ADSactly History : History Of Northern Nigeria [Part 1] - Hausa/Fulani In The Pre-colonial Era

We have done survey of the Southern part of nigeria; their people, origin, and socio-political organizations in our last three episodes. Here, we will be shifting our attention to the Northern part of Nigeria. We will look at the Hausa/Fulani tribe, their origin and their socio-political structure in the pre-colonial time. Note: The Hausa tribe was intertwined with the Fulani tribe after the historic Fulani war of the 19th century, so we will treat both of them together.

Hausa Tribe

Hausa ethnic group is the largest in Nigeria and has remained one of the most influential and politically dominant ethnic group in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, top political figures in Nigeria, including the president, belong to this ethnic group. Hausa ethnic group occupies about 25% of the entire Nigerian population _[ref] - which is over 67 million people (going with figures from the last National Population Census in Nigeria).

Hausa language is also among the most spoken in African continent and is among the biggest linguistic groups in the African continent. Hausa tribe is predominantly found in the Northern part of Nigeria, though other tribes are found there, like the Nupe, Kanem-Bornu etc. Asides Nigeria, some other countries; both African and the wider world; have native Hausa speakers - in minority though.

Hausa (and Fulani) tribe are well known for cattle rearing and some of them are nomadic in nature - moving from the North, through the North-central, to the Southern part of Nigeria in search of green pastures for their cattle. Apart from cattle rearing, some of them are into trading, farming, export/import, and even oil exploration. Fun fact: The current Africa's richest man; Aliko Dangote; is from Hausa ethnic group. Hausa people are predominantly muslims, though a very few minority do practise Christianity and other religion.

Origin of Hausa

Just like the history of the origin of the other tribes we looked at in our previous episodes, Hausa has many versions of their history; both creationist and migratory. However, in this survey, we will take a look at a few of them that have been generally accepted by Hausa scholars.

The version of Bayajida

This is one of the widely accepted origin of Hausa as passed on by "oral tradition". It is a popular belief in Hausa land that Bayajida founded the ancient Hausa provinces (which are now called states). This is partly a migratory account. Bayajida had been believed to have migrated from ancient city of Baghdad in the old Iraqi territory. He journeyed through many years and passed through Kanem-Bornu and finally arrived at the present Hausa land.

During his journey through Kanem-Bornu, Bayajida fell in love with one of the daughters of Mai (king) of Bornu and they were married. She gave birth to a son, Biran, who later married the queen of Daura. Biran had a son called Bawo and six grandchildren. According to Hausa oral tradition, these grandchildren, with the others from Bayajida were the people that created the 7 true and original states of Hausa land popularly called "Hausa Bokwoi".

The version of the drop of milk

If you have ever been to the Northern Nigeria, you will discover that the Hausa/Fulani cherish raw cow milk a lot, they call it "fura da nunu" - I've taken the nunu a couple of times _{@samminator speaking here}. Looking at this more holistically, their love for milk is more than what can be seen peripherally. This brings me to this account of the origin of Hausa. This is a creationist myth and a very funny one at that, but some Hausa/Fulani people still believe it till this present time.

Some Hausa people believe that man was created from a giant drop of milk. According to oral tradition, the giant drop of milk came from heaven, then the almighty creator (Doondari) descended from heaven and formed some elements which he used; with the giant drop of milk; to form man (the elements included air, fire, iron, water).

After the creation of man, man was set in the midst of affluence, but he became too proud that Doondari, in order to tame him, created blindness to infect man. In the long run, blindness grew some elements of pride, then Doondari sought for a way to tame it; he created sleep, thinking that it will not become proud. Well, sleep disappointed Doondari and that was when he created worry and finally created death to put an end to the pride of all of them. Okay, this creation account is funny, but you can't just take away this oral tradition from some Hausa people.

Hausa administration and socio-political organization

During the pre-colonial era, Hausa land had a political structure that was headed by "Sarki" (Sarkis were known as kings). Each Hausa state had their own Sarki who also selected their cabinet. The Sarki is not only seen as political leader but he had spiritual oversight over the land of Hausa, and also seen as the judge in the land of Hausa.

By the late 14th century to the early 15th century, Islam became fully absorbed in the land of Hausa and this led to the creation of various organizations and institutions like the office of Yari Sarki, Magaji, Galadima, Sarki Yau etc. This Islamization also charted another course for the entire Hausa judiciary system and the Sharia law became enforced throughout the land of Hausa. Even till this present time, the Sharia law is still practised in parts of Northern Nigeria.

References: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4