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16/10/2022

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The history of the Hausa city-states (1100-1804 AD): Politics, Trade and Architecture of an African mercantile culture during west-Africa's age of empire.
an African urban civilization

isaac Samuel
Oct 31, 2021
3
Hausa language, civilization and culture are all intertwined in the term Hausa, first as a language of 40 million people in northern Nigeria and west Africa and thus one of the most spoken languages in Africa, second as a city-state civilization; one with a rich history extending back centuries and found within the dozens of city states in northern Nigeria (called the Hausalands) that flourished from the 12th to the 19th century characterized by extensive trade, a vibrant scholarly culture and a unique architectural tradition. Lastly as a culture of the Muslim and non-Muslim populations of northern Nigeria and surrounding regions, these populations included traders, scholars, religious students and the Hausa diaspora in north Africa, west Africa (from the upper Volta region of Ghana to Cameroon) and the Atlantic world. 1

The formative period of state formation in the Hausalands begun in the 12th century with the appearance of the city walls of Kano and the 13th century burials at Durbi Takusheyi. The process of state building and political consolidation of various chiefdoms into large kingdoms in the Hausalands culminated with the emergence of seven “prominent” city states; Kano, Daura, Gobir, Zazzau, Katsina, Rano and Hadeija, along with the "lesser" states; Kebbi, Zamfara, Nupe, Gwari, Yauri, Yoruba (Oyo) the latter of which comprise both Hausa and non-Hausa populations. This process became enshrined in the Hausa origin myth; the so-called Bayajida legend which is a sort of Hausa foundation charter repeated in oral and written history that links the dynasties of the seven Hausa city-states.

Gold earrings, pendant, and ring from Durbi Takusheyi, Katsina State, Nigeria (photo from NCMM Nigeria)

According to the Bayajida legend, a price from the east married a princess from Bornu and the queen of Daura both of whom gave birth to the seven rulers of the seven Hausa cities, he also had a concubine who gave birth to the rulers of the "lesser" states. Interpretation of this allegory is split with some historians seeing it as a reflection of the embryonic Hausa polities2 while others consider the Bornu (empire) elements of the story as an indication of Bornuese influence on early Hausa state formation3 or even outright concoction by Bornu by legitimizing the latter’s imperial claim over the Hausalands,4 while the narrative of seven founding rulers has parallels in several African Muslim societies like the Swahili and Kanem.

Owing to their position between the storied empires of the “western Sudan” and “central Sudan” ie: the Mali and Songhai empires to its west and Kanem-Bornu empire to the east, the Hausa developed into a pluralistic society, assimilating various non-Hausa speaking groups into the Hausa culture; these included the Kanuri/Kanembu from the 11th century (dominant speakers in the kanem-bornu empire), the Wangara in the 14th century (Soninke/Malinke speakers traders from the Mali empire), the Fulani in the 15th century, and later, the Tuaregs, Arabs, Yoruba and other populations5. It was within this cosmopolitan society of the Hausalands that the Hausa adopted, innovated and invented unique forms of social-political organization especially the Birni -a fortified city which became the nucleus of the Hausa city-states.6

