Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi
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Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi (also Ahmed el-Mansour) (Arabic: أحمد المنصور السعدي) was Sultan of Saadi Dynasty from 1578 to his death in 1603, the sixth ruler of the Saadi Dynasty.
In 1578, Ahmad's brother, Sultan Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi, died in battle against the Portuguese army at Ksar el Kebir. Ahmad was named his brother's successor and began his reign amid newly-won prestige and wealth from the ransom of Portuguese captives.
On October 16, 1590, Ahmad took advantage of recent civil strife in the Songhai Empire and dispatched an army of 4,000 men across the Sahara desert under the command of converted Spaniard Judar Pasha. Though the Songhai met them at the Battle of Tondibi with a force of 40,000, they lacked the magredian's gunpowder weapons and quickly fled. Ahmad advanced, sacking the Songhai cities of Timbuktu and Djenné, as well as the capital Gao. Despite these initial successes, the logistics of controlling a territory across the Sahara soon grew too difficult, and the Saadians lost control of the cities not long after Ahmad's 1603 death.
Ahmad was succeeded by Abdul Abdallah Mohammed III Saadi.
References
- Davidson, Basil. Africa in History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
- Velton, Ross. Mali: The Bradt Travel Guide. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, 2000.
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