Sultanate of Kano

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Massarautar Kano
Al Sultan Al Kano
Religious Kingdom
↓ 1350
Anthem
Busar Bagauda
Drum of Bagauda
Capital Dala
(1349- ????)
Kano
(1430-1805)
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Languages Hausa (official), Arabic
Religion Sunni Islam, Hausa Animism
Government Absolute Monarchy
(1349-1805)
List of sultans of Kano
 -  1349 Ali Yaji Dan Tsamiya (first)
 - 1781-1807 Muhammadu Alwali Ibn Yaji (last)
Grand Vizier
 - ???–???? Zaiti (first)
 - 1782-1807 Muhammadu Bakatsine (last)
Legislature Shura/ Taran Kano
 -  Upper house House of Nine
History
 -  Founded ???? 1350
 - Ascension of Queen Amina 1430
 - First Interregnum 1450
 - Ascension of Kisoki 1509
 - Fulani Jihad 1805
 -  Fall of the Cult of Tsumbubbura ??? 1350
Currency Dirham, Salt, Gold
Preceded by
Kingdom of Kano
Kingdom of Gano
Kingdom of Gaya
Kingdom of Dutse
Kingdom of Rano
Kingdomof Turanku
Kingdom of Ringim
Kingdom of Santolo
Today part of

The Sultanate of Kano was a Hausa kingdom in the north of what is now Nigeria that dates back to 1349, When the then King of Kano; Ali Yaji (1349-1385) desolvded the cult of Tsumbubra, accepted Islam and proclaimed Kano a Sultanate. before 1000 AD, Kano had been ruled as an Animist Hausa Kingdom. The Sultanate lasted until the Fulani jihad in 1805 and the assassination of the Last Sultan of Kano in 1807. The Sultanate was then replaced by the Kano Emirate, subject to the Sokoto Caliphate. The capital is now the modern city of Kano in Kano State.[1]

Location

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. The climate is hot all year round. Rainfall is variable, ranging from 350mm to 1,300mm annually with the mean around 950mm, almost all falling during June–September period. 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.[2]

Early history

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 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 by Bornoan sources.[5] The Kano Chronicle identifies Barbushe, a priest of a Dalla 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] 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 Gijimasu (1095–1134), the third king, began building city walls at the foot of Dalla Hill, and Gijimasu's son, 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]

Rise of the Sultanate

Ali Yaji (1349–85), accepted Islam from a people called the 'Wangarawa', today identified as Malians. He then Relinquished the Cult of Tsumbubura; the principal cult of the Patron goddess of Kano. According to the Kano Chronicle in around 1450, the Cult of Tsumbubura based in Santolo Hill Rebelled against Yaji, A civil war ensued and Ali Yaji set out in a wave of conquest. He conquered Rano, extending Kano's reach and launched an unsuccessful expedition into the Kwarafa region.[14] According to the Kano Chronicle, it wasn't until the reign of Kanejeji (1390-1410) that Santolo was to be Pacified. In the Reign of Umaru Kanejeji (1410-1421), Sufi Islam made its first inroads to Kano, The Kano Chronicle recalls Umaru's reign as that of peace and posperity, but less than a decade later the Rise of Queen Amina of Zaria Was to lead to the First Habe Interregnum.

Decline and Fall

Muhammad Rumfa ascended to the throne in 1463 amidst the First Interregnum, The Rise of Askiyya the Great in Songhai forced him take the Askiyyah's Daughter ; Auwa as wife, she soon was to the first female Madaki of Kano and after a brief succession struggle on the Death of Rumfa in 1499, Auwa was to guide her Son Muhammadu Kisoki (reigned 1509-1565) in another wave of Conquest to restore the standing of the Sultanate.

According to the Kano Chronicle, the thirty-seventh Sarkin Kano (King of Kano) was Mohammed Sharef (1703–1731). His successor, Kumbari dan Sharefa (1731–1743), engaged in major battles with the Sokoto Caliphate. Sokoto finally established control when Muhammadu Bakatsine, Leader of Jobe Clan of Fulani rebelled against Muhammad al-Walid, the last sultan of Kano. He was eventually deposed in 1805 and killed in 1807, Kano then became an emirate subject to Sokoto.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa. "Brief History of Kano 999 to 2003". Kano State Government. Retrieved 2010-09-12. 
  2. ↑ Kabiru Ahmed. "The Kano Physical Environment". Kano State Government. Retrieved 2010-09-12. 
  3. ↑ Iliffe, John (2007). Africans: The History of a Continent. Cambridge University Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-521-86438-0. 
  4. ↑ al-Ya'qubi, "Tarikh" in Nehemiah Levtzion and J. F. P. Hopkins, transl, Corpus of Early Arabic sources for West African History (Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 21.
  5. ↑ Nast, Heidi J (2005). Concubines and Power: Five Hundred Years in a Northern Nigerian Palace. University of Minnesota Press. p. 60. 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. ↑ Isichei, Elizabeth (1997). A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press. p. 234. ISBN 0-521-45599-5. 
  8. ↑ "Kano Chronicle" ed. H. R. Palmer,pp. 64-65.
  9. ↑ Okehie-Offoha, Marcellina; Matthew N. O. Sadiku (December 1995). Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Nigeria. Africa World Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-86543-283-3. 
  10. ↑ "Kano". Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ki-Zerbo, Joseph (1998). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. University of California Press. p. 107. 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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