into four vice royalties, and the system of Melle, with its
semi-independent native dynasties, was carried out. His empire extended
from the Atlantic to Lake Chad and from the salt mines of Tegazza and the
town of Augila in the north to the 10th degree of north latitude toward
the south.

It was a six months' journey across the empire and, it is said, "he was
obeyed with as much docility on the farthest limits of the empire as he
was in his own palace, and there reigned everywhere great plenty and
absolute peace."[20] The University of Sankore became a center of learning
in correspondence with Egypt and North Africa and had a swarm of black
Sudanese students. Law, literature, grammar, geography and surgery were
studied. Askia the Great reigned thirty-six years, and his dynasty
continued on the throne until after the Moorish conquest in 1591.

Meanwhile, to the eastward, two powerful states appeared. They never
disputed the military supremacy of Songhay, but their industrial
development was marvelous. The Hausa states were formed by seven original
cities, of which Kano was the oldest and Katsena the most famous. Their
greatest leaders, Mohammed Rimpa and Ahmadu Kesoke, arose in the fifteenth
and early sixteenth centuries. The land was subject to the Songhay, but
the cities became industrious centers of smelting, weaving, and dyeing.
Katsena especially, in the middle of the sixteenth century, is described
as a place thirteen or fourteen miles in circumference, divided into
quarters for strangers, for visitors from various other states, and for
the different trades and industries, as saddlers, shoemakers, dyers, etc.

Beyond the Hausa states and bordering on Lake Chad was Bornu. The people
of Bornu had a large infiltration of Berber blood, but were predominantly
Negro. Berber mulattoes had been kings in early days, but they were soon