People / group

Songhai people

Also known as Songhay people

The Songhai are a people of West Africa living along the middle Niger in Mali and Niger, around towns such as Gao, Timbuktu and Niamey. They speak the Songhay languages and are traditionally farmers, fishermen and traders. Their ancestors created the Songhai Empire, the largest state of West Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries, and after its fall in 1591 a remnant kingdom survived in Dendi.

Songhai people
Image: frans Lemmens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Dendi kingdom

See also

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

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