Hausa Kingdom
Key Points
- The Hausa Kingdom, also known as Hausaland, was a collection of states started by the Hausa people, situated between the Niger River and Lake Chad (modern day northern Nigeria). Hausaland lay between the Western Sudanic kingdoms of Ancient Ghana and Mali and the Eastern Sudanic kingdoms of Kanem-Bornu.
- In the 7th century, the Dala Hill in Kano was the site of a Hausa community that migrated from Gaya and engaged in iron-working.
- Hausaland took shape as a political and cultural region during the first millennium CE as a result of the westward expansion of Hausa peoples. They arrived to Hausaland when the terrain was converting from woodlands to savannah. They started cultivating grains, which led to a denser peasant population. They had a common language, laws, and customs. The Hausa were known for fishing, hunting, agriculture, salt-mining, and blacksmithing.
- By the 14th century Kano had become the most powerful city-state. Kano had become the base for the trans-Saharan trade in salt, cloth, leather, and grain.
- The Hausa oral history is reflected in the Bayajidda legend, which describes the adventures of the Baghdadi hero Bayajidda culmulating in the killing of the snake in the well of Daura and the marriage with the local queen Magajiya Daurama. According to the Bayajidda legend, the Hausa states were founded by the sons of Bayajidda.
- According to the Kano Chronicle, Bagauda, a grandson of the mythical hero Bayajidda, became the first Hausa king of Kano in 999, reigning until 1063. His grandson Gijimasu (1095–1134), the third king, began building city walls at the foot of Dalla Hill, and Gijimasu's son, Tsaraki (1136–1194), the fifth king, completed them during his reign. The Bagauda family steadily extended the kingdom through conquest of nearby communities. They established numerous sub-rulers, with titles starting with "Dan", of which the most important was "Dan Iya".
- Since the beginning of Hausa history, the seven states of Hausaland divided up production and labor activities in accordance with their location and natural resources. Kano and Rano were known as the "Chiefs of Indigo." Cotton grew readily in the great plains of these states, and they became the primary producers of cloth, weaving and dying it before sending it off in caravans to the other states within Hausaland and to extensive regions beyond. Biram was the original seat of government, while Zaria supplied labor and was known as the "Chief of Slaves." Katsina and Daura were the "Chiefs of the Market," as their geographical location accorded them direct access to the caravans coming across the desert from the north. Gobir, located in the west, was the "Chief of War" and was mainly responsible for protecting the empire from the invasive Kingdoms of Ghana and Songhai.
- The conquests initiated by Gijimasu of Kano culminated in the birth of the first united Hausa Nation under Queen Amina( d. 1610), the Sultana of Zazzau. Under Amina, Zazzua controlled more territory than ever before. She conquered large tracts of land as far as Kwararafa and Nupe. To mark and protect her new lands, Amina had her cities surrounded by earthen walls. These walls became commonplace across the nation until the British conquest of Zazzua in 1904, and many of them survive today, known as ganuwar Amina (Amina's walls).
- Hausa buildings are characterized by the use of dry mud bricks in cubic structures, multi-storied buildings for the social elite, the use of parapets related to their military/fortress building past, and traditional white stucco and plaster for house fronts. At times the facades may be decorated with various abstract relief designs, sometimes painted in vivid colours to convey information about the occupant.
- Despite relatively constant growth from the 15th century to the 18th century, the states were vulnerable to constant war internally and externally. By the Eighteenth century they were economically and politically exhausted. Although the vast majority of its inhabitants were Muslim by the 16th century, they were attacked by Fulani jihadists from 1804 to 1808. In 1808 the Hausa Nation was finally conquered by Usuman dan Fodio and incorporated into the Hausa-Fulani Sokoto Caliphate.
Read more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hausa_Kingdoms
External Links
Hausa States
There are a number of theories and stories connected with the Hausa people, who today live in northern Nigeria, parts of Ghana, Niger and Togo. Some centre on the idea of migration.
Bayajidda
According to the myths and legends surrounding most West African states before the 19th century, Bayajidda (Hausa: Bàyā̀jiddà) was the founder of the Hausa states.
Queen Amina
Amina (also Aminatu; d. 1610) was a Hausa warrior queen of the city-state Zazzau (present-day city of Zaria in Kaduna State), in what is now in the north-west region of Nigeria.[1] She is the subject of many legends, but is believed by historians to have been a real ruler.
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References Wikipedia contributors. (2019, February 2). Hausa Kingdoms. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:03, February 3, 2019, from Link
Wikipedia contributors. (2019, January 24). Hausa people. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:03, February 3, 2019, from Link
Wikipedia contributors. (2019, March 20). Kingdom of Kano. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:33, May 25, 2019, from Link