Kano

Kano is the capital of Kano State in northern Nigeria, on the savanna south of the Sahara. For centuries it was one of the main market cities of West Africa, where caravans from across the desert traded salt, cloth and leather.

Kano grew around Dala Hill, where ironworkers lived in early times, and it became one of the Hausa city states, ruled by kings recorded in the Kano Chronicle. Muhammad Rumfa, who ruled at the end of the 15th century, enlarged the city walls and the Kurmi Market. In the early 19th century Kano joined the Sokoto Caliphate, and its emirs ruled the city under it. Kano came under British rule in 1903, and the railway from Lagos reached it in the following decade, making Kano a center for the export of groundnuts and cotton.

Groundnuts from the farms of the region were stacked into tall pyramids of sacks at the railway yards in the 1960s, and the pyramids became a symbol of the city. Goatskins from the region are tanned and dyed in the city, and the fine red leather known in Europe as Morocco leather once came largely from Kano. Aliko Dangote, the founder of the Dangote Group of cement and food companies, was born in Kano.

The Kofar Mata dye pits, near one of the old city gates, have been used for centuries to dye cloth in indigo. The Emir's Palace, built by Muhammad Rumfa, still holds the court of the Emir of Kano behind red mud walls. During the Durbar festivals after Ramadan, horsemen in bright robes ride in procession to greet the emir.