The Hausa Bakwai were never one empire. Each state was a walled capital surrounded by farmland and villages, ruled by a sarki (king) with a court of titled officers. They traded, intermarried and fought. Alliances shifted, and one state could dominate its neighbours for a generation and then decline.
Later tradition gives them rough “specialities”. Kano and Katsina were the great commercial and learned centres; Zazzau (Zaria) was known as a raiding state that supplied captives to the markets of its neighbours; Gobir was the northern frontier facing the Tuareg; Daura held the prestige of the founding legend. These labels are traditional shorthand, not exact descriptions.
| State | Modern location | Traditionally known for |
|---|---|---|
| Daura | Katsina State, Nigeria | The seat of the Bayajidda legend; a still-living emirate |
| Kano | Kano State, Nigeria | Trade, textiles, a walled metropolis and a long chronicle |
| Katsina | Katsina State, Nigeria | Trade with the Sahara and Islamic learning |
| Zazzau (Zaria) | Kaduna State, Nigeria | Military power and southern raiding; Queen Amina |
| Gobir | Sokoto State, Nigeria, and Niger | The northern frontier and the flashpoint of the 1804 jihad |
| Rano | Kano State, Nigeria | A satellite of Kano, known for cloth and indigo |
| Biram | Jigawa State, Nigeria | Said to be the oldest, linked to the line of Magira |
Salamone adds that when the Fulani overthrew the old dynasties in the 19th century, two defeated Hausa houses founded new states in exile: Abuja (from Zazzau) and Maradi (from Katsina), and a third Hausa state emerged at Argungu. They kept Hausa court customs largely unchanged.
Sources for this article
- Salamone 2010, ch. 1, pp. 1–2
- Last 1967, introduction
- Unsigned overview (n.d.), section “State Formation and Political Evolution” (outline)