D. Songhai's leaders converted to Islam, while Benin's leaders maintained their native religion.
Explanation:
The Kingdom of Benin or Kingdom Edo was an old African State, famous by its statuary art in bronze, that had its center in the homonymous city (Benin City) located to the southwest of present Nigeria. Rich country by the commerce of ivory, pepper, oil of palm and slaves, was put under by the British in 1897.
The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songay Empire, was a state located in West Africa. From the beginning of the 15th century until the end of the 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history, named after its main ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city of Gao, where a Songhai state had existed since the 11th century. Its power base was located on the margin of the Niger River, in the current Niger and Burkina Faso. The Songhai state existed in one way or another for more than a thousand years if the history of its rulers is traced from the first settlement in Gao to its semivasal status under the Mali Empire and until its continuation in Niger as the Dendi Kingdom.
