Conquistadors of the Red City: The Moroccan Conquest of the Songhay Empire

Book excerpt: Conquistadors of the Red City: The Moroccan Conquest of the Songhay Empire recounts the ambitions of a sixteenth century Moroccan ruler to defy geography and send his army across the Sahara Desert in search of the elusive gold fields of West Africa. In destroying the empire of the Songhay, the Moroccans established a trans-Saharan state, but their quest for riches proved to be futile and ruinous, for themselves and for the entire region. This extraordinary chapter of African history is told through Moroccan and West African chroniclers, as well as Western travelers and hostages at the Moroccan imperial court in Marrakech. Their unique perspectives offer rare insight into one of the most important chapters in the history of early modern Africa, and the precursor of an even more devastating phase of the exploitation of the continent-the Atlantic slave trade.