Judar Pasha

Who was Judar Pasha?

Judar Pasha was a Moroccan military leader and the conqueror of the Songhai Empire.

Born in Cuevas del Almanzora, Judar had been captured by Muslim slave-raiders as a baby. As a young boy he joined the service of Moroccan Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi. Like many of Ahmad's officers, Judar was a eunuch, having been castrated as a boy by his owners.

In 1590, Ahmad I made Judar a pasha and appointed him the head of an invasion force against the Songhai Empire of what is now Mali. In October of that year, Judar set out from Marrakesh with a force of 1,500 light cavalry and 2,500 arquebusiers and light infantry. He also carried eight English cannon in his supply train, and assembled eighty Christian bodyguards for his personal detail.

After an arduous crossing of the Sahara desert, Judar razed the desert salt mines of Taghaza and advanced on the Songhai capital of Gao.

Meanwhile, Songhai ruler Askia Ishaq II assembled a force of more than 40,000 men and moved north against the Moroccans; the two armies met at Tondibi in March 1591. Despite their inferior numbers, the Moroccan gunpowder weapons easily carried the day, resulting in a rout of the Songhai troops. Judar sacked Gao and then moved on to the trading centers of Djenné and Timbuktu.