South of the Kano plain and Rano, toward Zazzau, lay a country of farming villages and shrine towns.
The Kano Chronicle names Santolo, a pagan centre with a renowned shrine somewhere in Kano's south, which beat off Naguji after he camped two years at Basema to take it and which fell only to Yaji with Wangara help in the fourteenth century. Its exact site is not known.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known; Santolo is the one named community, a shrine town that defeated Naguji of Kano
- Title
- village heads and shrine priests
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
None recorded
How things stand that morning
Self-governing villages and shrine towns, Santolo among them, outside Kano's rule.
Customs
Village heads; shrine priests with wide ritual authority (Santolo).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The Kano Chronicle (late) for Santolo; inference for the rest.
On the map: Rough outline; Santolo's site unknown.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia: Naguji (Kano Chronicle in Palmer's translation: 55 years; land tax of one-eighth; Santolo; Kura to Tsangaya; Samagi)
- Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kano (Dala, Barbushe and Tsumburbura, Gijimasu and Tsaraki's walls, 'by 1200 Kano ruled all the chiefdoms in the area except Santolo')
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.