Internally, their rulers and administration became corrupt. In time, the city-states began to fight with each other. Slave labour was used to maintain city walls and grow food. For Kano it was leatherwork and weaving (later dyeing), for Zazzau it was slaves. Initially there seemed to be harmony between the states and a good deal of trade. The problems of conserving the wall of Kano
Here to listen to Alhaja Aisha Shehu, Chief Researcher, History and Cultureīureau, Kano, Northern Nigeria, talking to BBC producer Bola Olufunwa about These city walls can still be seen today. The custom of creating a fortified surrounding wall was maintained. It is thought they emerged out of a number of small communities, typically surrounded by stockades, enclosing not only houses but also agricultural lands.Įventually these various communities grouped together to form larger groups, which in turn acquired the size and status of city-states. There is a general consensus that Hausa city-states were founded some time between the end of the 900s and the beginning of the 13th century. Seven 'illegitimate' Hausa states: Zamfara, Kebbik, Nupe, Gwari, Yauri, These became rulers of the Banza Bakwai, or
This story tells of Bawo having a further There is also an extension to this story, which can be seen as a way ofĮxplaining a number of other states, which fell under Hausa influence, while These are the Hausa Bakwai, the seven Hausa states. Bayajidda and his wife had a son, Bawo, who married and in turn had six sons who then became rulers of Kano, Zazzau (Zaria), Gobir, Katsina, Rano and Daura a seventh state Biram is added to the list. In return the king gave his daughter's hand in marriage. There, the people were terrorised and deprived of water by a snake which lived in a well.īayajidda gained the gratitude of the king of Daura by killing the snake. According to this, the King of Baghdad's son, Bayajidda or Abuyazidu, quarrelled with his father, left Baghdad and ended up in the state of Daura (directly north of Kano in present day northern Nigeria). Many other Hausas subscribe to the view that they had a common Arab ancestor whose descendants founded the Hausa city-states. Here to listen to the Dan Masanin's belief in a Hausa-Ethiopian connection He cites as evidence, linguistic similarities, and a shared worship of the sun, prior to Islam and Christianity arriving. He believes there is a connection, spanning the continent, linking the Hausas and the people of Ethiopia. The Dan Masanin of Kano, Maitama Sule, is a historian and leading figure in the Kano Emirate.
The connection goes even further north the palace at Daura contains a sword, which people believe, came from the Pharaohs. The musicians of the court of the present Emir of Zazzau in Zaria say their instruments derive from Bornu.Īnother theory identifies the Hausas as originally desert people, living in the Sahara. The Hausa skill in horse riding is also thought to come from Kanem-Borno. Certainly, oral and musical traditions connect Kanem-Borno (by Lake Chad) with the Hausas. Some centre on the idea of migration.įor example, there is a theory that all the Hausas once lived by Lake Chad, but had to move west when the lake shrank. 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.
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