Askia Ishaq II

Askia Ishaq II was the ruler of the Songhai Empire from 1588 to 1591.

Ishaq came to power upon the death of his brother Askia Muhammad Bani, while another brother was bearing down on Gao with an army. While Ishaq's forces defeated the rebels, the army lost significant manpower and leadership as rebellious leaders from the western provinces were purged.

Sensing the Empire's weakness, Moroccan Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi dispatched a 4,000-man force under the Islamicized Spaniard Judar Pasha across the Sahara desert in October 1590. Though Ishaq assembled more than 40,000 soldiers to meet the Moroccans, his army fled the enemy's gunpowder weapons at the decisive Battle of Tondibi in March 1591; Judar soon seized and looted the Songhai capital of Gao as well as the trading centers of Timbuktu and Djenné.