notes that "Sonni Ali’s relationship with the Muslim clerics was not quite so brutal as this picture portrays," where even Al-Sa’dī recognised that “despite his bad treatment of the scholars, Sunni ‘Ali acknowledged their worth, and showed kindness and respect to some of them. He would say, ‘were it not for the scholars, life would not be so pleasant or agreeable.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Toby |date=2015 |title=African Kingdoms: A Guide to the Kingdoms of Songhay, Kongo, Benin Oyo and Dahomey c.1400 – c.1800 by Dr. Toby Green |url=https://africankingdoms.co.uk/online-e-book/ |page=11}}</ref> Furthermore, funeral stelae from Kukiya, however, cast some doubt on the chroniclers criticism of Sunni Ali, as they were writing on behalf of the Askias who had overthrown the Sunni dynasty.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=David |title=Review of Arabic Medieval Inscriptions from the Republic of Mali: Epigraphy, Chronicles, and Songhay-Tuareg History, by P. F. de Moraes Farias |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |date=2005 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=105–112 |jstor=40036465 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40036465 |access-date=26 March 2024}}</ref>
==Death and succession== His death, on November 6, 1492, is a matter of conjecture. According to the ''Tarikh al-Sudan'', Ali drowned in a boating accident while crossing the Niger River.<ref name=":0" /> Oral tradition believes he was killed by his sister's son, Askia Muhammad Ture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lipschutz |first=Mark R. |title=Dictionary of African historical biography |date=1986 |publisher=University of California Press |others=R. Kent Rasmussen |isbn=0-520-05179-3 |edition=2nd ed., expanded and updated |location=Berkeley |oclc=14069361}}</ref> Sonni Ali's son, Sunni Baru, was immediately proclaimed king of Songhay by the army commanders,{{sfn|Levtzion|1977|p=424}} but he was challenged by Askia because Baru was not seen as a faithful Muslim.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ohaegbulam |first=Festus Ugboaja |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GX1fNzyNO5AC&dq=%22Sunni+Baru%22&pg=PA78 |title=Towards an Understanding of the African Experience from Historical and Contemporary Perspectives |date=1990 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-8191-7941-8 |language=en}}</ref> Askia eventually defeated Sunni Baru and took power.
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
===Sources=== *{{cite book |last1=Levtzion |first1=Nehemiah |author1-link=Nehemiah Levtzion |editor1-last=Oliver |editor1-first=Ronald |title=The Cambridge History of Africa Volume 3: From c.1050 to c.1600 |date=1977 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139054577 |pages=331–462|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/the-cambridge-history-of-africa/C022553858696B7F0FF6728ED795B8E1 |access-date=12 March 2024 |chapter= 5 - The western Maghrib and Sudan }}
==External links== * [http://webusers.xula.edu/jrotondo/Kingdoms/Songhay/SunniAli01.html ''Kingdoms of the Medieval Sudan'' - Xavier University] * [https://africanholocaust.net/african-legends/ Ancient African Legends] * [http://www.globaled.org/nyworld/materials/african3.html Early African Empires and their Global Connections] * [http://www.mythinglinks.org/afr~subsahara~Songhay.html Mythinglinks]{{s-start}} {{succession box | title = King of Songhai | before = Silman Dandi | after = Sonni Baru|followed by Askia Mohammad I | years = 1464–1492 }} {{s-end}} {{Songhai Empire topics}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Sunni}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:1492 deaths Category:Songhai emperors Category:15th-century Muslims Category:15th-century monarchs in Africa Category:Zarma-Songhai people