Place · city

Gao

Gao is a city on the Niger River in present-day Mali. It was absorbed by the Mali Empire and later became the capital of the Songhai Empire, which rose to dominate the western Sudan. It is home to the tomb of Askia Muhammad.

Gao
Image: David Sessoms from Fribourg, Switzerland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 5 profiles

Mali EmpireSocioeconomySonghai EmpireFoundation, Socioeconomy, DeclineTang DynastyMilitaryTibetan EmpireMilitarySaadi SultanateMilitary, Impact

Mentioned in 8 state histories

Qin dynastyWestern LiangNorthern YanEastern WeiTadmekkaJingnanDali KingdomPashalik of Timbuktu

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Gao. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gao
MLA
“Gao.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gao. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Gao.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gao.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Gao’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gao (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