Askia Daoud

Askiya Dawud
Emperor of the Songhai Empire
Reign 1549 – 1582 or 1583[1]
Predecessor Askiya Ishaq I (ruled 1539–1549)
Successor Askiya [Muhammad] Al-Hajj (ruled 1582–1586)
Died 1582 or 1583 (died a natural death)
Tondibi[2]
Issue 333[3] or "at least 61"[4]
Dynasty Askiya Dynasty
Father Ashiya al-hajj Muhammad
Extent of the Songhai Empire, circa 1500.

Askia Daoud (also Askia Dawud) was ruler of the Songhai Empire from 1549 to 1582. Daoud came to power unopposed following the death of his brother Askia Ishaq I in 1549. The Empire continued to expand under Daoud's rule, and saw little internal strife.

He organised a series of military campaigns against tributary territories of his large empire. The Songhai forces were frequently successful, but in the 1561–1562 campaign against the Mossi, a number of his commanders were killed.[5]

In 1556–1557 troops of Mulay Muhammad al-Shaykh, the sultan of Marrakesh captured the salt mines of Taghaza but then withdrew.[6] Soon after his accession in 1578 Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur of Morocco demanded the tax revenues from the salt mines. Ashiya Dawud responded by sending a large quantity of gold as a gift.[7]

Daoud's 1582 death began a struggle for succession that critically weakened the Empire and prepared the way for the 1591 Moroccan invasion by the troops of Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi.

Notes

  1. Kâti 1913, p. 217.
  2. Tondibi is on the left bank of the Niger River, 46 km north of Gao at 16°38′46″N 0°13′44″W / 16.646°N 0.229°W.
  3. Hunwick 2003, p. 184 n68.
  4. Kâti 1913, p. 215.
  5. Hunwick 2003, p. 150.
  6. Hunwick 2003, p. 151.
  7. Hunwick 2003, p. 155.

References

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