Hausa Kingdoms

[2] Hausaland took shape as a political and cultural region during the first millennium CE as a result of the westward expansion of Hausa peoples.

They constantly waged war on each other and would often work with invaders to the detriment of their sister states, hindering their collective strength.

[4] According to the Bayajidda legend, Hausa states were founded by the sons and grandsons of Bayajidda, a prince whose origin differs by tradition, but official canon records him as the person who married Daurama, the last Kabara of Daura, and heralded the end of the matriarchal monarchs that had erstwhile ruled the Hausa people.

Katsina and Daura were the "Chiefs of the Market," as their geographical location accorded them direct access to the caravans coming across the desert from the north.

Gobir, located in the west, was the "Chief of War" and was mainly responsible for protecting the empire from the invasive Kingdoms of Ghana and Songhai.

[5] The primary exports were slaves, leather, gold, cloth, salt, kola nuts, animal hides, and henna.

In the 11th century the conquests initiated by Gijimasu of Kano culminated in the birth of the first united Hausa Nation, although it was short-lived.

The Hausa rulers fasted Ramadan, built mosques, kept up the five obligatory prayers, and gave alms (zakat) to the poor.

During this time period, Leo Africanus briefly mentions in his book Descrittione dell’Africa descriptions of the political and economic state of Hausaland during that time although it is unknown if he actually visited it; Hausaland seems to have been mostly of a tributary status by Songhai as in his description of Zamfara he comments that "their king was slaughtered by the Askiya and themselves made tributary" and the same is said for the rest of the region.

Though the vast majority of its inhabitants were Muslim, by the 19th century, they were conquered by a mix of Fulani warriors and Hausa peasantry, citing syncretism and social injustices.