Songhai people

Songhai ( spoken about son - rai with nasal -on and uvular R) is a popular and was a kingdom in West Africa between the 15th and 17th centuries. It was about in today's Mali.

The Songhai are an autochthonous Black African people, which has about 750,000 members scoring group today. They live as peasants ( gabibi ), Fischer ( Sorko ) and distributors on the banks of the Niger. Their villages, extending from the Nigerian border to the lakes region west of Timbuktu, next to the old market towns Gao, Timbuktu and Djenne are the main attractions for today's Mali travelers. This is especially true for the villages around Bandiagara near Mopti.

The language of the Songhai, which is also known as Songhai, has been controversial in their classification. It is assigned either various branches of the Niger - Congo languages ​​, or counted in the very controversial " family " of the Nilo- Saharan languages, but their relationship is highly questionable. Songhai is in Mali, spoken in northern Burkina Faso and Niger, where it is the most common language after Hausa.

The history of the Songhai eich was first explored and described the September 1853 in Timbuktu had the opportunity to spring 1854, extensively evaluate ancient manuscripts of the German explorer Heinrich Barth. This is the real beginning of the scientific study of African history.