Hausa States Conflicts

Nigeria / Niger · 1400–1800

“Hear the Hausa city-states, rich in trade and learning but divided by rivalry.”

The Hausa states, including Kano, Katsina, Zazzau and Gobir, grew wealthy through trade, craft production, scholarship and walled urban life. They shared language and culture, but they did not become one kingdom.

Jelikan · Ìtàn · A story is told at night

Sit by the fire.
The griot remembers.

244 tellings from the African Conflict Atlas, every one carried in the griot's own voice — empires and uprisings, taxes and stools, gold roads and broken promises. Told the way a griot tells them: by voice, by lesson, by question.

“A story, a story!”

32 fires burn through the year →

Choose a thread

What shall the fire hear tonight?

Tonight

All time

1200 CEToday

— and the circle answers: “Let it come, let it go.”

Sit by the fire.The griot remembers.

What shall the fire hear tonight?

Sit by the fire.
The griot remembers.