Page 122 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

t h e s o n g h a y p e o p l e

to pay taxes on the salt. However, for most of that century Songhay Women collect sea salt on
was too powerful for the Moroccans to take away their salt revenues. a tidal flat in Senegal, the
Soon after Askia Ishaq I took power, Mulay Ahmad, the ruler eastern edge of the 14th-
of Morocco, sent a message to the Askia demanding that he give up century Mali Empire.
control of Taghaza to Morocco. Askia Ishaq’s reply was that Ahmad
would not hear news of such an agreement, and that any man named
Ishaq who would take such a proposition seriously had not yet been
born.
Then, to demonstrate Songhay power, Askia Ishaq I sent 2,000
cavalry soldiers across the desert to an important market town in a val-
ley near Marrakesh. Their orders were to make a raid without killing
anyone, and return immediately to Songhay. They raided the market
of Bani Asbah, where caravans from across the Sahara brought their
goods. The raiders looted all the goods they found in the market and
returned to Songhay without killing anyone.
The importance of controlling Taghaza (because of all the rev-
enue it brought in) continued to cause periodic struggles between

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