The Hausa are a Chadic ethnic group based primarily in the Sahel and sparse savanna areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria.   With a total population of some 80 million (2019 estimate), they qualify as the single most numerous African ethnic group.  The rise of the Hausa states occurred between 500 and 700 A.D., but it was not until 1200 that they really began to control the region. The history of the area is intricately tied to Islam and the Fulani who wrested political power from the Hausa in the early 1800s through a series of holy wars.

Since the beginning of Hausa history, the seven states of Hausaland divided up production and labor activities in accordance with their location and natural resources.

Leadership in the early Hausa states was based on ancestry. Those who could trace their relations back to Bayajidda were considered royal. With the introduction of Islam, many Hausa rulers adopted this new religion while at the same time honoring traditional ways. The Fulani took over political power in the region in the early 1800s. Their rule lasted for about a century until the British colonized the region in the early part of the 20th century.

Source:  Hausa – Art & Life in Africa – The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art (uiowa.edu)