The Kingdom of Kano was a Hausa kingdom centred on the city of Kano in modern-day northern Nigeria that was established around 1000 CE, and endured until its conquest during the jihad of Usman dan Fodio in 1805. Following this, its dynasty was replaced with a Fulani one subordinate to the Sokoto Caliphate, and the polity continues to exist today as the Kano Emirate Council, a non-sovereign monarchy in Nigeria.
Physical geography
Kano lies to the north of the Jos Plateau, located in the Sudanian Savanna region that stretches across the south of the Sahel. The city lies near where the Kano and Challawa rivers flowing from the southwest converge to form the Hadejia River, which eventually flows into Lake Chad to the east. Traditionally, agriculture was based on lifting water to irrigate small parcels of land along river channels in the dry season, known as the Shadouf system. At the time when the kingdom was flourishing, tree cover would have been more extensive and the soil less degraded than it is today.
History
Background
Our knowledge of the early history of Kano comes largely from the Kano Chronicle, a compilation of oral traditions and some other documents composed as early as the late 19th century, as well as more recently conducted archaeology. Another valuable ancient source is the long folk poem Song of Bagauda, which is commonly sung by beggars in Kano city and is believed to date from the reign of Bagauda in the 11th century. Other important written works recording local traditions include two 20th century works: Ta'rikh Kano by Ghadames Arab scholar Adamu na Ma'aji, and Kano ta Dabo Cigari by Alhaji Abubakar, Dokaji of Kano.
In the 7th century, Dala Hill was the site of a community that engaged in iron-working. It is unknown whether these were Hausa people or speakers of Niger–Congo languages. Some sources say they were Hausa-speaking hunter-gatherers known as Abagayawa who migrated from Gaya. There are still blacksmiths in Kano today who call themselves Abagayawa and claim descent from the early inhabitants of Kano. The Abagayawa also practiced the arts of medicine, beer-brewing, archery, drumming, minstresly and dancing. The 20th century Kano scholar Adamu na Ma'aji identifies them as Warjawa.
The Arab geographer al-Yaqubi, writing in 872/873 CE (AH 259), describes a kingdom called "HBShH" with a city named "ThBYR" ruled by a king called "MRH" (none of these words are vocalized, so their actual pronunciation can vary), located between the Niger Bend and the Kingdom of Kanem. If the kingdom's name is vocalised as "Habasha" it would correspond with other Arabic language texts that also appear to refer to the Hausa, and would be the earliest reference to the Hausa region.
Kano was originally known as Dala, after the hill, and was referred to as such as late as the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century by Bornoan sources. The hill was named after a man who built a house on it. He lived there with his wives and children. His oldest son, Garageje, was the great-grandfather of Barbushe, the most well-known pagan high priest of Dala. Barbushe was a great hunter who "slew elephants with his stick and carried them on his head about nine miles." He was the chief priest of Tsumburbura, the then deity of Kano. Elizabeth Isichei notes that the description of Barbushe is similar to those of Sao people. Dala was said to have had six generations of rulers before the 11th century. Other notable chiefdoms in the area at the time included Sheme and Santolo.
Gaudawa (c. 999–1452)
Arrival of Daura immigrants and the founding of the Kingdom of Kano
Around the late 10th-century, several immigrant groups arrived in the Dala area; one of them, from Daura, was led by a man named Bagauda. He was said to be a descendant of Bayajidda of Daura, the legendary hero-founder of the Hausa people. At the time, the animist Hausa-speaking peoples that populated the area were organised in sizeable clans, each settled in a particular locality under a clan-head or 'priest-chief'. Their common cult was presided over by members of a patrilineage settled within the present city walls around the Dala hill and Jakara pond, which at the time was a sacred kurmi (or thickly wooded grove). Barbushe, as chief priest of Tsumburbura, wielded ritual authority over this group. Beyond this community were several others, presumably of similar character and organisation.
Before Bagauda's arrival, a number of other groups from Daura had settled at Gano and Debi in southeastern area in modern Kano. Later came "men of princely clans", according to the Chronicle, accompanying Bagauda. Those named were Buram, Isa, Baba, Kududdufi, and Akasa. Their names were preserved as princely titles, namely: Dan Buram, Dan Isa, Dan Baba, Dan Akasa, Dan Kududdufi, and others like Dan Darman, and Dan Goriba. By the reign of the last Hausa ruler of Kano Alwali II in the late 18th century, most of these titles had lost their princely rank and/or function. It is not known for certain what religion Bagauda arrived with, though indications in the Chronicle suggest some relationship to Islam. It is possible that this could simply reflect its anonymous author's bias.
According to another tradition recorded by the Song of Bagauda, Bagauda's community rapidly expanded due to "a killing famine" driving strangers to join. The nearby Jakara marsh may have likely provided the community with reliable harvests during times of irregular rainfall. This prosperity drew envy from their neighbours which led to the establishment of a local chiefship to organise effective defence. The Song of Bagauda reads:
The people were living widely dispersed over the open country, not subject to any authority.
There was no chief, no protecting town wall.
Tunbi together with Washam saw an easy prey.
And they joined forces conquering the people of Kano.
The elders said: Let a chieftaincy be established.
They appointed Bagauda, the protector.
