The Origin of the Hausa States

Between the Kanuri in the east and the Songhai in the west, and stretching from the Niger-Benue junction to the desert south of Agades lies the home of the Hausa-speaking peoples of Central Sudan. We call them “Hausa-speaking people” because the Hausa are not of one tribe or race. They originated from the mingling of different tribal and racial groups of Negro farmers and nomadic Berbers from the desert, These peoples have been moulded into something like a nation by the possession of a common language and a common culture, but in reality, there is no Hausa race or nation.
The word "Hausa” refers more to the language than to the people. Today, the Hausa language is spoken over a wide area in Sudan as far west as Timbuktu and as far east as Wadi. But in Northern Nigeria, the homeland of the Hausa, it is spoken by over thirty million people. The Hausas are concentrated mainly in the northern part of Nigeria, as well as the adjoining southeastern Niger. They also populate parts of other countries including Cameroon, Ghana, Chad, Togo, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan and Gabon.