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accounts of the reigns of the Fulani emirs who followed Alwali make little
reference to the rebellions and revolts they had to deal with.
In short, the Chronicle by itself is neither a fully reliable nor a compre-
honsive guide to the history of Kano under its Hausa or Fulani chiefs.
Fortunately it is now no longer the only source; and we shouldP
theret;re"
exploit it with all others available to us, such as the Asl al Wanqariyin, the
Al-ilan bi tarikh Kano, Kano ta Dabo Cigan:, Alkali Zangi's Taqyid al-Akbar,
and any others, local or 'foreign', which can check, enrich or shed light on
these dark centuries of Kano and Hausa history. It would of course be quite"
absurd to treat any single document as the sole and authentic account of
French or British history before or after the Roman witlldrawal. Yet if so,
why then, and for how much longer, will we discuss the Chronicle as though
it is the sole document or source of information on Kano's history before
the Fulani conquest?
The Chronicle does to an extraordinary degree document the historical
derivation of various hereditary offices (sarautu) which together provided
the administrative framework of the chiefdom, distinguishing those of royal
rank from others of clerical, noble, commoner, slave or eu**ch rank, and
distinguishing women's titles from others. It documents their emergence,
status and roles, noting the various lapsed offices that formed part of the
Hausa officialdom in Alwali's day and in previous reigns. The Chronicle
by no means. supplies a comprehensive account of the Hausa polity at Kano.
As noted, it says very little about Baba Zaki's fundamental reorganization of
the officialdom and its communication structure, though fortunately Mallam
Adamu records this, and in 1959 details could still be recovered from oral
accounts.
Alone, the Chronicle can neither fully and accurately report the political
history of Hausa Kano nor its political ethnography at Alwali's day. How-
ever, for any understanding of the development and vicissitudes of the
Hausa chiefdom or its organization on the eve of the Fulani jihand, it is not
merely indispensable but irreplaceable. Without it, allowing for all the other
available documents and sources of information, we should not have suffi-
cient data to check externally the validity of any reconstruction we might
make of the Hausa polity at Kano on the eve of its conquest and replace-
ment. Neither would we be able to trace the processes of its evolution as a
formation developed over several centuries to resolve struggles between an
aggressive patrimonial chiefship and the oligarchies of competing aristocrats
and slaves on which its rule was based, and with which the chiefship was
closely associated. In the absence of a successor-state to Kano, the Chronicle
still provides the finest and fullest independent check on the validity of
historical reconstruction derived from inquiries within the contemporary
state that scholars could ever hope for or expect. Moreover, as mentioned
above, the Chronicle nicely documents the rebellions, revolts, civil wars and

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some of the principal interests that created and shaped the Chronicle. It
assigns such offices as Galadima, Barwa, Madawaki, Magayaki, Makama,
Barde, Jarumai and Dawaki to the very earliest reigns, when clearly those
offices clid not then exist. loo Of Gijimasu (1095-1134) we are told that
"He ruled all the country as far as the lands of Sarkin Gano, Sarkin Dab,
Sarkin Debbi, Sarkin Ringim, Dan Bakonyaki.. Santolo alone stood out
against him, for his peop-le were many and pagans. No one was able to rule
over them. The Sarkis (chiefs) of Gano, Dab and Debbi came to Hausaland
(sic) nine years before Bagauda. But Buram, Isa, Baba, Kududufi, pJhassan
and others of the Kano chiefs, men of the princely clan came with Bagauda."
The footnote reads, "For this reason all their descendants were called after
these, their forefathers, and the names have remained as titles of princes
to this day. Such titles as Dan Buram, Dan Isa or Dan Baba, Dan Akasan,
Dan Kududufi and others like Dan Dermai and Dan Goriba."l 0 I
Detailed comparison of the information on Rausa Kano in the Chronicle
with the- fullest reconstruction I was able to achieve on the basis of t.~e
available oral and written information for Kano in Alwali's dayshowed first
that the Chronicle contains within it more information essential for the
accurate reconstruction and valid understanding of the Hausa chiefdom in its
final phases than we can expect to find elsewhere; and secondly, that it
neatly and convincingly relates the processes through which the Hausa state
and government emerged and developed, territorially and structurally.
Though the Chro1}:£cle is incomplete and erratic in its coverage, it seems less
so than alternative sources for that period. Anachronisms such as those
noted above are rather innocent and easy to identify and correct. What is
really irreplaceable if lost or abandoned is the Chronicle's oblique but
sustained account of the evolution of the political structure of Kano from
its earliest beginnings in the conflict between the immigrants under Bagauda
and the autochthonous people who rejected them as ritual or social equals,
thereby defining the terms and outcomes of this basically ethnic conflict, to
the centuries that followed the arrival of Islam and Kana's successive sub-
jugations to Borno, Songhai and Kebbi, with their curious, unacknowledged
consequences for the throne, illustrated perhaps by the brief anomalous
reigns of Dakauta (1 day) andAtuma his son (7 days) in 1452 A.D., imme-
diately after Kana accepted Barno's suzerainty under Abdullahi Burja (1438-
1452), eleven years before the accession of Muhammad Rumfa.
The Chronicle also shows how the Rausa chiefdom survived two civil wars
over the succession in 1565 and 1652, both fortunately brief and restricted
in scale, together with a number of revolts, beginning with the Sarkin Gaya
Farin Dutse in the reign of Muhammadu Dadi (1670-1703) and continuing
thereafter with revolts at Kim, Dutse and elsewhere,l 02 some of which, such
as the revolt of Ada Gwauro, the Fulani Sarkin Ringim during the reign of
Muhamman Kumbari/ 03 are omitted from the record, much as later

