Administrative Reform

Askia Muhammad I (c. 1443-1538 CE) was the most important ruler of the Songhai Empire. He transformed Songhai into the largest empire in African history, implemented Islamic reforms, and promoted Islamic scholarship in Timbuktu.

Sher Shah Suri (c. 1486-1545) drove the Mughal emperor Humayun out of India and ruled the north from 1540 to 1545. In five years he built a revenue system based on land measurement, minted the silver rupiya behind the rupee, and restored the Grand Trunk Road.

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (c. 680-720 CE), the eighth Umayyad caliph, ruled about two and a half years and used them to attempt a thorough reform of the state: equalising the tax status of converts, halting expansion, restoring seized property, and ordering hadith to be collected in writing.