Latest / The Songhai Empire: Africa's Powerful Forgotten Kingdom — Fexingo History
The Songhai Rice Farms That Fed an Empire
Before the Saadian invasion, Songhai's economy wasn't just about gold and salt. At the empire's heart lay an ingenious agricultural system based on floating rice fields along the Niger River. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Songhai rice farms cultivated by the Sorko and other riverine peoples, the role of the Niger's annual flood in shaping the growing calendar, and how the state managed land tenure and taxation of rice paddies. They discuss the varieties of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) domesticated in the region, the use of dikes and canals to control…
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