Latest / The Songhai Empire: Africa's Powerful Forgotten Kingdom — Fexingo History
Askia Dawud's Coinage: The Money That Built Songhai
We're back with Lucas and Luna to explore a surprisingly overlooked engine of the Songhai Empire's prosperity: its currency. In the golden age of Askia Dawud (r. 1549–1582), Songhai didn't just control trade routes — it minted its own copper coins, the *kabara*, and managed a complex monetary system that stretched from the salt mines of Taghaza to the kola forests of the south. We walk through the archaeology of these coins, the theory behind state-issued currency in a pre-colonial African empire, and how the *farari* tax collectors enforced standards. We also compare it to the…
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