The Kurmi Market is a large market in the city of Kano, Kano State, Nigeria. It was founded by Muhammad Rumfa, a King of Kano, in the 15th century. [1] As of 2003, Sale Ayagi was chairman of the market's unions. [2]
Kurmi market was established in the fifteenth century as a trading and warehousing center for the growing commercial activities in the city, a result of expanding regional and Trans-Saharan trade. It was built within the Jakara district of the city. At the time of its development, Kano had become a regional center of trade in agricultural products with a functional industry in weaving, cloth dyeing, leather making and potter, this contributed to the attraction of the city to itinerant traders from Western Sudan, Tripoli and Ghadames who came to buy goods. Prior to the pre-colonial period, the market structure was organized in a quadrangle shape with bamboo stalls forming rows like an irregular street; within the market, particular quarters served distinct products and the cattle trade was located in the westernmost parts and outskirts of the market. The market was administered by individuals who supervised specific quarters or produce sections.The market had served as a major slave market where slaves were bought and sold during slave trade era. [4]
In 1904, the old market was demolished and a new one was built so as to improve revenue generation for the Kano Native Authority. The new market opened in 1909 and was composed of 755 stalls made of clay, and had a mosque and a courthouse. Over the years incremental improvements took place, the streets were widened and some livestock sellers were asked to relocate. The surrounding of the market, in particular the Jakara area also witnessed expanded development. However, the direction of trade changed away from the city's northern neighbors and Trans-Saharan trade to trade with the Southern neighbors and Europeans.
In 1969, the administration of the market fell into the hands of the Kano Local Government. Since then, the local government has encouraged specialized markets within the city such as Yan Kaba for vegetables and Kantin Kwari Market for textiles, some traders also moved to new emerging growth centers in the city such as Fagge and the Sabon Gari Market. Currently, the market has lost some of its lore as a centre of regional trade and caters mostly to local consumer interests. [5]
Nigeria’s transport network has expanded in recent years to accommodate a growing population. The transport and storage sector was valued at N2.6trn ($6.9bn) in current basic prices in 2020, down from N3trn ($8bn) in 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This was reflected in a lower contribution to GDP, at 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2020, down from 2.1% during the same period the previous year but higher than the 0.8% recorded in the third quarter of 2020. One of the most significant challenges facing the sector is meeting the needs of both large coastal cities and rural inland communities in order to fully unlock the country’s economic potential. This is especially the case with mining and agriculture, both of which are expected to benefit from two large-scale projects: the Lekki Port in Lagos and the Kano-Maradi rail line in the north of the country.
Kano is a city in northern Nigeria and the capital of Kano State. It is the second largest city in Nigeria after Lagos, with over ten million citizens living within 449 km2 (173 sq mi). Located in the Savanna, south of the Sahel, Kano is a major route of the trans-Saharan trade, having been a trade and human settlement for millennia. It is the traditional state of the Dabo dynasty who have ruled as emirs over the city-state since the 19th century. Kano Emirate Council is the current traditional institution inside the city boundaries of Kano, and under the authority of the Government of Kano State.
Trans-Saharan trade is trade between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa, it requires travel across the Sahara. While existing since prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century. The Sahara once had a very different environment. In Libya and Algeria, from at least 7000 BC, there was pastoralism, the herding of sheep, goats, large settlements, and pottery. Cattle were introduced to the Central Sahara (Ahaggar) from 4000 to 3500 BC. Remarkable rock paintings in places that are currently very dry, portray flora and fauna that are not present in the modern desert environment.
Kano State is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. According to the national census done in 2006, Kano State is the most populous state in Nigeria. The recent official estimates taken in 2016 by the National Bureau of Statistics found that Kano State was still the largest state by population in Nigeria. Created in 1967 out of the former Northern Region, Kano State borders on Katsina State to the northwest for about 210 km, Jigawa State to the northeast for 355 km, Bauchi State to the southeast for 131 km, and Kaduna State to the southwest for 255 km. The state's capital and largest city is the city of Kano, the second most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos. The incumbent governor of the state is Abba Kabir Yusuf. He was sworn in on 29 May 2023.
Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which lies within four local government areas in Kaduna State; it is the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states and a major city in the state. The local government areas that made up of the city of Zaria includes: Zaria Local Government, Sabon Gari Local Government, Giwa Local Government and Soba Local Government areas in Kaduna state, Nigeria.
Salaga is a town and is the capital of East Gonja district, a district in the Savannah Region of north Ghana. Salaga had a 2012 settlement population of 25,472 people. Salaga became the largest slave market where people were bought, sold, or traded for cattle, nevertheless, between the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Wangara are a subgroup of the Soninke who later became assimilated merchant classes that specialized in both Trans Saharan and Secret Trade of Gold Dust. Their diaspora operated all throughout West Africa Sahel-Sudan. Fostering regionally organized trade networks and Architecture projects. But based in the many Sahelian and Niger-Volta-Sene-Gambia river city-states. Particularly Dia, Timbuktu, Agadez, Kano, Gao, Koumbi Saleh, Guidimaka, Salaga, Kong, Bussa, Bissa, Kankan, Jallon, Djenné as well as Bambouk, Bure, Lobi, and Bono State goldfields and Borgu. They also were practicing Muslims with a clerical social class (Karamogo), Timbuktu Alumni political advisors, Sufi Mystic healers and individual leaders (Marabout). Living by a philosophy of merchantile pacifism called the Suwarian Tradition. Teaching peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims, reserving Jihad for self-defence only and even serving as Soothsayers or a "priesthood" of literate messengers for non-Muslim Chiefdoms/Kingdoms. This gave them a degree of control and immense wealth in lands where they were the minority. Creating contacts with almost all West African religious denominations. A group of Mande traders, loosely associated with the Kingdoms of the Sahel region and other West African Empires. Such as Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Bono State, Kong, Borgu, Dendi, Macina, Hausa Kingdoms & the Pashalik of Timbuktu. Wangara also describes any land south of Timbuktu and Agadez. The Bilad-Al-Sudan or Bilad-Al-Tibr, "Land of Black" or "Gold."
Dunama Dabbalemi, or Dounama Dibbalém, Duna ma ( east) Mai Dunama Toubou Dynasty from bornu, was the Derde of the Kanem Empire, and Mai of To Tibesti, he membre Clan Toumaghara, (Teda) of Tibesti, in present-day Chad, from 1210 to 1224.
The Economic history of Nigeria falls into three periods. They are the: pre-colonial, the colonial and the post-colonial or independence periods. The pre-colonial period covers the longest the part of Nigerian history. The colonial period covers a period of 60 years,1900-1960 while the independence period dates from October 1, 1960.
Hausa Kingdoms, also known as Hausa Kingdom or Hausaland, was a collection of states started by the Hausa people, situated between the Niger River and Lake Chad. Hausaland lay between the Western Sudanic kingdoms of Ancient Ghana, Mali and Songhai and the Eastern Sudanic kingdoms of Kanem-Bornu. Hausaland took shape as a political and cultural region during the first millennium CE as a result of the westward expansion of Hausa peoples. They arrived to Hausaland when the terrain was converting from woodlands to savannah. They started cultivating grains, which led to a denser peasant population. They had a common language, laws and customs. The Hausa were known for fishing, hunting, agriculture, salt-mining, and blacksmithing.
Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were common in parts of Africa in ancient times, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Indian Ocean slave trade and Atlantic slave trade began, many of the pre-existing local African slave systems began supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa. Slavery in contemporary Africa is still practiced despite it being illegal.
