HAUSA Society

The Hausa consist of the Hausa-speaking, Muslim population of Northern Nigeria and the adjacent areas of Niger, which have traditionally been organized into large, centralized states. Originally, the name "Hausa" referred only to the language of the Habe people of this area, who were organized into 7 independent but closely related states called Biram, Daura, Kano, Katsina, Gobir, Rano, and Zazzau or Zaria. Early in the nineteenth century, the Habe states were conquered by the Fulbe (Fulani, Peul), waging a jihad or Muslim "holy war" under the leadership of Uthman dan Fodio. The Fulbe established the Sokoto Caliphate or Empire, which ultimately incorporated some 15 states called emirates, each headed by a ruling dynasty of Fulbe origin. The deposed Habe dynasties of Zaria and Katsina set up new states at Abuja and Maradi and a third Habe state was established at Argunga. In these states, Habe customs survived largely unchanged by Fulbe influence.


The Fulbe rulers of the Hausa states progressively adopted the sedentary life, language, and other customs of the subject Habe population, partly through intermarriage. They are called the "Settled" or "Town" Fulbe to distinguish them from the "Bush" or nomadic Fulbe. Thus the term "Hausa" is now normally used to refer to both the original Habe population and the settled, acculturated Fulbe ruling aristocracy. It also extends to people of different ethnic origins, such as Tuareg or Kanuri, where they have adopted the Hausa language and culture.

Scattered throughout the center of the Hausa area are Hausa-speaking groups who have never converted to Islam. These "pagan" Hausa-speakers are generally called Maguzawa.

The modern Hausa of Nigeria are mainly concentrated in the provinces of Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zaria. Their population probably numbers between 6 and 8 million in Nigeria alone, and the Hausa language, which belongs to the Chad branch of the Afro-asiatic language family, is an important lingua franca in West Africa.

Most Muslim Hausa are part-time farmers and part-time occupational specialists, while the pagan Hausa are for the most part full-time subsistence agriculturalists. Agriculture is scheduled around the May-October rainy season. Grain crops of millet, maize, Guinea corn, and rice supply the bulk of the diet. A wide range of additional crops, such as peanuts, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, cotton, sugarcane, bamboo, tobacco, cassava, and other root crops are grown both for household consumption and as cash crops. Uncultivated plants are exploited as sources of fuel, thatch, food, and fiber. Livestock raising is another important feature of economic activities, and the Hausa inventory of domestic animals includes horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, and poultry. A few cattle are raised, but for the most part the Hausa get cattle and cattle products through trade with the pastoral Fulbe. Except at the elite levels or where there is sufficient market demand, occupational specialties are pursued on a part-time basis in conjunction with subsistence agriculture.

Exchange of goods and services takes place within a cash economy. A system of markets and traders links together constituent units of the state and the state to outside groups. Small rural villages have periodic markets, while larger settlements have daily markets. At the top of the hierarchy is a central market, located in the administrative center of the state. A series of market officials oversee the activities and settle disputes within the marketplace.

Muslim Hausa social organization is characterized by a complex system of stratification, based on occupation, wealth, birth, and patron-client ties. Occupational specialties are ranked and tend to be hereditary, to the extent that the first son is expected to follow his father's occupation. Wealth gives its possessor a certain amount of prestige and power, especially in forming ties of patronage. One's status is also determined by the status of one's family. Finally, all Hausa men are caught up in a network of patron-client ties that permeates the society. Patron-client ties are used as means of access to favors and power.

The pagan Hausa are organized into small villages of exogamous patrilineal kin. The local organization of the Muslim Hausa is more complex. Here the smallest social unit within a community is the compound. Minimally a compound is occupied by a man, his wife or wives, and their children. Frequently, it includes more than one such family, and, in such cases, usually comprises a patrilocal extended family or a joint fraternal family. Compound activities are under the direction of a male head, and compound members cooperate in agriculture and share in its products. Occupational specialties are pursued on a more individual basis.

By law, a Muslim man may have up to four wives and any number of concubines. Nevertheless, divorces are common. The extent to which polygyny is practiced depends on the ability of a man to support larger families. Wives are ranked according to the order in which they were married. Marriage between close kin, especially cousins, is the preferred pattern. Family relations are marked by respect and avoidance behavior. Households vary in the extent to which women are secluded among the elite, full seclusion is the general rule. Partial seclusion or no seclusion also occurs. In the household division of labor, men are responsible for agriculture, collecting activities, marketing, sewing, laundry, building repairs, and transport. Women cook, clean house, take care of children, pursue their craft specialties, and sometimes engage in trade.

Residential clusters of wards or hamlets, each with a ward or community head, are organized into villages under the direction of the village head. In the past, groups of villages were held in fief by titled officials living in the capital. Fiefs were attached to particular tribes and were granted by the emir, or head of the state. Administration on the local level was carried out by officials appointed by the fief holder. The main local administrative official was the village chief, whose duties included collection of tribute, recruiting men for military service, organizing corvee labor, and acting in minor juridical matters. The fief holder was the intermediate link between the village chief and the state level.

British intervention led to changes in this system. At present, the duties of village chiefs are limited to the disposition of unoccupied village lands. The British imposed a system of districts in place of fiefs, as an intermediate level in the political organization. The districts encompass a larger number of subject villages (about 10-30 per district) than did the fiefs.

At the top of the political hierarchy the Hausa are organized into states, or emirates, ruled by the emir. Emirs are selected from the ruling lineages by a council of clerics (Mallamai). After British intervention, the selection of an emir had to be approved by the British government. Emirs have the ultimate power in administrative and judicial functions of the state, and delegate lesser officials to carry out these functions. Emirs had somewhat more power in the past than they do today, however, when they appointed fief heads and more officials. The British, by interposing a series of departments to handle state affairs, spread out some of the powers that had formerly been reserved to the emir. At present, many of the important decisions are made by the emir in conjunction with senior department heads whom he chooses. The emir, the top state bureaucrats, the two state priests, and the central market are all located in a capital city.

The Islamic religion was introduced among the Hausa as early as the 1500s, but its predominance was not fully established until the Fulbe-led jihad (holy war) of the early nineteenth century. Pilgrimages, daily prayer, attendance at mosque ceremonies, adherence to Islamic law, and the stress on Quaranic [Koranic--HRAF Note] learning are major elements of the Islamic faith. Mallamai (men of Quaranic learning) teach the faith and have relatively high status in Hausa society. The Mallamai are ranked by degree of learning and status, with those at the top of the hierarchy serving in state-level offices that combine both religious and secular powers. Individual participation in Islam is variable, the degree of adherence to Islamic practices being greater among those of wealth and power than among the poorer, lower-status groups. Further, the traditional Hausa religion continues to be followed by the pagan Hausa. This religion is oriented around a variety of spirits, both good and bad. Pagan ritual elements include sacrificial offerings to the spirits and spirit possession. Most ritual is carried out at the family level, but the pagan Hausa also have specialists who divine and prescribe cures for illnesses. Among the Muslim Hausa, participation in spirit possession cults, limited to women and members of the lower strata, is indicative of the persistence of some of the more traditional Hausa religious beliefs.

For a basic orientation to the culture, see Smith (1955) and Greenburg (1947). Culture summary by Eleanor C. Swanson and Robert O. Lagace Greenberg, Joseph H. Islam and clan organization among the Hausa. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 3 (1947): 193-211. Smith, Michael Garfield. The economy of Hausa communities of Zaria. London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1955. 8, 273 p.