The Hausa are a Sahelian people chiefly located in the West African regions of northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger. There are also significant numbers found in northern regions of Benin, Ghana, Niger, Cameroon and in smaller communities scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditonal Hajj route from West Africa, moving through Chad, and Sudan. Many Hausa have moved to large coastal cities in West Africa such as Lagos, Accra or Cotounou, as well as to countries such as Libya in search of jobs that pay cash wages. However, most Hausa remain in small villages, where they grow food crops and raise livestock on nearby lands. Hausa farmers time their activities according to seasonal changes in rainfall and temperature. They speak the Hausa language which belongs to the Chadic language group, a sub-group of the larger Afro-Asiatic language family .

Culture

Kano is considered the center of Hausa trade and culture. In terms of cultural relations to other peoples of West Africa, the Hausa are culturally and historically close to the Fulani, Songhay, Mandé and Tuareg as well as other Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan groups further East in Chad and Sudan.

Religion

Hausa have an ancient culture that had an extensive coverage area, and long ties to the Arabs and other Islamized peoples in West Africa, such as the Mandé, Fulani and even the Wolof of Senegal, through extended long distance trade. Islam has been present in Hausaland since the 14th century but it was largely restricted to the region's rulers and their courts. Rural areas generally retained their animist beliefs and their urban leaders thus drew on both Islamic and African traditions to legitimise their rule. Muslim scholars of the early nineteenth century disapproved of the hybrid religion practised in royal courts, and a desire for reform was a major motive behind the formation of the Sokoto Caliphate.Robinson, David, Muslim Societies in African History (Cambridge, 2004), p141 It was after the formation of this state that Islam became firmly entrenched in rural areas. The Hausa people have been an important vector for the spread of Islam in West Africa through economic contact, diaspora trading communities, and jihads.

History

From the sixteenth to start of the nineteenth century the Hausa federation, a loose union of city-states were an important regional power. They were defeated in 1810 by Usman dan Fodio and incorporated into the Fulani Empire.

The history of the Hausa people is recorded in the Kano Chronicle.

See also

• Hausa-Fulani

Ethnic groups in Nigeria | Ethnic groups in Niger | Muslim communities

Notes

Hausa (Volk) | שבט האוסה | Hausa (volk) | Hauçás | Hausa | Hausat