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oral data available at Kano, together with reports of explorers, and such
gleanings from the jihadic literature of the conquering Khadiriya as I could
find. This done, my problem was to check the validity of this reconstruction,
to identify its omissions, false reports, anachronisms and other limitations.
and perhaps to enrich its scope and detail, while correcting its errors by
reference to an independent authentic body of precise information with
which these c'omparisons could be systematically made. Whereas elsewhere
independent successor-states of former Rausa chiefdoms overun by the
Shehu's jihad, such as Zango in Daura, Maradi, or Abuja had supplied
information of this kind to control my reconstruction of their pre-jihadic
regimes and allow direct comparison WIth the 19th century Fulanistates,
for Kano I lacked such resources, since the defeated dynasty was never able
to establish a successor-state. Indeed, when I visited the Rausa Sarkin Kano
in January 1959 at Maradi, he was unable to distinguish the traditions
of Kano from those of Rausa Katsina, that still flourished in Maradi.
Fortunately, together with certain' other texts, old and new, the Chronicle
offered an Independent check on the validity and completeness of my ten-
tative reconstruction of Kano under Alwali that had emerged from the oral
and documentary studies. Being by far the richest continuous account of
Rausa Kano, it was central to this corpus of materials. Naturally to amplify
my account of Kano and to strengthen it, I took note of every credible
source of information on the political history and organization of Rausa
Kana available to me. That done, the significance and distinctions of much
detailed documentation of official personnel and family lines remained
obscure. For clarification and verification the best and often the only
available resource was the Kano Chronicle. This document, though often
anachronistic, illuminated some 'of our central puzzles, and especially those
that concerned the relative status and significanse of titled offices of
different kings present in Alwali's and earlier reigns-('
Nonetheless we should ask why, in every moderately long reign, does the
Chronicle list by name and title so many contemporary officials, warriors
and assistants of the chief? Clearly, given its limited public circulation, such
detail had greater significance than public exposure: From its beginnings
the Chronicle dwells particularly and in detail on the identities and titles of
individuals who figured prominently in the reigns of successive chiefs. Indeed
the Chronicle overwhelms one with such details, which are often juxtaposed
in odd relations. In evaluating the document it is important to consider
what function or purpose its detailed listing of individuals, places, titles, and
the like fulfilled. Palpably these titles, persons and places could not be
fictitious without placing the chronicler at risk of exposure as a fraudulent
historian. While none of these lists pretends to be complete, many are rather
extensive. The structure and content of such catalogues are of special signifi-
cance, given the political status and character of this document, and indicate,

