The Songhai Empire (c. 1464–1591) was the largest state in West African history — controlling the central node of trans-Saharan trade, hosting one of the medieval world’s largest universities at Timbuktu, and governing a territory larger than Western Europe. Understanding what Songhai was as a political and commercial civilization is the entry’s purpose.
At its height, Timbuktu held 25,000 students and perhaps 100,000 inhabitants. Its markets connected the Mediterranean world to sub-Saharan Africa through the gold and salt trade. Its scholars corresponded with Cairo and Baghdad. The Songhai Empire that governed it was the largest state in African history at the time. This is what organized West Africa looked like at its most organized.