Gao | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 7th century–1325 | |||||||||
| Capital | Gao[1] | ||||||||
| Common languages | Songhai | ||||||||
| Religion | Islam, African traditional religion | ||||||||
| Government | Empire | ||||||||
| Historical era | Postclassical Era | ||||||||
• Established | c. 7th century | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1325 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Mali | ||||||||
The Gao Empire was a kingdom that ruled the Niger bend from approximately the 7th century CE until their fall to the Mali Empire in the late 14th century. Ruled by the Za dynasty from the capital of Gao, the empire was an important predecessor of the Songhai Empire.
- ^ Bethwell A. Ogot, Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, (UNESCO Publishing, 2000), 303.