Bagauda thus became the first Sarkin Kano (chief/ruler of Kano). According to the Chronicle, he died at Sheme, about 65 km northwest of Kano city (near Kunchi), and was succeeded by his son Warisi (1063–1095), who also died there. The historian and social anthropologist M G Smith notes that the two traditions "may be mutually consistent" rather than competing versions, and adds that neither Bagauda nor Barbushe may represent actual historical individuals.
Warisi's successor Gijimasu (1095–1134), the third sarki, founded a settlement at the foot of Dala Hill which would become Kano city. He is credited with starting the construction of the city's defensive walls, later completed by his successors. The pagan peoples already living in the area refused intermarriage with the newcomers and excluded them from their rituals, effectively segregating the town into two communities. Despite this, Gijimasu further extended his influence or domain by political and military pressure. He seemed to have imposed his rule on other communities of Daura immigrants covering an area of about 24 to 40 km south and east of Kano city. The sarki also laid claim to nearby Ringim, whose chief does not seem to be a Daura immigrant. However, Gijimasu's expansionist campaign suffered a major setback with his failed attack on the large indigenous pagan stronghold of Santolo, located 16 km southeast of Kano, near present-day Tsakuwa.
Gijimasu died in 1134 and, according to the Chronicle, was succeeded by his twin sons Nawata and Gawata who jointly ruled. Yusa (1136–1194), their successor and also Gijimasu's son, also pursued aggressive expansion, this time westward. He attacked the chief of Karaye, and subjugated the area from Gwarmai (40km south of Kano) past Badari to Farin Ruwa in the northwest, near the Katsina Kingdom. Yusa's successor Naguji (1194–1247), having already subjugated the area from Kura (16 km south of Kano) to Tsangaya (64 km southeast), beyond the boundaries of the Dutse and Gaya chiefdoms, turned his attention to Santolo, which again defeated the Kano chief, remaining the only native stronghold in this area that still withstood him. According to the Chronicle:
[Sarkin Kano Naguji] camped at Basaima two years for the purpose of attacking Santolo, but he was worsted in the war and returned to Kano. He found the pagans there on the verge of revolt; so he cajoled them with talk and executed their leader... When he was dead the rest of the people said, "we are willing to follow you, O Sarki, because we must." The Sarki said... "If you are willing to follow me, show me the secrets of this god of yours." They replied, "We will not show you the secrets of our god." So the Sarki punished them. Naguji was the first Sarki who collected a land tax of one-eighth of the crop from all husbandmen.
Naguji was succeeded by Guguwa (1247–1290) who also sought to destroy the centres of native opposition to Kano rule. Acting on the advice of his senior councillors, Guguwa attacked the pagan cult centre but failed. According to the Chronicle, the sarki was soon struck blind on the night of the Idi festival by an apparition, a manifestation of their god, "a man with a red snake in his hand." Whether or not Guguwa was indeed blinded is not clear, but he was deposed as sarki and replaced with Shekarau (1290–1307). Like his predecessor, the new sarki was similarly pressed by his courtiers to subdue the natives with force. The pagan natives, however, diverted this threat through diplomatic means, appealing to Shekarau "If the domains of a ruler are wide, he should be patient; if they are not so, he will not obtain possession of the whole country by impatience." To which he replied "your talk is true," and left them their customs and power.
Yet their struggle for religious and political autonomy against the growing power of the immigrants continued. The pagan leader, Samagi, which may have been a title rather than a name, emphasised the utmost importance of maintaining secrecy of their cult ritual and the secular consequences of revelation, declaring "If we show [the sarki] the secrets of our god, we shall lose all our power, and we and our generation will be forgotten." Their ancient cult was thus driven underground, its mystery and secrecy was seen by the Kano chiefs as a constant threat to their rule.
The tenth Sarkin Kano was Tsamiya (1307–1343), who succeeded Shekarau. When the pagan natives sent him tribute of 200 slaves to permit the maintenance of their cult, Tsamiya rejected it, and instead attacked their centre. By this time the pagan deity and cult had changed its identity from Tsumburbura to Cibiri (or Tchibiri). The sarki successfully destroyed the sanctuary dedicated to Cibiri and all within it. Following his triumph, three of the pagans explained to him the cult ritual and, in return, he gave them new titles as Sarkin Cibiri, Sarkin Gazarzawa, and Sarkin Kurmi and placed them to lead over their respective communities. Each of these names recalled centres of strongest resistance to Hausa authority: Tchibiri, the cultic deity; Gazarzawa, the centre of strongest pagan resistance; and Kurmi, the ancient sacred grove Jakara. In this way, argued M G Smith, Tsamiya replaced the newly broken ritual unity of the city pagans, and divided them under three leaders of equal status who all owed their positions to him, thereby consolidating his control.
Tsamiya met a violent death at the hands of one Usumanu Zamnagawa, whose origins remain unclear. His nickname, Zamnagawa, derives from his seclusion at the palace with the corpse (gawa) of the murdered sarki. His real name Usumanu suggests he was a Muslim, the first Muslim name in the kingslist. This obscure ancestry and the violent character of his accession may indicate a conquest by Muslims, possibly Malinke. Zamnagawa reigned from 1343 to 1349, around the time when Muhammadu Korau, another Muslim, usurped the throne in Katsina. Korau was also probably of Mandinka descent and subject to Mali, since his immediate successor, Ibrahim Sura, had a Muslim name and a Mandinka title. On this basis, M G Smith suggests that Zamnagawa's reign may represent a brief subjugation of Kano by Mandinka forces of the Mali empire.