Zamfara

Overview

Zamfara grew from the chiefdoms of Dutsi, Togai, Kiyawa and Jata; its people say they descend from the Maguzawa hunters of old Kano. In the early 16th century it built Birnin Zamfara near today's Isa, its walls said to run eleven miles with fifty gates. Kanta made it a tributary of Kebbi; around 1715 it rose with Gobir and Agadez, captured Kebbi's king and became a first-rate power, its fertile plains “almost the most flourishing country of Negroland”. Then Gobir, whose settlers it had welcomed, turned on it: Birnin Zamfara fell around 1756–1762, its last king died at Kiawa after a fifteen-year siege, and the dynasty carried on at Anka.^[1],[4]Medium confidence

Through the centuries

1. before c. 1500

   The giants of Dutsi

   The first Zamfarawa settle at Dutsi, now a town in Zurmi, and after seven years without a chief choose Dakka as the first Sarkin Zamfara. Legend makes the early chiefs giants who could eat a whole ox at a meal; six great mounds at Dutsi are said to hold 23 of them. One of the first six was a woman, Algoje.^[1]Medium confidence

   Capital: Dutsi (approximate)

2. early 16th century

   Birnin Zamfara

   The Zamfarawa move north to the Gagare river near Isa and build Birnin Zamfara, whose walls are said to be eleven miles long with fifty gates; remains stand east of Isa. In the mid-16th century Zamfara campaigns south as far as Yauri but cannot hold it.^[1]Medium confidence

   Capital: Birnin Zamfara (near Isa)

3. c. 1516–1715

   Under Kebbi

   Kanta of Kebbi conquers Zamfara in his campaigns east, and Zamfara pays Kebbi tribute for two centuries.^[2],[1],[3]Medium confidence

   Capital: Birnin Zamfara (near Isa)

4. c. 1715–1756

   Revolt and height

   Under Babba, Zamfara rises with Gobir and Agadez and drives Kebbi's army back to the Gulbin Ka. Babba's son Yakubu defeats the Kebbawa at Tsamiya Maibaura and captures their king, Muhammadu dan Giwa; the slave Acali, who offered his life as the soothsayers' sacrifice, is honoured through his brother, made the first Sarkin Burmin Bakura. Zamfara now stretches from Sabon Birni in the north to Kwiambana in the south. Sarkin Zamfara Maliki gives land to Gobir settlers, and Zamfara's men save Gobir's capital from Agadez.^[1],[4]Medium confidence

   Capital: Birnin Zamfara (near Isa)

5. c. 1756–1805

   Gobir takes Birnin Zamfara

   Gobir's Babari attacks his ally. Zamfara's captains, tired of King Mairoki's taunts, give the capital up; Barth was told it fell in about 1756, others say 1762. Mairoki flees to the hill fortress of Kiawa, where Bawa Jan Gwarzo of Gobir besieges him for fifteen years before taking and beheading him. The Zamfara dynasty regroups at Anka in the south-west.^[1],[4]Medium confidence

   Capital: Anka

Wars, treaties and turning points

• Zamfara, Gobir and Agadez throw off KebbiWar · c. 1715
• The fall of Birnin ZamfaraWar · c. 1756–1777

Today

Sarkin Zamfara of Anka, Anka

The Sarkin Zamfara reigns at Anka in Zamfara State.^[1]High 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 Zamfara
2. Wikipedia contributors. Kanta Kotal
3. Wikipedia contributors. Kingdom of Kebbi
4. Wikipedia contributors. Gobir
5. Hogben, S. J.; Kirk-Greene, A. H. M. (1966). The Emirates of Northern Nigeria: A Preliminary Survey of Their Historical Traditions. Oxford University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)