The Beginnings of Hausa Society, a.d. 1000–1500

The Hausa of Northern Nigeria and Niger evidently have a long history, much of which is obscure. Arab travellers who visited these peoples during the European middle ages left important notes. Local chronicles supply additional data which can be checked with one another and against the chronicles of nearby states. The first formative period of Hausa history really ended in 1350, a year after Yaji began to reign at Kano. By then all the main Hausa states had been established. Gobir had survived Tuareg threats of extermination and had moved into northwestern Hausaland. Geography and history combined together to protect and foster Hausa development. The territory to which the early immigrants came lies midway between the Niger bend and the Chad basin, the two areas in which empires of the Western Sudan have tended to flourish. This geographical remoteness was rendered the more complete by external events.

Art · Hausa · Linguistics · African history and culture analysis · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Philosophy

• A Hausa Chronicle

  E J Arnett•African Affairs•1910

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