Askiya Dynasty - Sources

Sources

The 17th century Timbuktu chronicles, the Tarikh al-Sudan and the Tarikh al-Fattash, provide dates for the reigns of the Askiyas from the time of Askiya Muhammad usurping the leadership until the Moroccan conquest in 1591. The Tarikh al-Fattash ends in 1599 while the Tarikh al-Sudan provides information on the Askiyas in Timbuktu up to 1656. John Hunwick's partial translation of the Tarikh al-Sudan ends in 1613. Hunwick includes a genealogy of the Askiya dynasty up to this date. The later sections of the Tarikh al-Sudan are available in a translation into French made by Octave Houdas which was published in 1898-1900. Information on the dynasty after 1656 is provided by the Tadhkirat al-Nisyan. This is an anonymous biographical dictionary of the Moroccan rulers of Timbuktu written in around 1750. For the earlier entries the text is copied directly from the Tarikh al-Sudan. The Tadhkirat al-Nisyan also provides some information on the collaborating Askiya rulers based in Timbuktu. Elias Saad has published a genealogy of the Askiya dynasty.

After the conquest of areas of West Africa at the end of the 19th century, the French government commissioned Jean Tilho to undertake a survey of the people in the occupied territories. In the Denki region the rulers of the small towns of Karimama, Madékali and Gaya claimed descent from the Askiya dynasty of Gao. These town are near the modern border between Niger and Benin. The published report provides a genealogy but does not indicated how the information was obtained nor whether it is likely to be reliable. At the time of Askiya Fodi Maÿroumfa (ruled 1798-1805) the Dendi kingdom split into three separate kingdoms with capitals in the above three towns.