Daura is remembered by all the Hausa as their mother town: there the stranger Bayajidda killed the snake Sarki that guarded the Kusugu well and married the queen Daurama, and from their son Bawo came the founders of Kano, Katsina, Zazzau, Gobir and Rano, while Biram came from his son by a Bornu princess.
Before Bayajidda the town was ruled by a line of queens. The legend is a charter of the Hausa states, not a dated history; for 1200 Daura is a town-state on the north edge of Hausaland toward the desert, with its well and its old town site (Tsohon Birni), ruler not known.
Who rules
- Title
- queen or king of Daura (the later title sarki or magajiya)
- Since
- Not known
- Family
- The tradition gives a line of queens (Kufuru, Gino, Yakumo, Yakunya, Walzamu, Yanbamu, Gizirgizir, Innagari, Daurama and others, ending with Shawata) and then the kings descended from Bayajidda and Daurama through their son Bawo
- Confidence
- low
No date in the list is fixed. The Bayajidda legend has been linked to the tenth century (the Kharijite rebel Abu Yazid, killed 947, by some) and placed much later by others; so whether a queen or a king of Bawo's line rules Daura in 1200 is not known.
Overlord
None recorded
What the realm holds
- The town of Daura with the Kusugu well (see Daura)
- Its farming villages
The realm that morning
A town-state of tradition on 1 January 1200, ruler not known.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Tradition only.
On the map: Its land in 1200 is not recorded; a small district is drawn.
Primary sources for this realm
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Kano Chronicle (about 1880 to 1890, from older written lists and oral tradition). The only narrative of the Hausa towns, but a nineteenth-century compilation whose dates for early kings are reckoned back from reign lengths. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia: Daura Emirate (Bayajidda, the Kusugu well, the queens' names, Tsohon Birni)
- Wikipedia: Hausa Kingdoms (Bayajidda legend, Hausa Bakwai and Banza Bakwai, foundation dates unknown)
- UNESCO General History of Africa III, pp. 91, 100, 470-471, 508 (the Bayajidda legend and Abu Yazid; Yaji's Islam; Hausa city-states later than Kanem; Turunku about 300 km from the Niger at Tada, possibly a slave-raiding base, unexcavated)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.