Songhai

By Paul Stoller

Gao borey, Kado, Kwaara borey, Songhay, Songhoi, Songhrai

The Songhai are the fourth-largest ethnic group in Niger, West Africa. There are also considerable Songhai populations in Mali and Benin. They are closely related culturally to the Zarma. The Songhai are spread over a large area of eastern Mali, western Niger, and northern Benin. The largest concentrations are in eastern Mali and western Niger. In eastern Mali, the Songhai population lives along the Niger River from east of Lake Debo to south of Ansongo. In Niger, Songhai live along the Niger River from Firgoun to Sansane-Haoussa, as well as west of the Niger, north of Niamey in the Tera and Tillabéri departments. In areas far from the Niger, the geography consists of laterite plateaus broken by occasional mesas. The vegetation in Songhai country, which is largely scrub desert, is sparse. Water is deep and in short supply, except in the land along the Niger River, which is lush with wild vegetation as well as vegetable and fruit gardens. The climate of Songhai country, and of Zarma country, consists of a single rainy season that begins in June and ends in September. Average rainfall varies from twenty centimeters in the north of Songhai country to roughly forty centimeters in the south. The average high temperature, as in Zarma country, is 36° C, but temperatures reach the mid-forties at the peak of the hot season in mid-May. The average low temperature is 22° C.

Northern and Southern Songhai (including Zarma and Dendi) speakers in all countries totaled approximately 3,240,000 in the early twenty-first century. Estimates of the number of ethnic Songhai for 2015 are 3,825,700 in Niger (including Zarma) and 271,300 in Mali.

The Songhai trace their origins to the coming of Aliman Za (or Dia) to the Niger River near Koukya, in the latter part of the eighth century. With the help of iron weapons, Za conquered the indigenous populations of Gabibi (hunters and farmers) and Sorko (fishers). Aliman Za, probably a Lemta Berber from southern Libya, founded the Za dynasty of Songhai that endured from the latter part of the eighth century to 1491 and the death of Sonni Ali Ber, who was succeeded by Askia Mohammed Toure (founder of the Askiad, the second and last dynasty of Songhai). During the reigns of Sonni Ali Ber and Askia Mohammed, the Songhai Empire reached the zenith of its imperial power. The weaknesses and avarice of most of Askia Mohammed's successors—his sons—sapped Songhai of its strength. In 1591 a small Moroccan force sent to Songhai by El Mansur routed a much larger Songhai army, marking the end of the Songhai Empire. Descendants of Askia Mohammed continued to rule a unified southern state of Songhai until 1660, in what is today Niger. Rivalries among the ruling princes, however, precipitated the balkanization of the south into five principalities: Garuol, Tera, Dargol, Kokoro, and Anzuru. These principalities remained independent until the coming of the French military in 1898.

Like Zarma villages, Songhai villages are usually nucleated settlements of round mud or thatched dwellings with straw roofs. In these villages, one also finds an increasing number of rectangular mud-brick houses with either thatch or corrugated tin roofs. Villages far from the Niger River are surrounded by cultivated fields (mostly of millet) and by bush areas. There are substantial rice fields and garden plots around the riverine villages.

Non-riverine Songhai are dryland farmers who cultivate millet as a principal subsistence crop. Most farmers do not sell their grain after the harvest. Millet is cultivated along with cowpeas, sorrel, and groundnuts. Sorghum and manioc are also cultivated in regions with heavy soils. In riverine areas, rice is cultivated. In both riverine and non-riverine areas, dry-season gardens are also cultivated. Gardeners harvest mangoes, guavas, citrus fruits, papayas, dates, and bananas, as well as tomatoes, carrots, peppers, lettuce, cabbages, squashes, sorrel, and okra. The Songhai, like the Zarma, rely heavily upon the household for agricultural labor, but rice cultivators often hire non-kin to harvest their crops.

Like the Zarma, the Songhai are well-known migrants. During the colonial period, both Songhai and Zarma migrated in droves to the colonial Gold Coast, where they were known collectively as either "Zabrama" or "Gao."

In Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, and Ivory Coast, Songhai are cloth merchants as well as nyama-nyama ize ("the children of disorder"), who sell a variety of goods. In Niger, Songhai men sell surplus millet and rice and engage in transport and commerce; women sell cooked foods and condiments.

As with the Zarma, the patrilineage and lineage segments are the most significant kinship groupings. Descent is also patrilineal. Unlike their Zarma cousins, however, the Songhai also recognize noble lineages, principally those whose apical ancestor is Askia Mohammed Toure (maiga), Sonni Ali Ber (sohanci), or Faran Maka Bote (sorko).

The Songhai employ Iroquois cousin terminology, using bifurcate-merging terms.

Polygyny is highly valued among the Songhai, as it is among the Zarma, but the great percentage of Songhai households are monogamous, primarily for economic reasons. Among Songhai nobles, firstborn sons are pressured to marry their parallel cousins (father's brother's daughters) in order to maintain the purity of the noble lineage.

In precolonial times, Songhai social organization consisted of nobles, other free Songhai, and captives. The latter were originally prisoners taken in precolonial raids. Captives could be sold, but their offspring were considered members—albeit stigmatized—of noble families. Captives became weavers, smiths, and bards.

The most important political authorities in Songhai country are various paramount chiefs. These men are appointed in Songhai villages of historical consequence (Dargol, Tera, Kokoro, Ayorou, Yatakala). Such chiefs are always of noble descent, and they have at least symbolic authority over the village chiefs in their jurisdiction.

The household is the fundamental unit of Songhai social organization. Beyond the household is the village quarter (kurey), which elects a quarter chief (kurey koy). The neighborhood chiefs constitute a village council, which elects the village chief (kwaara koy). Whereas the Zarma profess a rather egalitarian ideology, the Songhai do not. Village chiefs are accorded deference, especially if they are of noble descent, which is usually the case in major towns.

This culture summary is from the article "Songhay" by Paul Stoller, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 9, Africa and the Middle East, John Middleton, Amal Rassam, Candice Bradley, and Laurel L. Rose, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. 1995. Leon G. Doyon updated geographic references and added population figures in July, 2016.

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