Katagum

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For the Katagum meteorite of 1999, see meteorite falls.

Katagum is a town and traditional emirate of about 4,740 (1972 est.) in the Bauchi State of northern Nigeria, on the northern bank of the Jamaare River, which is a tributary of the Hadejia. Most of the inhabitants are Muslims, along with people from Fulani, Kanuri, Hausa, Mangawa, Bede, Karekare, Ngizim, Shirawa, or Teshenawa tribes. Chief agricultures include peanuts (groundnuts), sorghum, millet, rice (especially in the riverine fadamas, or "floodplains"), cowpeas, cotton, indigo, and gum arabic. Livestock include cattle, goats, sheep, and donkeys.

[edit] History

Originally the seat of an emirate founded around 1809 by Ibrahim Zakiyul Kalbi (aka Malam Zaki), a soldier in the Fulani jihad. In 1812, he destroyed the capital of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, Ngazargamu, 115 mi. E.N.E. of Katagum. He was named king of Bornu by the leader of the jihad, Usama dan Fodio. After his victory, Malam Zaki returned to the area and founded Katagum in 1814. A decade later, when the Scottish explorers Hugh Clapperton and Walter Oudney visited Katagum, they found it had two surrounding walls, each 20 ft. in height with a 10 ft. base and four gates. There was also a community mosque, and trade was accomplished using cowrie shells for currency. Oudney died in Katagum that same year, 1824, and was buried at Murmur, a settlement to the south.

During the mid-to-late 1820s, Bornu recaptured most of the area from the Fulani, forcing the Katagum community to evacuate in 1826. Later that year, their Kanuri tribal warriors, were defeated 90 mi. W.S.W. at Fake by a joint coalition led by Yakubu, the king of Bauchi, and Dan Kauwa, Katagum's chieftain (amir), with an emirate to the south. Returned to Fulani control, Katagum emirate was prosperous until the 1850s, when wars with Amir Buhari of nearby Hadejia diminished them greatly.

In 1903, after the fall of Kano city (130 mi. W.) to the British, it became part of Katagum Province, which was then made a division of Kano Province in 1905. In 1916, the seat was transferred to Azare (43 mi south-southwest). A decade later, the emirate was merged into Bauchi Province.