Kukiya

Kukiya, also known as Bentyia, lies on the eastern Niger bend south of Gao. It is remembered as an early centre of Songhai rulers and a meeting place of communities with different religious and cultural traditions. The Niger connected it with other towns of the river, while routes from the interior brought merchants and goods to its banks. Archaeological remains and oral traditions preserve the memory of a political centre whose history reaches back before the great expansion of Songhai in the fifteenth century.