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Kingdom · 1000–1807

Kano

Kano Sultanate, Kano Kingdom and Dala

One of the seven Hausa states, Kano grew from the iron-working community at Dala hill, where Daura immigrants under Bagauda founded a ruling line around 999.

Watch the Kano on the old map

At a glance

When did the Kano exist?
From c. 999 (Bagauda) to 1807. It was at its height around 1470.
What was the capital of the Kano?
Kano.
What was the ruler of the Kano called?
Sarki (Sarkin Kano).
What happened to the Kano?
The Emir of Kano reigns from the Gidan Rumfa palace, and Kano is Nigeria's second largest city.
Who lives in the lands of the Kano today?
Hausa

Overview

One of the seven Hausa states, Kano grew from the iron-working community at Dala hill, where Daura immigrants under Bagauda founded a ruling line around 999. Its kings fought the old priests of Tsumburbura and Cibiri for three centuries, took Islam from Mali's Wangarawa scholars under Yaji, and grew rich on the kola road from Gonja to Bornu, to which they paid tribute from 1438. Muhammad Rumfa gave it its walls, palace and Kurmi market; his grandson Kisoki threw off Bornu and, the Kano Chronicle says, ruled all Hausaland. Kwararafa emptied the city three times in the 17th century, and the Fulani jihad ended the Hausa line in 1807.[1],[2],[3],[8]High confidence

The Kano Chronicle dates Bagauda's accession to 999; early dates are traditional.

Through the centuries

  1. c. 999–1095

    Bagauda at Dala hill

    Dala hill has been an iron-working settlement since about the 7th century, its people led by priests of the god Tsumburbura such as Barbushe. Immigrants from Daura arrive at the end of the 10th century; one band, led by Bagauda, a descendant of Bayajidda, makes him the first Sarkin Kano. He and his son Warisi die at Sheme, 65 km north-west of the hill.[1],[2],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Dala hill

    The Kano Chronicle dates Bagauda's accession to 999; early dates are traditional.

  2. 1095–1349

    Walls, land tax and the war with Santolo

    Gijimasu (1095–1134) settles at the foot of Dala and begins the city walls. The old inhabitants refuse to marry the newcomers or share their rites. His successors push west to Karaye and Farin Ruwa and south to Kura and Tsangaya, and Naguji (1194–1247) is the first to take a land tax of one-eighth of the crop. But Santolo, the great shrine town south-east of the city, beats Kano twice. Tsamiya (1307–1343) destroys the Cibiri sanctuary in the city and splits its priests into three chiefships under him.[1],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  3. 1349–1390

    Sarki Yaji: Islam, Rano and Santolo

    Wangarawa scholars from Mali bring Islam, and Yaji makes them imam, muezzin and judge. He drives the king of Rano from his capital, then with Mandinka soldiers destroys Santolo, the last stronghold of the old religion, and puts its people to the sword. He conquers the Warjawa and the land from Bere to Panda and besieges Kwararafa at Tagara for seven months.[1],[4],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  4. 1390–1421

    Kanajeji: armour and the war on Zazzau

    Kanajeji takes tribute of 200 slaves from Kwararafa and trades horses for more. Beaten by the 'Mbutu in their rocky country, he gives his horsemen quilted armour (lifidi), iron helmets and mail, starves 'Mbutu out after two years and takes 4,000 captives. Defeated by Zazzau, he returns to the old Cibiri cult; the next year he kills Zazzau's king. His successor Umaru gives up the throne to live as a scholar in Bornu.[1],[5],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  5. 1421–1438

    A Bornu prince in Kano

    Uthman Kalnama, a deposed mai of Bornu, arrives with horses, drums, trumpets, flags, guns and scholars, and Sarki Dauda welcomes him. As the Dagachi he grows rich and governs Kano while Dauda campaigns against Zazzau. His Kanuri scholars teach Kano's people to read and write.[1],[6]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  6. 1438–1463

    Abdullahi Burja: tribute to Bornu and the kola road

    Burja is “the first in Hausaland to give Bornu tribute”. In return the road from Bornu to Gonja, in today's Ghana, opens, and kola nuts become Kano's great trade; camels reach Kano. He conquers Dutse and Miga. His Galadima Dauda raids the peoples to the south for seven years, sending a thousand captives a month, and on his way home founds 21 towns of slaves, a thousand people in each.[1],[6],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  7. 1463–1499

