Page 124 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

t h e s onghay p eople

unaware that the man was a spy, and did not wish to be outdone.
So he responded by sending even richer gifts back to the Moroccan
ruler, including slaves and civet cats. This made the Moroccan ruler
all the more interested in the wealth of the territories south of the
Sahara.
Some time after receiving the gifts from Askia al-Hajj, the
Moroccan ruler sent an army of 20,000 men across the Sahara with
orders to take control of the lands all the way to Timbuktu. However,
the Moroccan army suffered terribly from hunger and thirst during
the very difficult desert crossing. The survivors returned to Morocco
without having conquered anything.
The Moroccan army finally did conquer Songhay in 1591. The
Moroccan ruler wanted to retain control of Songhay, so he assigned
troops and administrators to continue occupying Gao, Timbuktu, and
Jenne. The occupying soldiers were known by the Arabic term al-ruma,
meaning “shooters” or “musketeers.” Songhay people pronounced al-
ruma as arma, and this became the term used to describe the Moroc-
can ruling class. Most of the Moroccan troops and officers never
returned to North Africa. They married the local women, and their
descendants still form a social class called arma.

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