The Gidan Rumfa, sometimes called the Gidan Sarki, is the palace of the Emir of Kano. Located in the city of Kano, Kano State, Nigeria, it was constructed in the late 15th century. Since the reign of Rumfa, it has continuously been the residence of the traditional authority in Kano and was retained by the Fulani jihadists who took over traditional authority in Kano in the early 19th century. It currently has an area of 33 acres (130,000 m2).
The Hausa are a native ethnic group in West Africa. They speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Hausa are a culturally homogeneous people based primarily in the Sahelian and the sparse savanna areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria respectively, numbering around 86 million people, with significant populations in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Togo, Ghana, as well as smaller populations in Sudan, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Senegal and the Gambia.
The A2 highway is a federal highway in Nigeria that spans 1,200 kilometres (750 mi). It serves as a vital transportation route, connecting the country's southern and northern regions.
Badagry, also spelled Badagri, is a coastal town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is quite close to the city of Lagos, and located on the north bank of Porto Novo Creek, an inland waterway that connects Lagos to the Beninese capital of Porto-Novo. The same route connects Lagos, Ilaro, and Porto-Novo, and shares a border with the Republic of Benin. As of the preliminary 2006 census results, the municipality had a population of 241,093.
The Slave Route Project is a UNESCO initiative that was officially launched in 1994 in Ouidah, Benin. It is rooted in the mandate of the organization, which believes that ignorance or concealment of major historical events constitutes an obstacle to mutual understanding, reconciliation and cooperation among peoples. The project breaks the silence surrounding the slave trade and slavery that has affected all continents and caused great upheavals that have shaped our modern societies. In studying the causes, the modalities and the consequences of slavery and the slave trade, the project seeks to enhance the understanding of diverse histories and heritages stemming from this global tragedy.
Slavery in Niger involves the most number of slaves that had been enslaved. Different practices which have been practiced in the Sahel region for many centuries and which persist to this day. The Bornu Empire in the eastern part of Niger was an active part of the trans-Saharan slave trade for hundreds of years. Other ethnic groups in the country similarly had a history of slavery, although this varied and in some places slavery was largely limited to the political and economic elite. When the French took control of the area they largely ignored the problem and only actively banned the trade in slaves but not the practices of slavery. Following independence, many of the major slave holders became prominent political leaders in both the multiparty democracy period and the military dictatorship, and so the problem of slavery was largely ignored. In 2003, with pressure from the anti-slavery organization Timidria, Niger passed the first law in Western Africa that criminalized slavery as a specific crime. Despite this, slavery persists throughout the different ethnic groups in the country, women are particularly vulnerable, and a 2002 census confirmed the existence of 43,000 slaves and estimated that the total population could be over 870,000 people. The landmark Mani v. Niger case was one of the first instances where a person won a judgement against the government of Niger in an international court for sanctioning her slave status in official decisions.
The Lagos International Trade Fair Complex is a 350 hectare facility along Lagos-Badagry expressway hosting a number of market traders. The facility was constructed in the 1970s and planned to host an international trade fair upon fulfillment. In 2002, jewelry, auto spare parts and other consumer goods traders from Balogun Market on Lagos Island relocated to the complex. Today, the complex host traders representing a number of trade factions including Balogun Business Association, Auto Spare Parts And Machineries Dealers Association (ASPMDA), and jewelers under the banner of Association of Progressive Traders.
The Trans-Saharan slave trade, also known as the Arab slave trade, was a slave trade in which slaves were transported across the Sahara. Most were moved from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa to be sold to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations; a small percentage went the other direction. Estimates of the total number of black slaves moved from sub-Saharan Africa to the Arab world range from 6-10 million, and the trans-Saharan trade routes conveyed a significant number of this total, with one estimate tallying around 7.2 million slaves crossing the Sahara from the mid-7th century until the 20th century when it was abolished. The Arabs managed and operated the trans-Saharan slave trade, although Berbers were also actively involved.
Miltara is a city located in the Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano State, Nigeria, approximately 218 miles north of Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria.