Askia Daoud

Askia Daoud (also Askia Dawud) was ruler of the Songhai Empire from 1549 to 1582. Daoud came to power unopposed following the death of his brother Askia Ishaq I in 1549. The Empire continued to expand under Daoud's rule, and saw little internal strife.

He organised a series of military campaigns against tributary territories of his large empire. The Songhai forces were frequently successful, but in the 1561–1562 campaign against the Mossi, a number of his commanders were killed.

In 1556–1557 troops of Mulay Muhammad al-Shaykh, the sultan of Marrakesh captured the salt mines of Taghaza but then withdrew. Soon after his accession in 1578 Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur of Morocco demanded the tax revenues from the salt mines. Ashiya Dawud responded by sending a large quantity of gold as a gift.

Daoud's 1582 death began a struggle for succession that critically weakened the Empire and prepared the way for the 1591 Moroccan invasion by the troops of Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi.