Banza

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "seven Banza " or seven "void" states are those states in northern Nigeria that are less orthodox and less Islamic than the "seven Hausa" states .

The distinction between the "seven Hausa" and the "seven Banza" goes back to the founding legend of the Hausa states . Then the founding hero married Bayajidda Magajiya , the queen of Daura, but she gave him her slave Bagwariya as a concubine because she could not initially marry. From this first connection of the hero emerged Karbagari , who in turn fathered the eponymous founders of the "seven Banza" states. The "seven Banza" states always include the two states Kebbi and Zamfara , where Hausa is spoken, and five other states, mostly Gurma ,Borgu , Yauri , Nupe and Kwararrafa / Jukun . Sometimes Yoruba and Gwari are also mentioned, omitting Gurma and Borgu .

The size of the Hausaland depends on whether you include all Banza states (Kirk-Greene) or whether you limit it to the states of the Hauserspeakers. The distinction between the two groupings of states ultimately leads back to a pre-Islamic classification, in which a distinction is made between two groups of sounds, those who refer to upper world deities (= Hausa) and those who refer to underworld deities ( Azna = Ba-nza / Banza). This distinction is similar to the biblical distinction between the twelve Israelite and the twelve Arab tribes, with which it is ultimately genetically related.

literature

  • SJ Hogben and Anthony Kirk-Greene: The Emirates of Northern Nigeria , London 1966.
  • Dierk Lange: Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa , Dettelbach 2004.

Web links