Kingdom of Kano

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Kingdom of Kano
Sarautar Kano
Ad Daulat Al Kano
999–1349
CapitalDala
(999- ???)
Kano
(???-1200)
GovernmentAbsolute monarchy
(999-1349)
King 
• 999
Bagauda (First)
• 1349
Ali Yaji Dan Tsamiya (Last)
Legislature
Taran Kano
History 
• Established
999
• Disestablished
1349
 Succeeded by
Sultanate of Kano
Today part ofNigeria

The Kingdom of Kano was a Hausa kingdom in the north of what is now Nigeria that was established before 1000 AD, and lasted until the proclamation of the Sultanate of Kano by King Ali Yaji Dan Tsamiya in 1349. The capital is now the modern city of Kano in Kano State.[1]

Physical geography

Kano lies to the north of 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.[2]

History

Background

Our knowledge of the early history of Kano comes largely from the Kano Chronicle, a compilation of oral tradition and some older documents composed in the nineteenth century, as well as more recently conducted archaeology.

In the 7th century,

Dala Hill, a hill in Kano, 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.[3]
Some sources say they were Hausa-speaking hunter-gatherers known as Abagayawa who migrated from Gaya.[1] 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.[4]
If the kingdom's name is vocalized 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

Bornoan sources.[5]
The Kano Chronicle identifies Barbushe, a priest of a Dala Hill spirit, as the city's first settler.[6] (Elizabeth Isichei notes that the description of Barbushe is similar to those of Sao people.)[7]

Early monarchs

The Ancient Kano City Walls

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.[8][9][10][11][12] His grandson

Tsaraki (1136–1194), the fifth king, completed them during his reign.[11]
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.[1][13]

Ali Yaji

Mali. He extended Kano's reach and launched an unsuccessful expedition into the Kwarafa region.[14] He became the last king of Kano when, in the 1350s, after conquering Rano and Santolo, he made Islam the state religion and proclaimed an end to the kingdom. Kano from then on became an Islamic sultanate and its leaders took on the title of Sultan
.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa. "Brief History of Kano 999 to 2003". Kano State Government. Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  2. ^ Kabiru Ahmed. "The Kano Physical Environment". Kano State Government. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  3. ISBN 0-521-86438-0
    .
  4. Nehemiah Levtzion
    and J. F. P. Hopkins, transl, Corpus of Early Arabic sources for West African History (Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 21.
  5. ISBN 0-8166-4154-4
    .
  6. ^ "Kano Chronicle" ed. H. R. Palmer in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 38 (1908) p. 63
  7. ISBN 0-521-45599-5
    .
  8. ^ "Kano Chronicle" ed. H. R. Palmer,pp. 64-65.
  9. ISBN 978-0-86543-283-3
    .
  10. ^ "Kano". Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  11. ^
    ISBN 0-520-06699-5
    .
  12. ^ H. R. Palmer, ed. and trans. "The Kano Chronicle" Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 38 (1908), p. 65.
  13. ^ "Kano Chronicle" ed. Palmer, pp. 66, 67.
  14. ^ "Kano Chronicle," ed. Palmer, pp. 70-72.
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