Songhai's Hippo Hunters: The Sorko River Warriors

Long before the Songhai Empire's rise, the Niger River was home to the Sorko—expert fishermen and hippopotamus hunters whose mastery of the waterways laid the foundation for Sonni Ali's floating army and later Askia Muhammad's naval campaigns. This episode dives into the Sorko's unique culture, their legendary harpoon techniques, and how their intimate knowledge of the Niger's seasonal floods, channels, and islands gave Songhai a strategic edge against the Mali Empire and the Mossi kingdoms. We explore the hiyo (harpoon) and the kore (canoe), the social structure of Sorko villages, and how they were integrated into the imperial military as the fari-mondio. We also touch on the oral traditions preserved in the Tarikh al-Sudan and the legacy of Sorko resistance after the Saadian invasion of 1591. #Sorko #SonghaiEmpire #NigerRiver #HippopotamusHunting #SonniAli #AskiaMuhammad #FariMondio #TarikhAlSudan #WestAfrica #AfricanHistory #CanoeWarriors #OralTradition #MaliEmpire #Mossi #Harpoon #Kore #Hiyo #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo