GAO  , GAO-GAO, or GARO, a

town of French West Africa, in the Upper Senegal and Niger colony, on the left bank of the Niger, 400 m. by river below Timbuktu . Pop. about 5000 . The present town dates from the French occupation in 'goo; of the ancient city there are scanty ruins, the chief being a truncated pyramid, the remains of the tomb With century) of Mahommed Askia, the Songhoi conqueror, and those of the great mosque . According to tradition a city stood on this spot in very ancient times and its inhabitants are said to have had intercourse with the Egyptians . It is known, however, that the city of which the French settlement is the successor was founded by the Songhoi, probably in the 7th or 8th century, and became the capital of their empire . Garo (Ga-rho) appears to have been the correct name of the Songhoi city, though it was also known as Gogo and Kuku (Kaougha).' In the 12th century Idrisi describes Kuku as 1 There was another city called Kaoka or Gaoga east of Lake Chad in the country now known as Bagirmi . It was the seat of the a populous unwalled town devoted to commerce and industry; it is possible, however, that Idrisi is referring not to Gao but to another town somewhat to the south—at that period the middle course of the Niger had many prosperous towns along its banks . In the 14th century Gao was conquered by the king of Melle, and its great mosque was built (c . 1325) by the Melle sovereign Kunkur Musa on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca . In the 15th century the Songhoi regained power and Gao attained its greatest prosperity in the reign of Askia . It did not enjoy the commercial importance of Jenne nor the intellectual supremacy of Timbuktu, but was the political centre of the western Sudan for a long period . On the break up of the Songhoi power the city declined in importance .

It became subject in 1590 to the Ruma of Timbuktu, from whom it was wrested in 1770 by the

Tuareg, the last named surrendering possession to the French . The first European to reach Gao was Mungo Park (1805); he was followed in 1851 by Heinrich Barth, and in 1896 by the French naval lieutenant Hourst . Gao is now the headquarters of a military district . A caravan route leads from it to Kano and Bornu . From Gao upwards the Niger is navigable for over r000 m . See TIMBUKTU . For the Gao region of the Niger see an article by F . Dubois in L'Afrique francaise (January 1909) .