Kano

Who rules

Name

Naguji, son of Yusa (Tsaraki)

Title

sarki (king) of Kano

Since

1194 in Palmer's reconstruction (the chronicle gives him 55 years; Palmer's span 1194-1247 is 53)

Born

Not known

Family

Bagauda dynasty, claiming descent from Bayajidda through Bawo; mother Yankuma or Muntaras (Last 1980; Palmer 1908)

Confidence

low

The Kano Chronicle was probably written in the 1880s (Malam Barka), perhaps from older material; its dates are Palmer's count backwards from reign lengths and are a reconstruction. Last (1980) reads its early sections as historical metaphor. With that caution, Naguji is the sarki of 1 January 1200.

Overlord

None recorded

What the realm holds

• The walled town of Kano with Dala and Goron Dutse hills (see Kano and Naguji)
• The chiefdoms of the Kano plain, all except Santolo (chronicle)
• A land tax of one-eighth of the crop from the farmers (first levied by Naguji: date within his reign not known)

Allies and rivals

Rival: Santolo, the unconquered shrine town of the south. Neighbours: Rano (realm hausa), Daura and the Durbawa country to the north and north-west, Biram to the east. No external alliance recorded.

The realm that morning

On 1 January 1200, in the chronicle's reconstructed dating, Naguji rules the town and the Kano plain except Santolo; Rano to the south is a separate town-state. Whether his failed Santolo campaign falls before or after that morning is not known.

Wealth

Farming of the close-settled plain (now taxed at an eighth), iron from the Dala workings, crafts; long-distance trade grows later.

Military

The sarki's household warriors and the levies of the subject chiefdoms; the town wall. No numbers recorded.

Threats

• Santolo's resistance
• Unrest of the cult priests and the old population
• Rano's rivalry

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. not pinned (within Naguji's reign, 1194-1247 in Palmer's count)Naguji's two-year camp at Basema against Santolo ends in defeat.Depends on: The chronicle's sequence; its date within the reign is unknown. Stopped by: -
2. 1247 (Palmer)Naguji is succeeded by Gugua, a son of Gijimasu.Depends on: Palmer's chronology. Stopped by: -

Where the sources disagree

• The chronicle gives Naguji 55 years, Palmer's dates 53.
• Wikipedia's Kingdom of Kano says 'by 1200, Kano ruled all the chiefdoms in the area except Santolo'; this rests on the same chronicle.

Evidence: A single nineteenth-century chronicle whose early dates are a reconstruction; no archaeology of 1200 Kano is cited here.

On the map: The chronicle names the plain's chiefdoms only loosely; the outline is an estimate of the country between Kura and Bichi.

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