Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History / Timbuktu's Lost Diplomatic Relations with Morocco
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Timbuktu's internal life — its scholars, its libraries, even its water systems. But one thing I've been meaning to get into is how Timbuktu, and the Songhai Empire it belonged to, dealt with the outside world — specifically Morocco, long before the Saadian invasion. Luna: Right, because the invasion in 1591 is usually where the story starts and ends. Lucas: Exactly. But there was a whole history of diplomacy before that. The Songhai Empire and Morocco exchanged letters, gifts, and envoys for decades. And we actually have some of those letters preserved in Timbuktu's libraries — the Mamma Haidara collection has a number of them. They're fascinating because they show both sides trying to outmaneuver each other through language. Luna: What do you mean by outmaneuver through language? Lucas: Well, for example, the Moroccan sultans would address the Songhai ruler as 'the prince of the Muslims' or 'our brother in faith' — using respectful titles. But in their own court chronicles, they'd refer to him as 'the sultan of the Sudan,' which carried a condescending tone, implying he was a ruler of a lesser region. The letters themselves walk a line between Islamic solidarity and veiled threats. Lucas: One of the most famous exchanges is between Askia al-hajj Muhammad, the great Songhai emperor, and the Moroccan sultan Ahmad al-Mansur's predecessor, maybe around 1496 or so. Askia Muhammad sent a letter to the Moroccan court proposing a joint campaign against the Portuguese, who were harassing Muslim shipping on the Atlantic coast. Morocco never acted on it. Luna: So even back then, Songhai was trying to build alliances against European incursions. Lucas: Exactly. And the Moroccans had their own reasons for not committing. They saw Songhai as a rival for control of the trans-Saharan trade, especially the gold from Bambuk and Bure. So while they talked in terms of Islamic brotherhood, underneath that was a competition over resources. The letters often include lavish gifts — horses, swords, robes — meant to display wealth and status. Lucas: There's a famous story from the Tarikh al-Sudan about how Askia Muhammad sent a gift of one hundred slaves to the Moroccan sultan, along with some gold dust and elephant tusks. But the sultan, unimpressed, sent back a letter saying, 'We have no need of slaves; we have plenty of our own. Send us something more worthy of your station.' It was a deliberate insult. Luna: That seems like a diplomatic landmine. Did the Songhai respond? Lucas: They did, but we don't have the full text. The Tarikh al-Sudan says the Songhai envoys were humiliated and that Askia Muhammad was furious. But he held back — he knew that an open war with Morocco would be devastating. So the diplomacy continued, with increasing tension on both sides. Lucas: Now, this is where Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti, the scholar we've mentioned before, becomes relevant beyond his scholarly work. He actually wrote a treatise on the legality of dealing with the Moroccan sultans, given their questionable claims to authority. He argued that the Saadian sultans were usurpers who had killed the previous dynasty, so Songhai rulers were not bound to obey them. This was a direct challenge to Moroccan attempts to assert suzerainty. Luna: So the scholars were also involved in this diplomatic chess game. Lucas: Absolutely. And the Kunta tribe, who were both scholars and traders, often served as intermediaries. They carried letters back and forth across the Sahara, and their loyalty was always in question — were they working for Timbuktu or for Morocco? Probably both, depending on the situation. Lucas: The real turning point came in the 1570s, when Ahmad al-Mansur took the Moroccan throne. He was ambitious and saw Songhai as an easy target — weakened by internal succession struggles after Askia Muhammad's death. He sent letters demanding that the Songhai rulers acknowledge his supremacy and pay tribute. The Songhai emperor at the time, Askia Ishaq II, refused. Luna: And that refusal led to the invasion in 1591. Lucas: Exactly. But what's interesting is that even during the invasion, there were last-ditch diplomatic efforts. The Songhai sent envoys to negotiate, but Judar Pasha, the Moroccan commander, had orders not to accept anything less than total submission. So the diplomacy failed, and the rest — the Battle of Tondibi, the fall of Timbuktu — is history we've covered. Lucas: You know, this is a good moment to mention something we don't usually do. This show exists without ads, and that's a choice we've made because we think the story deserves to be told without interruption. If you find value in what we're doing, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a simple way to keep this going. Luna: Yeah, and it really does help — even a small contribution makes a difference. Lucas: Anyway, back to the diplomacy. After the invasion, the surviving Songhai nobles tried to continue diplomatic relations with Morocco from their exile in the Niger River bend. But the Moroccans had no interest. They had what they wanted — control of the gold trade. The letters from that period are heartbreaking — pleas for mercy, offers of submission — but they were ignored. Luna: So the diplomatic relationship that had spanned nearly a century ended in silence. Lucas: More or less. The Moroccan occupation of Timbuktu lasted until the 17th century, but it was never stable. The letters from the Mamma Haidara collection and the Tarikh al-Sudan give us a window into how both sides saw each other — as brothers in faith, but also as rivals for power and wealth. It's a story that complicates the simple narrative of 'Morocco invaded and conquered.' Lucas: What I find most striking is how the language of Islamic unity was used as a weapon. Both sides invoked the caliphate, the need to defend Muslims, but in practice it was about gold, salt, and slaves. The diplomacy was a form of theater, but it had real consequences. Luna: So when people talk about Timbuktu as an isolated center, these letters show it was deeply connected to the wider Islamic world. Lucas: Exactly. Timbuktu was not a backwater. It was a player in early modern international relations, sending and receiving letters from Fez, Cairo, even Istanbul. The fact that these documents survived in the Mamma Haidara Library is a miracle — they were hidden during the jihadist occupation in 2012. And they remind us that African history is full of these sophisticated diplomatic exchanges that we're only beginning to fully understand. Luna: It makes you wonder what other letters are still out there, waiting to be discovered.