Zaria

Amina was born in the middle of the sixteenth century CE to King Nikatau, the 22nd ruler of Zazzau, and Queen Bakwa Turunku (r. 1536–c. 1566). She had a younger sister named Zaria for whom the modern city of Zaria (Kaduna State) was renamed by the British in the early twentieth century.

Turunku Bakwa was queen (sarauniya) of Zazzau, the large empire of the Hasau people that had come into existence by 1050. She was not originally Hasau, but was a Fulani who had moved into Macina, the eastern region of Niger. Some sources speculate that she came from the south, however, because she had guns that she had acquired from traders on the coast. Turunku Bakwa was a member of a warlike matriarchal clan. In 1536, she founded the city of Zaria in northcentral Nigeria, and named it after her younger daughter. Her two daughters, Amina and Zaria, would rule after her death.

References

• *Disobedient Histories in Ancient and Modern Times: Regionalism, Governance ... By Marsha R. Robinson. Page 169. GoogleBooks
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcrip...