11/11/2022
African history can be repetitive sometimes, but Queen Amina of Zazzau's life will provide you with plenty of stories to chew on. Queen Amina was a Hausa warrior queen who ruled over the city-state of Zaria in modern-day Nigeria.
Queen Amina was born in the town of Birnin-Zazzau in 1533. (now in Northern Nigeria). Her father ruled the Hausa city-state of Zaria, and her mother was a princess from another city.
Both parents were Muslims who wanted to provide a good education for their daughter. They sent her to Sokoto to live with her grandmother, where she learned to read and write Arabic. She also learned about important Islamic customs and stories about powerful Muslim women in history such as Khadija (Muhammad's first wife) and Fatima (Muhammad's youngest daughter) while living with her grandmother.
She was trained in traditional warfare and became a great warrior before she reached adolescence. After her parents died in or around 1566, Amina's brother ascended to the throne of Zazzau.
Amina had distinguished herself as a "leading warrior in her brother's cavalry" and gained notoriety for her military abilities by this point. When her brother died, Amina, then 43, ascended to the throne of Zazzau.
She expanded Zazzau's territory with the aid of her military prowess, taking it north to Kano and south to the Niger River's mouth. Because new trade routes were established as a result of these military victories and because conquered areas had to pay tribute, they greatly increased prosperity. During her military campaigns, she is credited with constructing walls around both the city of Zaria and her military camps. "Amina's walls" refers to the mud walls that surround cities. Amina is also credited with starting the kola nut cultivation in the territory she commanded.
Even though she was never married and had no children, traditions claim that she once took a man from the opposing side after a fight, spent the night with him, and then killed him the next morning to prevent him from telling any tales.
Although the precise cause of Amina's death is unknown, Legend states that she passed away during a military operation in Nigeria's Atagara region, close to Bida.
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