What were the origins of one of the most
powerful women in the annals of Kano history? This question is directly
pertinent to questions of marriage alliances, the growing power of queen
mothers or royal women, and the relations between Kano and other powers.
Indeed, in the case of Maidaki Hauwa, it would go on to shape the reign of no
less than 6 kings of Kano. This brief post shall explore the competing theories
and defend the Gaya hypothesis for Hauwa’s origins.
According to one Kano chronicler,
el-Arabi, Hauwa was the daughter of the ruler of Gaya, Agalfati (or Aganfi).[1] Unable to locate the text
of this chronicle, one suspects el-Arabi connected Hauwa to Gaya’s ruler
because Agalfati’s name appears in the Kano
Chronicle before the reign of Muhammad Rumfa. In addition, some oral
traditions associate Muhammad Rumfa with Daura and Gaya. According to Dokaji
Alhaji Abubakar, Rumfa allegedly spent time in Gaya before coming to Kano.[2] This may have influenced
el-Arabi’s account, perhaps suggesting an important alliance between Gaya and
Rumfa. M.G. Smith, on the other hand, proposed a Gaya origin for Muhammad
Rumfa’s mother, Fatima.[3]
Whatever the case may have been, the
Rumfawa were linked to the powerful rulers of Gaya. Indeed, the Kano Chronicle also connects Agalfati
with Machina, an important town whose rulers claimed ties to the Sayfawa.[4] The legendary story of
origins for Machina’s kings claims their ancestor was a half-brother to a
Sayfawa mai, the son of the first to
rule from Gazargamo.[5] Interestingly, the kings
of Machina resided in a palace of brick, a symbol of royal authority or status
in Kanem and Borno. This suggests that the legend may be accurate in at least
identifying an important connection or status with regard to Borno’s ruling
dynasty. If the Gaya ruler Agalfati really was a son of the king of Machina,
they may also have once been in the orbit of Borno. Much more information is
needed to clearly establish this. For example, oral traditions cited by
Muhammad Jamilu Abba link Gaya’s foundation to migrants from Jibede in the
Dutse Gadawur territory.[6] Either way, traditions
associating with Rumfa with Gaya may have influenced el-Arabi’s belief in
Hauwa’s Gaya origin. An alliance sealed through marriage with Gaya’s chiefs may
have been essential in gaining access to the throne for Rumfa. After all, Gaya
had already proven its power through its involvement in the deposition of Umaru
(1410-1421).[7]
The other theory, of a Songhay origin, is
highly unlikely. Proposed by Murray Last, the only source for this notion is
Leo Africanus. Per Africanus, the Askia of Songhay (Askia Muhammad I)
supposedly conquered Kano and other parts of Hausaland. After defeating Kano’s
ruler, he then made the Kano king marry his daughter.[8] But there are many
problems with this theory. First, if one accepts 1493 as the date of Askia
Muhammad’s accession to the throne of Songhay and 1499 as the year of Rumfa’s
death, it is hard to imagine Maidaki Hauwa and Rumfa would have had a son old
enough to become king of Kano in 1499. There’s also the issue of the Kano and
Songhay sources making no mention of this at all. The Tarikh al-Sudan does refer to Songhay invasions of Agadez, conflict
with Kebbi, and a 1514 raid on Katsina. But these events took place long after
the death of Muhammad Rumfa. Furthermore, when Songhay sources do allude to
Kano, such as Ali Fulan’s flight there in 1529, there is no mention of Songhay
conquest or forcing the payment of tribute.[9] Perhaps the flight of
prominent individuals from Songhay to Kano is additional evidence of the lack
of any subjugation of the latter by the former.
Moreover, the description of Kano by Leo
Africanus is more consistent with the reign of Abdullahi, Rumfa’s son.
Africanus accurately noted that Kano had achieved military success against
Katsina and Zaria.[10] Thus, the usually
accepted chronology as well as the written sources and relevant traditions from
West Africa do not support this theory. Consequently, if Leo Africanus is
reliable at all, the Askia would have forced Abdullahi to marry his daughter.
The “obvious candidate” for the Askia’s daughter would then become Lamis, a
remarkable woman who significantly shaped events in the reign of Muhammad
Kisoki.
