these brothers and 25 to 35 of these cousins. The successions on the imperial Songhai throne are generally preceded by a battle between the princes, the strongest generally takes power, it is this instability which favored the Moroccan invasion and the defeat of Tondibi due to a weak contribution of troops resulting from the cold between the emperor Ishaq II and the balama of the kurmina. Legacy Askia encouraged learning and literacy, ensuring that Songhai's universities produced the most distinguished scholars, many of whom published significant books and one of which was his nephew and friend Mahmud Kati. To secure the legitimacy of his usurpation of the Sonni dynasty, Askia Muhammad allied himself with the scholars of Timbuktu, ushering in a golden age in the city for scientific and Muslim scholarship. The eminent scholar Ahmed Baba, for example, produced books on Islamic law which are still in use today. Muhammad Kati published Tarikh al-fattash and Abdul-Rahman as-Sadi published Tarikh al-Sudan (Chronicle of The Black Land), two history books which are indispensable to present-day scholars reconstructing African history in the Middle Ages. The king's supposed tomb, the Tomb of Askia, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In popular culture The Nigerien musical group Mamar Kassey is named after Askia Muhammad. In the turn-based strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization V, Askia Muhammad is depicted as the leader of the Songhai civilization, one of the playable factions. See also Legends of Africa Footnotes References Primary sources , translated in Other sources External links Kingdoms of the Medieval Sudan – Xavier University Ancient African Legends 1440s births 1538 deaths 16th-century monarchs in Africa 15th-century monarchs in Africa People of the Songhai Empire History of Mali History of Niger 16th-century Muslims Year of birth uncertain