Askia Muhammad Ture (ca. 1443-1538) founded the Askia dynasty of the West African Songhay empire. He extended the conquests of Sunni Ali, promoted commerce, and increased the political influence of Islam in his state.

Muhammad's father was a Soninke from the Futa Toro region of modern Senegal. Although his mother was a Songhay, who may have been the sister of Sunni Ali himself, Muhammad was later to be thought of as a "foreign" usurper because of his father's ancestry. Little is known about his early life before his career as a general in Ali's army, but his reign is one of the best-documented in early West African history.

Accession to the Throne

Sunni Ali died in November 1492 and was succeeded by his son, Sunni Baru. Baru, unlike his father, tried completely to ignore Moslem interests when he came to power and thus committed a mistake which threw Moslem...