Sonni 'Ali

(died 1492) West African monarch who initiated the imperial expansion of the Songhai empire. His first major conquest (1468) was the city of Timbuktu, one of the chief anchors of the declining Mali empire. A seven-year siege of the city of Jenné (now Djenné) resulted in its conquest in 1473. He spent most of his reign repulsing attacks on his empire by the Dendi, the Fulani, the Mossi, and the Tuareg. Little is known about his administration, but Arab chroniclers characterized him as a cruel and capricious tyrant.

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