Page 121 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

E m p i r E s o f m E d i E v a l w E s t a f r i c a

One of the drum lords, the benga-farma, died in about 1525. Askia
Muhammad appointed one of his younger sons, Balla, to the office as
a reward for his great courage in battle. Many of Balla’s older brothers
had great respect for his bravery. But they were outraged when they
heard that their younger brother had been appointed to the prestigious
post of benga-farma. They swore that when Balla went to Gao, they
would split open his drum.
Balla heard about the threats of his envious brothers. He swore
back at them with a terrible insult: He said he would split open the
backside of the mother of anyone who tried to split his drum.
Defying his envious elder brothers, Balla went to Gao with his
drummer marching ahead of him. There was a certain spot in the city
beyond which nobody’s drum except the Askia’s was allowed to be
sounded. But Balla told his drummer to keep drumming past this spot,
and all the way until they reached the palace gate.
When the drum was heard, it was customary for the army com-
manders to ride out to salute any drum lord. When the officers
emerged from the palace, the envious brothers who had threatened
to split open the drum were among them. None of the angry broth-
ers dared to do anything to Balla then, but they became dangerous
enemies.
Later, when Askia Musa came to power and began killing off his
brothers, Balla ran away to Timbuktu. But Musa had warned everyone
that they were not to help his younger brother. He said if they did, they
would be executed. When Balla was refused protection in Timbuktu,
he went to meet with Askia Musa. The new king had him arrested and
put to death.

fighTing over SalT

The salt mines of Taghaza in the Sahara Desert were about halfway
between Songhay and Morocco. Because of their location, the two
countries were always fighting over who would control them. The
mines were an extremely important source of revenue. A steady flow
of camel caravans loaded with salt made their way south to the mar-
kets of Timbuktu and Jenne, to be distributed throughout the Songhay
Empire.
During the 16th century, the rulers of Morocco repeatedly tried
to capture the salt mines from Songhay, or at least to force the Askias

120