In the year of Hijra (555 AH), the star of Mali began to wane, until the beginning of the sixth century AH, when it returned to the same inhabitants from whom it had originated centuries ago, to the Old Kingdom of Gao.

The Songhai Empire

And on the ruins of Mali, the Songhai Empire arose. There was a great kingdom that existed even in the days of Ghana's greatness, which was Gao, to which the Arab geographer Al-Bakri testified that all the Negro kingdoms paid it tribute. He wrote around the year 450 AH, while Al-Idrisi says around the year 550 AH, and that it had its mosques and schools. The people, however, were pagans, and the Muslims were few, and they were the ones who could have become rulers of Gao. The people of Gao (Songhai) could not control their neighbors until the importance of trade routes in the central region of the Sahara increased. Its state was only established late. And as Mali was tearing itself apart due to sedition, Gao's ability to assert its existence was increasing and strengthening.

The dynasty was founded in the era of the Dia dynasty (or Za, as the Saadi say), and they took kilometers from Gao. Dia Kossoi (or Za Kassi) was the center that dominated the beginning of the Saadi dynasty. He was the fifteenth in the line of rulers, and the first of them to embrace Islam (around 100 AH / 718 AD). This ruler moved his capital from Kukiya to Gao. This ruler and his descendants, as the Saadi say, were known as "Muslims," meaning they embraced Islam willingly. In the days of the Arab geographer Al-Bakri, the Songhai imposed their authority on the neighboring tribes, but they were not a great power until the invasion of Mali in their lands. Musa took two of their princes, Hassan Nar and Tay, who were ready to be established.