    Muhammad Rumfa

    Guided by the scholar al-Maghili, Rumfa remakes Kano as a Muslim state: he extends the walls, builds the Gidan Rumfa palace that still stands, opens the Kurmi market, sets up the council of the Nine of Kano, appoints slaves and eunuchs to office and celebrates Eid in state. He fights Kano's first war with Katsina, eleven years long and inconclusive. Kano still pays tribute to Bornu.[1],[7],[8]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  8. 1509–1565

    Kisoki's Kano empire

    Muhammad Kisoki, Rumfa's grandson, reigns 56 years. While Songhai and Bornu are torn by strife, he marches into Bornu, beats off the mai's reprisal and ends Bornu's overlordship. The Kano Chronicle says he “ruled over all Hausaland, east and west, north and south”: the only time one Hausa state held all the others. A second war with Katsina is inconclusive. Scholars from Bornu and Songhai, among them Askia Muhammad's former vizier Ali Fulan, settle in Kano.[9],[1],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  9. 1565–1650

    Civil war and the first Kwararafa invasion

    Kisoki's death opens Kano's first civil war among the Rumfawa. Under Muhammad Zaki (1582–1618) Kwararafa invades; the people flee to Daura while the invaders strip the countryside, and Katsina harries the weakened state. In 1623 the Kutumbawa line replaces the Rumfawa.[10],[7],[9],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  10. c. 1650–1703

    Kwararafa raids

    Kano and Katsina make peace against Kwararafa around 1650. In the 1650s Sarkin Kwararafa Adashu batters down the Kofan Kawayi gate; under Dadi (c. 1671) the Kwararafa break in by the Kofan Gadon Kaya and fight to the Kurmi market, and the Sarki flees to Daura. A second civil war follows Kutumbi's death in 1648. Kano's trade recovers each time.[13],[11],[12],[14],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  11. 1703–1781

    Fulani clans, taxes and musketeers

    Muhammad Sharefa and Kumbari fight the Fulani clans that now press on the state; Kumbari's heavy taxes on the Kurmi market drive traders and Tuareg away, and Katsina overtakes Kano as the leading Hausa market. Babba Zaki (1768–1776) breaks the power of his own officials, crushes Auyo and Burum-Burum, and is the first Sarki with a guard of musketeers. The chief of Bebeji is one of his five war captains.[1],[15],[16]Medium confidence

    Capital: Kano

  12. 1781–1807

    Alwali and the jihad

    Muhammad Alwali II reigns over a state worn by famine, taxes and feuds between the royal lines. He breaks open the Dirki, Kano's sacred bundle, and his people murmur. When Usman dan Fodio's jihad begins in Gobir, Alwali stands with Gobir. The Jobawa Fulani under Muhammadu Bakatsine rise, drive him from Kano in 1805 and kill him at Burum-Burum in 1807.[14],[1],[17]High confidence

    Capital: Kano

  13. 1807

    Fulani take Kano

    Jihad forces hold Kano; Suleiman becomes the first Fulani emir under Sokoto. From 1819 Ibrahim Dabo rebuilds the old court and regalia, beats off an invasion from Bornu, and founds the dynasty that still reigns.[2],[17],[18]High confidence

    Capital: Kano

Wars, treaties and turning points

Today

Emir of Kano, Kano

The Emir of Kano reigns from the Gidan Rumfa palace, and Kano is Nigeria's second largest city. Since 2019 the old emirate has been split into several emirates by state law, a change still contested.[2]Medium confidence

Its people

Hausa

Living in its lands today

Peoples whose homelands lie inside its lands at its height, by number of LGAs.

Hausa

Sources

Every claim carries a confidence level: high (well attested), medium (one source or approximate) or disputed (sources disagree).

  1. Wikipedia contributors. Kingdom of Kano
  2. Wikipedia contributors. Hausa Kingdoms
  3. Palmer, H. R. (translator). (1908). The Kano Chronicle. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38: 58–98 (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  4. Wikipedia contributors. Yaji I (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  5. Wikipedia contributors. Kanajeji (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  6. Wikipedia contributors. Abdullahi Burja (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  7. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammad Rumfa
  8. Palmer, H. R. (translator). (1928). Sudanese Memoirs, vol. 3 (includes the Kano Chronicle). Government Printer, Lagos (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  9. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammad Kisoki
  10. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammad Zaki (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  11. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammad Kukuna (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  12. Wikipedia contributors. Dadi (sultan) (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  13. Wikipedia contributors. Kwararafa
  14. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammad Alwali II
  15. Wikipedia contributors. Babban Zaki (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  16. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammad Sharefa (quotes Palmer’s Kano Chronicle)
  17. Wikipedia contributors. Sokoto Caliphate
  18. Wikipedia contributors. Ibrahim Dabo