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mad Rumfa's, the arrival at Kano of learned Muslims is recorded in the
Chronicle, together with their appointments to office or their interventions
in· political affairs, normally at the request of the ruling chief.
At the same time the Chronicle is sometimes inaccurate in its references
to developments in nearby states such as Zaria and Gobir. For example, it
reports the conquests of Queen Arnina of Zaria during the reign of Dauda
(1421-1438 A.D.), whereas these are normally placed in the 16th century.98
In short, we may expect the Chronicle to omit certain important develop-
ments altogether, while misplacing others, to Indulge anachronisms in the
earlier reigns, and to impose Islamic concepts and categories Qn events and
organization in pre-Islamic Kano, thus displaying Murray Last's 'historical
metaphors' and 'geographical analogies' by labelling ethnic groups as Magu-
zawa, Gazazawa, Rumawa etc. on the one hand, and by dividing the territory
to correspond on the other. How'ever, such divisions could hardly have
been initiated by the chronicler. They first had to be present or instituted
by the political leaders of the emerging state. Gazarzawa, for example, is
the name of a place and not a ethnic groUp.9 9 Nonetheless we should reco-
gnize that the Chronicle' is neither a transparent nor a fully complete and
realiable account of Kano history under the Fulani or the Hausa, both as
regards its chronology, its ideology, its Islamic interpretations of non-
Islamic peoples and events, its anachronisms, its religious, ethnic and poli-
tical biases, and otherwise. The questions that emerges from such a critique
is simply, what historical value, if any, does the document have', given its
various defects?
The answer is very brief, the' more so, surely, because of the historical
naivete illustrated above. Altogether the Chronicle of Rausa Kano provides
the richest and most authentic account of the political organization of the
Rausa chiefdom available to us; given the circumstances, the most illumi-
nating and comprehensive accoun t we could hope to have. There are of
course a sufficient number of ex temal checks on the validity of reports
in the Chronicle concerning Kana's relations with such nearby polities as
Asben, Borno, Katsina, Gobir, Zaria or the Jukun to accredit the document
generally. As regards its data on the composition and development of the
Kano polity itself, one critical test is the fit between the Chronicle's account
of Kano under Alwali' and the fullest account we can muster from other
sources of the state and its organization at that time.
VII
In 1959 attempting to reconstruct the social and political organization
of Kano on the eve of the Fulani jihad, I relied primarily on documents and

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Following the Askia we know that Kana, having formerly been subject
to Borno,86 fell under the domination of Kebbi, which under Kanta first
threw off Songhai's yoke in 1516 A.D. and then rapidly established its
dominion over western Hausaland, namely Gobir, Katsina, Yauri, Zamfara,
Zazzau and Kano.8 7 Nowhere does the Chron£cle mention this, though the
extraordinary singing which Muhammadu Kisoke launched on the walls of
Kano folloVving the- wlthdrawal of the king of Borno celebrates Kano's
independence from them both.88 Neither .does it record any famine from
Barbushe's day to Alwali's (1781-1807), who is the rirstruler reported to
have experienced famine. Nor does it mention the plague (waba) that swept
Kano for four years on the death of Kisoke (1565 A.D), and took his succes-
sors Yakubu and Dauda Abasama in less than a year. 8 9
However, parallel omissions also occur in the Chron£cle's account of 18th
century Kano. For example, was are told there that in Kumbari's time
(1731-1743 A.D.) the 'Mai Ali' of Borno came to Kano to war. "He en-
camped at Faggi (Fage) for three nights without a battle being fought, since
Shehu Ahiru ~d Shehu Bunduu prevented it. He returned to Borno.,,9 0 We
are not told that Kano then lost its independence and became for a second
time a vassal state of Barno, and remained thus until the Fula.Tli jihad. 9 1
Thus at least the Chron£cle's omissions are not restricted to any period. It
says far less about Baba Zaki (1768 1776) than Mallam Adamu does, and gives
an extraordinarily terse account of the Fulani jihad at Kana. "In Alwali's
time the Fulani conquered the seven Hausa states on the plea of reviving the
Islamic religion. The Fulani attacked Alwali and drove him from Kano,
whence he fled to Zaria.,,9 2 No briefer history of the jihad exists.
As for later errors and omissions, to substantiate my interpretation,
Muhammadu Bello's extension t,o the Chron£cle says that Al""",ali's sucessor,
the first Fulani Emir Suleiman, went to ask the Shehu Usman dan Fodio's
permission to o,ccupy the Hausa palace.9 3 Palmer's text corrects this in a
footnote - "He did not go to Sokoto but sent a message.,,94 As for
omissions, Bello's extension totally omits the major attack on Kano ill 1826
by the Shehu El Kanemi of Borno which threw the caliphate into great
fear. 95 It omits any mention of the treachery of the Sarkin Filani Dambarta
Dan Tunku and of Alwali's Ciroma Dan Nama, which ensured his defeat at
the final battle of Dan Yayya.96
At the other extreme, the Chronicle illustrates the Muslim identity and
bias of its authors. At its very beginning we are told that "Barbushe never
descended from Dalla except on the two days of Idi when he would nor-
mally sacrifice either black dogs, fowls or he-goats at popular request.,,9 7
In effect the Chronicle reinterprets the history of Kano in Muslim terms to
conform with Islamic models of heathenism and reform in religion and
government. Prematurely from Yaji's day and more securely from Muham

