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Sonni Ali takes Timbuktu

سني علي يفتح تمبكتو

1468 CE · 873 AH – 1468 CE · 872 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

Timbuktu

Sonni Ali, king of Songhay, took Timbuktu in 873/1468 — the city passed to the rising Songhay power as Mali declined 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
West Africa & Sahel
Review
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In time

1450146014701480
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Timbuktu

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

The long-form text for this entry has not been written yet. The facts and connections below come from the museum's data.

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Occurred at
Timbuktu

People and things also explored

Djinguereber mosque built at Timbuktu· Mansa Musa takes the throne of Mali· The Sankore mosque at Timbuktu· Timbuktu· Timbuktu

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Islam — Hasan Ibrahim Hasan
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Sonni Ali takes Timbuktu”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/sonni-ali-takes-timbuktu-873/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-29.

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Djinguereber mosque built at Timbuktu

On Mansa Musa's return from the hajj the Andalusian architect Abu Ishaq al-Sahili came with him and built the Djinguereber mosque at Timbuktu about 1327.