The Zazzau, also known as the Zaria Emirate is a traditional state with headquarters in the city of Zaria

Zaria

Zaria may refer to:*Zaria, a city in Kaduna State, Nigeria*Zaria , or Zoria, the Slavic goddess of beauty*Countess Zaria of Orange-Nassau, Jonkvrouwe van Amsberg, a member of the Dutch royal family...

, Kaduna State

Kaduna State

-History:The state is the successor to the old Northern Region of Nigeria, which had its capital at Kaduna. In 1967 this was split up into six states, one of which was the North-Central State, whose name was changed to Kaduna State in 1976. This was further divided in 1987, losing the area now part...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

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As of 2010 the emir was Alhaji Muhammad Bello Idris.

Early Hausa kingdom

Our most important source for the early history of Zazau is a chronicle composed in the early twentieth century from oral tradition. It tells the traditional story of the foundation of the Hausa kingdoms by Bayajidda

Bayajidda

Bayajidda is a character from the tradional history of the Hausa people of Nigeria and the central figure of the Bayajidda Legend. The various versions of the legend differ on major points, but generally agree that early immigrants came to the western region of Lake Chad from the Near East.Most...

, a culture hero and gives a list of rulers, along with the length of their reigns. According to this chronology, the original Hausa

Hausa people

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...

 or Habe kingdom is said to date from the 11th century, founded by King Gunguma.
This source also makes it one of the seven Hausa Bakwai states.
Zazzau's most famous early ruler was Queen (or princess) Amina

Amina

Amina Sukhera was a Hausa Muslim Warrior Queen of Zazzau , in what is now north central Nigeria. She is the subject of many legends, but is widely believed by historians to have been a real ruler, though contemporary evidence about her is limited...

, who ruled either in the mid-fifteenth or mid-sixteenth centuries, and was held by Muhammad Bello, an early nineteenth century Hausa historian to have been the first to establish a kingdom among the Hausa.

Zazzau was a collection point for slaves to be delivered to the northern markets of Kano

Kingdom of Kano

The Kingdom of Kano was a Hausa kingdom in the north of what is now Nigeria that dates back before 1000 AD, and lasted until the Fulani jihad in 1805. The kingdom was then replaced by the Kano Emirate, subject to the Sokoto Caliphate...

 and Katsina

Katsina

Katsina is a city , and a Local Government Area in northern Nigeria, and is the capital of Katsina State. Katsina is located some 160 miles east of the city of Sokoto, and 84 miles northwest of Kano, close to the border with Niger. As of 2007, Katsina's estimated population was 459,022...

, where they were exchanged for salt with traders who carried them north of the Sahara

Sahara

The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...

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According to the history in the chronicle, Islam was introduced to the kingdom around 1456, but appears to have spread slowly, and pagan rituals continued until the Fulani conquest of 1808.
At several times in its history, Zazzau was subject to neighboring states such as Songhai

Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city...

, Bornu

Bornu Empire

The Bornu Empire was an African state of Nigeria from 1396 to 1893. It was a continuation of the great Kanem Empire founded centuries earlier by the Sayfawa Dynasty...

 and Kwararafa

Kwararafa

Kwararafa was a multiethnic state and/or confederacy centered along the Benue River valley in what is today eastern Nigeria. It was located southwest of the Bornu Empire and south of the Hausa States, and much of what we know of the Kwararafa come from these sources...

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Later Fulani emirate

In December 1808 the kingdom was captured in the Fulani jihad.
The Hausa ruler had escaped to Abuja

Suleja

Suleja is a city in Niger State, Nigeria, pop. local government area, 216,578,just north of Abuja, capital of the Suleja Emirate. It is sometimes confused with the nearby city of Abuja, due to its proximity, and the fact that it was originally called Abuja before the Nigerian government adopted...

, where he established a state now known as the Suleja Emirate

Suleja Emirate

The Suleja Emirate is a Hausa principality in what is now Niger State, Nigeria.The emirate was established as the Abuja Emirate during the 19th century, located just north of the site of the present-day federal capital city named Abuja...

, retaining his independence and the title of "Sarkin Zazzau".
The ruler of the modern Zazzau Emirate also uses the title "Sarkin Zazzau" or "Sarkin Zaria".
After the jihad

Jihad

Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

, the culturally similar but pastoral or nomadic Fulani intermarried with the more settled Habe farmers, and the people of the Emirate today are generally known as Hausa-Fulani

Hausa-Fulani

Hausa-Fulani is a term used to refer collectively to the Hausa and Fulani people of West Africa. The two are grouped together because since the Fulani War their histories have been largely intertwined...

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The government of the Zaria Emirate differed from other emirates created at this time in that offices were rarely hereditary, but were appointed based on merit or obligation.

Hausa kingdom

Rulers of the Hausa kingdom:

Start	End	Ruler
1696	1701	Bako III dan Musa
1701	1703	Ishaq
1703	1704	Burema II Ashakuka
1704	1715	Bako IV dan Sunkuru
1715	1726	Muhamman dan Gunguma
1726	1733	Uban Bawa
1733	1734	Muhamman Gani
1734	1734	Abu Muhammadu Gani
1734	1737	Dan Ashakuka
1737	1757	Muhamman Abu III
1757	1759	Bawo
1759	1764	Yunusa
1764	1767	Yaqub
1767	1773	Aliyu
1773	1779	Cikkoku
1779	1782	Muhamman Mai Gamo
1782	November 1806	Ishaq Jatau
November 1806	December 1808	Muhammad Makau dan Ishaq Jatau

Independent Fulani rulers

Rulers of the independent Fulani emirate:

Start	End	Ruler
31 December 1808	17 May 1821	Malam Musa ibn Muhammad
June 1821	1835	Yamusa ibn al-Hajji
1835	18 December 1846	Abd al-Karim ibn Abbas
6 January 1847	28 February 1847	Hammada ibn Yamusa
15 Apr 1847	Apr 1854	Muhammad Sani ibn Yamusa
Apr 1854	Dec 1854	Sidi `Abd al-Qadir ibn Musa
Jan 1855	5 Aug 1856	Abd as-Salam ibn Muhammad Ka'i
21 Sep 1856	Oct/Nov 1870	Abd Allah ibn Hammada (1st time)
22 Nov 1870	Jun/Jul 1873	Abu Bakr ibn Musa (d. 1873)
Aug/Sep 1873	Nov/Dec 1878	Abd Allah ibn Hammada (2nd time)
26 Dec 1878	Jan 1888	Muhammad Sambo ibn Abd al-Karim
Jan 1888	13 Feb 1897	Uthman Yero ibn Abd Allah (d. 1897)
17 Apr 1897	Mar 1903	Muhammad Lawal Kwassau ibn Uthman Yero

Colonial period and later rulers

Rulers of the independent Fulani emirate:

Start	End	Ruler
March 1903	8 April 1903	Sulayman (regent from 11 Sep 1902)
8 April 1904	9 November 1920	Ali ibn Abd al-Qadir (d. 1924)
1920	1924	Dallatu ibn Uthman Yero
1924	1936	Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Lawal Kwassau (b. c.1886 - d. 1936)
1936	August 1959	Malam Jafar ibn Ishaq (b. 1891 - d. 1959)
September 1959	4 February 1975	Muhammad al-Amin ibn Uthman (b. 1908 - d. 1975)
11 April 1975		Shehu ibn Idris (b. 1936)