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KANO

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 654 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KANO , one of the most important provinces of the See also:

British See also:protectorate of See also:Northern See also:Nigeria. It includes the See also:ancient emirates of Kano, See also:Katsena, Daura and Kazaure, and covers an See also:area of about 31,000 sq. m. The sub-See also:province of See also:Katagum was incorporated with Kano in 1905, and is included within this area. The See also:population of the See also:double province is estimated at about 2,250,000. Kano was one of the See also:original seven See also:Hausa states. Written See also:annals carry the See also:record of its See also:kings back to about A.D. 900. Legendary See also:history goes back much further. It was conquered by the See also:Songhoi (Songhay) in the See also:early See also:part of the 16th See also:century, and more than once appears to have made at least partial sub-See also:mission to See also:Bornu. Mahommedanism was introduced at a See also:period which, according to the See also:system adopted for the dating of the annals, must be placed either in the 12th or the 14th century. The Hausa system of See also:government and See also:taxation was adopted by the See also:Fula when in the early part of the 19th century that See also:Mahommedan See also:people overran the Hausa states. It has been erroneously stated that the Fula imposed Mahommedanism on the Hausa states.

The fact that they adopted the existing system of government and taxation, which are based upon Koranic Iaw, would in itself be sufficient See also:

proof that this was not the See also:case. But the annals of Kano distinctly record the introduction and describe the development of Mahommedanism at an early period of See also:local history. The See also:capital is the See also:city of KANO, situated in 12° N. and 8° 20' E., 220 M. S.S.E. of See also:Sokoto and 500 N.E. of See also:Lagos. It is built on an open See also:plain, and is encompassed by a See also:wall 11 m. in perimeter and pierced by thirteen See also:gates. The wall is from 30 to 50 ft. high and about 40 ft. thick at the See also:base. See also:Round the wall is a deep double ditch, a See also:dwarf wall See also:running along its centre. The gates are simply cow-hide, but are set in massive entrance towers. Only about a third of the area (94 sq. m.) enclosed by the walls is inhabited nor was the whole space ever occupied by buildings, the intention of the founders of the city being to wall in ground sufficient to grow See also:food for the inhabitants during a See also:siege. The arable See also:land within the city is mainly on the See also:west and See also:north; only to the See also:south-See also:east do the houses come right to the walls. Within the walls are two steep hills, one, Dala, about 120 ft. high being the most ancient See also:quarter of the See also:town. Dala lies north-west.

To its east is a See also:

great See also:pond, the Jakara, rz m. See also:long, and by its north-east See also:shore is the See also:market of the Arab merchants. Here also was the slave market. The See also:palace of the emir, in front of which is a large open space, is in the Fula quarter in the south-east of the city. The palace consists of a number of buildings covering 33 acres and surrounded by a wall 20 to 30 ft. high. The See also:architecture of the city is not without merit. The houses are built of See also:clay with (generally) See also:flat See also:roofs impervious to See also:fire. Traces of Moorish See also:influence are evident and the horseshoe See also:arch is See also:common. The See also:audience See also:hall of the emir's palace—25 ft. sq. and 18 ft. high—is decorated with designs in See also:black, See also:white, See also:green and yellow, the yellow designs (formed of micaceous See also:sand) glistening like See also:gold. The See also:dome-shaped roof is supported by twenty See also:arches. The city is divided into fourteen quarters, each presided over by a headman, and inhabited by See also:separate sections of the community. It is probably the greatest commercial city in the central See also:Sudan. Other towns, like See also:Zaria, may do as much See also:trade, but Kano is pre-eminent as a manufacturing centre.

The See also:

chief See also:industry is the See also:weaving of See also:cloth from native grown See also:cotton. See also:Leather goods of all kinds are also manufactured, and from Kano come most of the " See also:morocco leather " goods on the See also:European markets. See also:Dyeing is another large trade, as is the preparation of See also:indigo. Of traders there are four distinct classes. They are: (I) See also:Arabs from See also:Tripoli, who export See also:ostrich feathers, skins and See also:ivory, and bring in burnouses, scents, sweets, See also:tea, See also:sugar, &c.; (2) Salaga merchants who import See also:kola nuts from the See also:hinterland of the See also:Guinea See also:Coast, taking in See also:exchange cloth and live stock and leather and other goods; (3) the Asbenawa traders, who come from the oases of Asben or See also:Air with camels laden with See also:salt and " potash " (i.e. See also:sodium See also:carbonates), and with herds of See also:cattle and See also:sheep, receiving in return cotton and hardware and kolas; (4) the Hausa merchants. This last class trades with the other three and despatches caravans to See also:Illorin and other places, where the Kano goods, the " potash " and other merchandise are ex-changed for kolas and European goods. The " potash " finds a ready See also:sale among the Yorubas, being largely used for cooking purposes. In Kano itself is a great market for livestock: camels, horses, oxen, asses and goats being on sale. . Besides Hausa, who represent the indigenous population, there are large colonies of See also:Kanuri (from Bornu) and Nupians in Kano. The Fula See also:form the aristocratic class. The population is said to amount to See also:Ioo,000. About a mile and a See also:half east of Kano is See also:Nassarawa, formerly the emir's suburban See also:residence, but since 1902 the British Residency and See also:barracks.

The city of Kano appears on the See also:

map of the Arab geographer, See also:Idrisi, A.D. 1145, and the See also:hill of Data is mentioned in the earliest records as the original site of Kano. See also:Barth, however, concluded that the See also:present town does not date earlier than the second half of the 16th century, and that before the rise of the Fula See also:power (c. 1800) scarcely any great Arab See also:merchant ever visited Kano. The present town may be the successor of an older town occupying a position of similar pre-See also:eminence. Kano submitted to the Fula without much resistance, and under them in the first half of the 19th century flourished greatly. It was visited by See also:Hugh See also:Clapperton, an See also:English officer, in 1824, and in it Barth lived some See also:time in 1851 and again in 1854. Barth's descriptions of the See also:wealth and importance of the city attracted great See also:attention in See also:Europe, and Kano was subsequently visited by several travellers, missionaries, and students of Hausa, but none was permitted to live permanently in the city. In the closing years of the century, Kano became the centre of resistance to British influence, and the emir, Alieu, was the most inveterate of Fula slave raiders. In See also:February 1903 the city was captured by a British force under See also:Colonel T. L. N.

See also:

Morland, and a new emir, Abbas, a See also:brother of Alieu, installed. After the occupation by the British in 1903 the province was organized for See also:administration on the same system as that adopted throughout northern Nigeria. The emir on his See also:installation takes an See also:oath of See also:allegiance to the British See also:Crown, and accepts the position of a chief of the first class under British See also:rule. A See also:resident is placed at his See also:court, and assistant residents have their headquarters in the administrative districts of the province. British courts of See also:justice are established See also:side by side with the native courts throughout the province. Taxation is assessed under British supervision and paid into the native See also:treasury. A fixed portion is paid by the emir to the British government. The emir is not allowed to maintain a See also:standing See also:army, and the city of Kano is the headquarters of the British See also:garrison. The conditions of See also:appointment of the emirs are fully laid down in the terms accepted at Sokoto on the See also:close of the Sokoto-Kano See also:campaign of 1903. Since the introduction of British rule there has been no serious trouble in the province. The emir Abbas worked loyally with the British and proved himself a ruler of remarkable ability and intelligence. He was indefatigable in dispensing justice, and himself presided over a native court in which he disposed of from fifty to a See also:hundred cases a See also:month.

He also took an active See also:

interest in the reform and reorganization of the system of taxation, and in the opening of the See also:country to trade. He further showed him-self helpful in arranging difficulties which at times arose in connexion with the lesser chiefs of his province. The province of Kano is generally fertile. For a See also:radius of 3o m. round the capital the country is closely cultivated and denselypopulated, with some 40 walled towns and with villages and hamlets hardly half a mile apart. Kano See also:district proper contains 170 walled towns and about 450 villages. There are many streams, but See also:water is chiefly obtained from See also:wells 15 to 40 ft. deep. The See also:principal crops are See also:African grains, See also:wheat, onions, cotton, See also:tobacco, indigo, with sugar-See also:cane, See also:cassava, &c. The population is chiefly agricultural, but also commercial and See also:industrial. The chief See also:industries are weaving, leather-making, dyeing and working in See also:iron and pottery. Cattle are abundant. (See NIGERIA: History; and SoxoTO.) Consult the Travels of Heinrich Barth (new ed., See also:London, 189o); Hausaland, by C. H.

See also:

Robinson (London, 1896) ; Northern Nigeria, by See also:Sir F. D. See also:Lugard, in vol. xxii. See also:Geographical See also:Journal (London, 1904) ; A Tropical Dependency, by See also:Lady Lugard (London, 1905) ; the Colonial See also:Office Reports on Northern Nigeria from 1902 onward, and other See also:works cited under NIGERIA. (F. L.

End of Article: KANO

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