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for Alwali II. Such data do not illustrate the "near-total consistency in rulers
and! eign lengths" of these various king lists which Last leads us to expect
after .' 652, and on which most of his critical comments on the Chronicle
depend. Moreover it is clear from the details of these last 11 Hausa reigns
that riv\~ king lists consulted by Mallam Adamu did not include either the
Kano Chronicle, Baikie's king list or the Song of Bagauda. In effect the diver-
sity of opinion about the lengths of the various reigns" from Soyaki to Mu-hammadu Alwali II is even greater than we would suspect, had we restricted
our attention to Baikie's list, the Kana Chronicle and the Song of Bagauda.
Detailed comparison of the rulers listed, the order in which they are listed,
and the lengths of their .respective reigns as given in the Chronicle, in Baike's
list in the Song of Bagauda and in Mallam Adamu's unpublished collation for
the first 15 reigns from Bagauda to and including Dauda (1421-1437) yields
an equivalent level of disagreement as to the reign lengths, compounded by
certain differences in the names and order of the chiefs listed in the various
texts. E\"idently there are at least t\','o distinct traditions and lists of Kano
chiefs before the reign of Yaji(1349-1338"5 A.D.).
In Mallam Adamu's history of Yaji's precessor Zamnagawa (1343-1349
A.D.) is said to be the son of Randamasu (Tsamiya) and Kumaimaya. His
nickname was 'Gafe-Gakuma', who is listed in the Song of Bagauda as the
19th chief who reigned for 60 years. 76 According to Mallam Adamu, Zamn-
agawa as chid killed many men; presumably this, rather than the story relat-
ed in the Chronicle, led to his nickname. Between Yaji who followed Zamna-
gawa and Soyaki, i.e. from c.1349 A.D. to 1652, the Chronicle lists 22
reigns of Dakauta and Atuma in 1452 A.D. and conflates the two reigns of
~hllam Kukuna which the Chronicle correctly separates, as Soyaki ruled for
three months between them. According to the Chronicle the interval be-
tween Yaj i's ac~essi;~ and Soyaki's is 303 Muslim years. On Mallam
Adamu '5" reckoning it is either 316 or 326, since his sourc~s credit Kut~mbi's
son Alhaji with either 10 or 20 years on the throne, presumably due to an
error in copying; or it might be 356 or 366, if Da'ud, listed in some texts as
reigning 40 years, is included, despite Mallam Adamu's decision not to do so.
Notably Mallam Adamu's" account indicates no disagreements between the:
five king lists he consulted for any reigns between Zamnagawa and Sheshere.
Different estimates of reign length are first reported for Muhamman Zaki
and then for Alhaji, the son of Kutumbi. Beyond Soyaki's reign the
incidence of such disagreements increases sharply, as noted above. In other
words, Mallam Adamu's collation supports the view that from Yaji to
Abubakar Kado (1565-1572 A.D.) there is fq.f greater agreement on the
sequence and reign lengths of Hausa chiefs of Kano than before or after,
until 1807. Despite its omission of Dakauta and Atuma, and its displace-
ment of Yakubu and Dauda Abasama, Mallam Adamu's account agrees with
the Chronicle that the reigns from Yaji to Abubakar Kao total 228 Muslim

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against the rich and directly relevant data to be found in the At-ilan bitarikh Kana of Mallam Adamu Muhammadu el-Arabi. Mallam Adamu com-
pleted the first draft of his history of Kana in 1344 AH. (1925-6 A.D.)
and its revision in 1352 A.H. (1933 A.D.) shortly before the publication ofEast's Hausa tr~slation of the Chronicle? 4 In his attempt to reconstruct
the history of Hausa Kana, as well shall see, Mallam Adamu collated informa-
tion from five different king lists which did not include the Kano Chronicle,
the Song of Bagauda or Baikie's king list. For each mler mallam Adamu
reports the agreements or disagreements of the various king lists on the
length of his reign details the mler's parentage on both sides, and often gives
a brief character sketch and notes on outstanding events in the reign. As
regards the order and lengths of reigns from Soyaki to Alwali inclusive, the
five king lists consulted by MaJIarnu Adamu differ as follows:
Soyaki: 2 lists give 2 months 6 days
1 list gives 66 years
1 list gives 15 years
1 list gives 6 years
2 lists give 8 man ths
2 lists give 30 years
1 list gives 7 years 20 days
4 lists give 11 years
1 list gives 30 years
3 lists give 33 years
1 list gives 9 years
3 lists give 30 years
1 list gives 40 years
All lists give 10 years
All lists give 9 years 9 months
All list give 3 years
3 lists give 9 years
2 lists give 20 years
2 lists give 1 year
1 list gives 5 years
2 lists give 9 years
Alwali II All lists give 27 years
Thus as regards the reign lengths of the last 11 Hausa chiefs, including Alwali,
the five King lists consulted by rvlallam Adamu disagree seven times on the
lengths of their reign.? 4 For three of these seven reigns, the five king lists
offer three or more alternatives, for the remainder only two. Compared with
the Chronicle, Dr. Baikie's king list, which Last consulted, disagrees equally
for these reigns. As against this, the Song of Bagauda cannot be said to agree
with the lengths assigned by the Chronicle more than twice for these reigns
- namely for Alhaji Kabe, whom the So~g lists as Muhammad Kubari, and

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Finding a "near-total consistency in rulers and reign lengths after
1652" between these three sources, Last regards this as strong evidence
in support of his principal thesis;' i and interprets the remark that Alhaji
the son of Kutumbi was removed '''for a reason I forget' as internal evidence.. which can surely only imply the author was ""Titing some I 0 to 20 years
later.';69
These arguments are hardly persuasive; for first, if the chronicler had
really forgotten why or how Alhaji lost the throne ten to twen ty years
'earlier, he could surely have found that out by asking surviving officials who
either took part in the event or had some direct knowledge of it. It would be
curious for such a diligent researcher as the chronicler appears to have been
to have failed to follow this up. It is in truth far more likely that the writer
did not know how or why Alhaji lost the throne in the first place, and could
not find out; for since Alhaji's capture by the Katsina army70 was un-
precedented in Kano history and transparently implied the treachery of his
senior officials, free and slave, the state councillors, instead of announcing
his capture and thus compromising them:selves, simply declared that he had
been deposed and sent to live away from Kano, but gave no reason for his
deposition, as they dared not reaveal the truth. Moreover, by thus 'deposing'
Alhaji and appointing Shekarau, the state councillors simultaneously pre-
cluded Alhaji's return to the chiefship, and put themselves in a position to
make a peace with Katsina, while appearing to disassociate themselves from
warmaking policies of Kumbari and Alhaji.
As regards Murray Last's claim to find a 'near-total consistency of rulers
and reign lengths . after 1652" 1 between the Kana Chronicle, Baikie's king
list and the Song of Bagauada, my study of these three lists yields different
conclusions. For example, for the period stretching from Soyaki (1062
A.H.; 1652 A.D.) to Alwali's death in 1222 A.H.; 1807 A.D., the Chronicle
list 11 rulers inclusive, whose reigns together total 160 Moslem years or 157
Christians ones. As printed, Dr. Baikie lists .10 rulers between Soyaki and
Alwali but places Kukuna (Kakana) ahead of Soyaki, omits Dauda Abasama
(1776-1781), Alwali's predecessor, credits Baba Zaki with 78 years on the
throne instead of 8 as given in the Chronicle, and names Taukari instead
of Alhaji Kaboe (1743-1753 A.D.) as Kumbari!s immediate successor.72
Altogether Baikie's list for this period, including the reigns of Kukuna and
Alwali, gives a total of 203 Moslem years and 10 months as against the
Chronicle's 160. The Song of Bagauda differs even more widely from the
Chronicle for this period. Though agreeing fully with the Chronicle's list
of rulers, the Song credits them with a total of 313 Moslem years as against
the Chronicle's 160. Evidently, whether sung or unsung, local king lists may
differ as widely in deail after 1652 as before.
We are particularly fortunate in being able to check these conflicting
interpretations of reign lengths in the Chronicle, the Song and Baikie's list

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In a blilliant recent discussion of the Chronicle, ~l'1urray Last obliquely
suggests that it is best regarded as a rather free compilation of local legends
and traditions drafted in the miJ-scventeenth century by a humorous
Muslim rationalist who almost seems to have studied under Levi-Strauss. 6 6
There arc a number of cross-cutting binary sets in the "analogical geo-
graphies" the Chronicle apparently reveals, but more triangles with opposi-
tions and mediators a la Levi-Strauss. Yet surely even if structuralism des-
cribes the universally valid pattern of human thought, this would not
dispense ,'\lith the ordinary Cliteria and aims of historicity. Though Last
does not conclude that the Chronicle is poor history, many might readily
assume that this is implied, from the style and organization of his discourse.
His paper itself does not support such a view, however, despite its analysis
of the differing traditions recorded in the first ten reigns of the Chronicle,
during which the immigrants led by Bagauda struggled to dominate and
destroy the native community of Kano. All this is of the greatest value.
Together those reigns cover the period from 389 A.H. or 999 A.D. to 743
A.H. and] 343 A.D. - that is, the legendary first three and a half centuries
of Kano's history, following the arrival of Bagauda and his 'host'. While the
events and symbols recorded in the Chronicle to express the opposition of
immigrants and natives are· all probably in some sense 'untrue', the nature·
and intensity of that opposition cannot be gainsaid a priori or on available
records. The immigrants were determined to conquer and rule the ace-
phalous peoples of Kana, just as the latter, called Abagiyawa, were deter-
mined to resist as best they could. It might of course be argued that there
was no such invasion of Kano by 'Bagauda' or others at this period; but there,
is sufficient evidence of cum~lative population movements within and
around this region between the 7th and 11th centuries A.D. to suggest that
such a flat, fertile and attractive country as Kana would be very likely to
receive sub~tantial immigration from the north and east.
Concluding that the original draft of the Chronicle was made not long
after 1650 A.D., Murray Last distinguishes three preceding periods in its
account of Kano history that differ significantly in the sources, status and
reliability or the data on which they are based. For the period before 1450
A.D. he has little confidence in the Chroniclc's historicity; and he questions
its accuracy for the following century, 1450-1550 A.D. From 1550 onwards,
despite reservations, he has increasing confidence in the document's validity;
and from 1650 A.D. he is satisfied. 6 7
Last supports this evaluation of the Chronicle by comparing the numbers
of rulers and lengths of reigns it records 'with similar data from the Song
of Bagauda and Dr. Baikje's king list for the periods before 1430 (i.e. before
Dawuda), between 1430 and Soyaki's accession in 1652, and since then.

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