Songhai and Timbuktu

After the break-up of Mali, the middle Niger is brought under Songhai, with its capital at Gao; under Askia Muhammad the administration is set in order, and the trade across the Sahara and along the river moves under protection. Timbuktu remains a city of books: at the Sankore mosque law, grammar and astronomy are taught, the copyists ply their trade, and private libraries gather thousands of manuscripts, part of which survive to our day. In 1591 a Moroccan army with firearms destroys the Songhai host, and the unified state falls apart into petty domains.