In addition, some sources from Kano
support a Hausa origin for Hauwa. Translated lists of kings from manuscripts
even name her father. According to one, he may have been Babari.[11] These lists are hardly
conclusive evidence, but they could be interpreted as additional evidence
against the Songhay origins theory for Hauwa. Against this must be considered
other manuscripts which name Abu Bakar’s mother as Kuyina or Ukin.[12] But the lists do not
readily support a Songhay origin or any ties to Askia Muhammad. Even Lamis,
whose name is rendered in one manuscript as Lamis Tamajikanna, is difficult to
connect with the Songhay.
The queen’s ability to ensure her son
succeeded and that her brother began to exert a strong influence on the royal
court of her grandson, one which seems to overlap with Gaya and eastern Kano
interests, lends some support to the theory of Gaya origins. A pattern in later
Kano-Borno relations can be detected across the centuries in the Kano Chronicle. One notes a tendency of
Gaya’s ruling family trying to dominate Birnin Kano’s court and the development
of policies which favor Gaya or suggest anti-Borno stances. To the extent that
one accepts Barkindo’s theory of Rumfa’s caliphal ambitions as a challenge to
the primacy of Borno and Songhay, this could have facilitated an alliance
between anti-Borno Gaya and Rumfa. Indeed, a later era of Gaya influence in Kano’s
court apparently led to the creation of new towns with additional walls,
prompting a Borno campaign in the 1730s.[13] This is quite similar,
apparently, to what transpired in Muhammad Kisoki’s reign, according to
glimpses from Ahmad b. Furtu’s chronicle and the Kano Chronicle.
Perhaps the Gaya origin theory of Hauwa is
still missing crucial support in the sources, but it does have a logical basis.
Furthermore, it elucidates, or proposes a theory, for why she may have become
the first Mai Daki or Babar Daki, with great powers and her
own retainers. Her high status in Rumfa’s reign, or at least those of their son
and grandson, could have begun through a close alliance with Gaya.
Alternatively, she could have come from Dutsi or another powerful chiefly lineage
in Kano or another part of Hausaland. But the Gaya theory “fits” best with what
historians have been able to reconstruct of the Kano state in this period. The
Songhay princess theory has little to no support in the sources or in the
usually accepted chronologies.
[1] Bawuro M. Barkindo, “Kano
Relations with Borno: Early Times to c. 1800,” in Bawuro M. Barkindo (ed.), Kano and Some of Her Neighbours,156.
[2] Dokaji Alhaji Abubakar, Kano ta Dabo cigari, 29.
[3] M.G. Smith, Government in Kano, 1350-1950, 104.
[4] H.R. Palmer, “The Kano Chronicle,”
76.
[5] See C.J. Lethem, “Bornu Province
Bornu emirate Marchena District Assessment report by C.J.Lethem” for many
details on Machena and the genealogy of its kings.
[6] Muhammad Jamilu Abba, “The Role of
the Sarauta institution in Shaping the Spatial Growth and Community Integration
in Kano City,” in Abdalla Uba Adamu (ed), Kano
in the Second Millennium, 122.
[7] M.G. Smith, Government in Kano, 1350-1950, 104.
[8] Murray Last, “From Sultanate to
Caliphate: Kano, 1450-1800,” in Bawuro M. Barkindo (ed.), Studies in the History of Kano, 69.
[9] John Hunwick, Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʻdi's Taʼrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to
1613, and Other Contemporary Documents, 113-114, 349.
[10] Ibid., 287.
[11] See Paul E. Lovejoy and John
Hunwick, “Not Yet the Kano Chronicle,” Sudanic
Africa 4 (1993), 121. In one list, the mother of Abu Bakar Akkadu is named
Awwa ta Babari. According to the Kano Chronicle, this sarki was a full brother of Abdullahi. Thus, Hauwa’s father may
have been named Babari.
[12] Ibid., 106, 111.
[13] See Behique Dunama, “A Tentative
Study of the Reign of Muhammad b. al-Hajj Hamdun (1729-1744),” https://thedreamvariation.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-tentative-study-of-reign-of-muhammad.html.