Gothèye

Gothèye stands beside the Niger south of Tillabéri, in a district where the Dargol and Sirba enter the great river. Its early history belongs to the dispersal of Songhai communities after the Moroccan invasion and the collapse of the Songhai Empire in 1591. Traditions recorded for Gothèye associate its foundation with that upheaval, rather than with the earlier imperial capital at Gao. Nearby Saya and Zarakoira likewise received Songhai refugees led by a descendant of the Askia ruling family.

The village's foundation account names two brothers and their sister as the ancestors of its three original quarters. Faran Boukari, the elder brother, is remembered as its first headman; the place-name is explained through the expression newo goté, an ideal place. These are local traditions of settlement, not a precisely dated charter. Together they place Gothèye within the reconstruction of Songhai society along the Niger after imperial defeat. The river setting connected the settlement with neighboring communities while the memory of founding families supplied a distinctly local account of authority and belonging.