[song-gahy] 
) -ghai for 1. | 1. | a member of a group of peoples living along the Niger River in the area of Timbuktu and Gao in Mali and in adjacent areas of Niger and Burkina Faso. |
| 2. | a West African empire dominated by the Songhai that flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries. |
| 3. | the Nilo-Saharan language of the Songhai. |
| Song·hai also Song·hay (sông'hī', sŏng-gī') An ancient empire of western Africa in present-day Mali. It was founded c. 700 by Berbers and reached the height of its power around 1500. |