The Hausa City-States

Seven commercial city-states in northern Nigeria and Niger, known for cotton textiles, leather and the Kano Chronicle.

Region
Northern Nigeria and Niger
Period
c. 700 CE – present

Overview

The Hausa Bakwai, the seven city-states of Daura, Kano, Zaria, Gobir, Katsina, Rano and Biram, built one of West Africa's most sophisticated commercial civilisations. By the 14th and 15th centuries Kano and Katsina were among West Africa's largest cities, with cotton textile and leather industries supplying trade networks from the Saharan salt mines to the forest zone. The Kano Chronicle gives a dynastic sequence reaching back to the 10th century. After the Fulani jihad of 1804, the Sokoto Caliphate reorganised Hausa territory into 30 emirates.

Key facts

  • Kano Chronicle: the primary dynastic source
  • Hausa Ajami manuscript tradition
  • Cotton textiles and leather: one of Africa's first manufacturing economies
  • Nicholas Said of Borno, a Civil War veteran in the United States, is profiled in GHA Vol. X

References

  1. UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV
  2. UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VI
  3. Brill, Islamic Africa: Ajami Literacies
  4. African Studies Quarterly
  5. National Archives, Kaduna

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