Abstract EN:

For centuries the hausawa have lived between niger and nigeria. There they formed two kind of kingdoms : the hausa bakwai (7 'legimate' hausa states) and the banza bakwai (7 'illegimate' hausa states). The katsina was one of these 7 legitimate hausa states. Around 1445 muhammad korau (c. 1445-1493/4) overthrew the durbawa dynasty and founded his own royal dynasty known as the korau dynasty. From the establishment of muhammad korau to the end of the 18th century the katsina proved to be one of the most shining examples of the hausa states before the jihad of 1804. The study of hausa political myths through the bayajida legend and its variants, the kirarai of the sarakuna (kings) compared with the written record shows that the sarauta (hausa political system) is based upon several factors. In studying the functioning of the hausa state both the territory occupied by the hausawa and the surrounding political climate must be taken into consideration. The development of the two factors took place on the background of the trans-saharan trade which was the driving force behind the relations between the different political entities, on the one hand, and the two sides of the sahara on the other. The trans-saharan trade was also a determining factor in the islamisation of sub-saharan africa. The hausa original participation in trans-saharan trade depended, among other things, on the sarauta system. In 1804 a team of marabouts under the leadership of usman dan fodio created an islamic reform movement (jihad) which, beginning in gobir, was to shake the old royal dynasties and modify the political landscape of central sudan. This reform led most hausa states to adopt islam as the official state religion to the detriment of the previous situation where the hausa state was based upon several factors. The hausa states that were members of the sokoto caliphate, which was founded as a result of the jihad, were from then on ruled by new dynasties which used also the sarauta system.