page_title: Kano
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kano / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Gate to Emir's palace in Kano, Nigeria.Français&#160;: Portail du palais de l'émir de Kano, Nigéria.
context_page_description: Kano is the capital city of Kano State in North West, Nigeria. It is situated in the Sahelian geographic region, south of the Sahara. Kano is the commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria and is the second largest city in Nigeria. The Kano metropolis initially covered 137 square kilometres, and comprised forty four local government areas —Kano Municipal, Fagge, Dala, Gwale, Tarauni and Nasarawa; However, it now covers two additional LGAs—Ungogo and Kumbotso. The total area of Metropolitan Kano is now 499 square kilometres, with a population of 2,828,861 as of the 2006 Nigerian census; the latest official estimate is 3,931,300.
  The principal inhabitants of the city are the Hausa people. However, there are few who speak Fulani language. As in most parts of northern Nigeria, the Hausa language is widely spoken in Kano. The city is the capital of the Kano Emirate. The current emir, Aminu Ado Bayero, was enthroned on 9 March 2020 after the last emir Muhammadu Sanusi II was deposed. The city's Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, the main airport serving northern Nigeria, was named after politician Aminu Kano.
context_section_description: In the 7th century, Dala Hill, a residual hill in Kano, was the site of a hunting and gathering community that engaged in iron work (Nok culture); it is unknown whether these were Hausa people or speakers of Niger–Congo languages. Kano was originally known as Dala, after the hill, and was referred to as such as late as the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th by Bornoan sources.
  The Kano Chronicle identifies Barbushe, a warrior priest of Dala Hill female spirit deity known as Tsumbura, Barbushe is from the lineage of the hunter family (maparauta) who were the city's first settlers. (Elizabeth Isichei notes that the description of Barbushe is similar to those of Sao people.) While small chiefdoms were previously present in the area, according to the Kano Chronicle, Bagauda son of Bawo and grandson of the mythical hero Bayajidda, became the first king of Kano in 999, reigning until 1063. His grandson Gijimasu (1095–1134), the third king, began building city walls (badala/ganuwa) at the foot of Dala Hill. His own son, Tsaraki (1136–1194), the fifth king, completed them during his reign.
  In the 12th century Ali Yaji as King of Kano renounced his allegiance to the cult of Tsumburbura, converted to Islam and proclaimed the Sultanate that was to last until its fall in the 19th century. The reign of Yaji ensued an era of expansionism that saw Kano becoming the capital of a pseudo Habe Empire.
  In 1463 Muhammad Rumfa (reigned 1463–1499) ascended the throne. During his reign, political pressure from the rising Songhai Empire forced him to take Auwa, the daughter of Askiyah the Great as his wife. She was to later become the first female Madaki of Kano. Rumfa reformed the city, expanded the Sahelian Gidan Rumfa (Emir's Palace), and played a role in the further Islamization of the city, as he urged prominent residents to convert. The Kano Chronicle attributes a total of twelve "innovations" to Rumfa.
  According to the Kano Chronicle, the thirty-seventh Sarkin Kano (King of Kano) was Mohammed Sharef (1703–1731). His successor, Kumbari dan Sharefa (1731–1743), engaged in major battles with Sokoto as a longterm rivalry.
caption: Gate to the Gidan Rumfa in 2005
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