Gao: center of Songhay Empire (conquered Timbuktu and destroyed Mali) Kanem: far east of Mali; called kingdom of Bornu; became most powerful state in black Africa Hausaland: between Bornu and Niger River; not politically unified; characterized by city-states (biggest: Katsina & Kano) ...
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the greatest of those—the Almoravids and the Almohads, nomads of the Sahara and villagers of the High Atlas, respectively—conquered Muslim Spain and North Africa as far east as Tripoli (now in Libya). Their Berber successors—the Marinids at Fès (...