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Origins & Identity

A language, a homeland, a way of life
Deep roots: language and genes
The legend of Bayajidda
Becoming Hausa: an open identity

City-States & Kingdoms

Seven states, seven specialities
Kano: from Dala hill to a walled metropolis
The walls of Kano
How we know: the Kano Chronicle
Queen Amina of Zazzau: history and legend

Trade, Markets & Crafts

Between the desert and the forest
The market cycle and the handshake
Indigo, leather and the dye pits of Kofar Mata
The groundnut pyramids

Islam, Learning & Script

How Islam arrived
The mallams: teachers, judges and healers
Ajami and Boko: two ways of writing Hausa
Sufi brotherhoods and reform movements

Sokoto Caliphate & Conquest

Usman dan Fodio and the jihad of 1804
How the caliphate was organized
The British conquest of 1903
Indirect rule and its consequences

Society, Power & Values

The compound and the family
Rank, patrons and praise-singers
Kirki: the value of composure
Wrestling, games and belonging

Beliefs, Spirits & Bori

The Maguzawa: Hausa who kept the older religion
A world of spirits
The Bori cult
’Yan Daudu
Mallams, boka and healing

Arts & Culture

Earth, palm wood and pattern: Hausa architecture
Cloth, leather and metal: the craft traditions
Drums, trumpets and the voice of the praise-singer
Poets, storytellers and novelists
Kannywood: Hausa cinema
The Durbar: when the city rides out

The Modern Era

The Northern Region and independence
Coups, civil war and the splitting of the North
Sharia, reform and insecurity
Hausa in Niger and across borders
Radio, screens and a global language

Discover Hausa culture

Proverbs: karin magana
Names: born on a Friday?
Food: tuwo, suya and fura
Symbols and signs
Festivals and sports
Faces from the Hausa world
Quiz: what did you pick up?

The Hausa Language

Letters and scripts
Vowels and tones
Grammar in a nutshell
Dialects and the standard
Greetings: the first lesson
Numbers and kinship
Dictionaries and learning

Queen Amina

The queen of tradition
What the written sources say
When did she live?
Walls, conquests and kola
Amina in memory and culture

Women

Seclusion, marriage and status
Friendship and networks
Hidden work and trade
Scholars and teachers: Nana Asma’u
A woman’s own voice: Baba of Karo
Women today

The Hausa Diaspora

Why Hausa people travel
Sabon Gari in Ibadan
Who counts as Hausa?
Zongos: Hausa quarters in Ghana
Hausa captives in the Atlantic world
Hausa communities today

Kids Love & Marriage Learn Hausa Dictionary Network Patronage Sources Contact Donate Search

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hausa.wiki

An independent, trilingual encyclopedia on the Hausa people of West Africa: their history, cities, trade, faith, language and arts.

Explore

Origins & Identity
City-States & Kingdoms
Trade, Markets & Crafts
Islam, Learning & Script
Sokoto Caliphate & Conquest
Society, Power & Values
Beliefs, Spirits & Bori
Arts & Culture
The Modern Era
Discover Hausa culture
The Hausa Language
Queen Amina
Women
The Hausa Diaspora
Dictionary
Learn Hausa

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