Kingdom of Kebbi

Origins

Around 1516 Muhammadu Kanta, a commander serving the Songhai Empire under Askia Muhammad, quarrelled over the spoils of a campaign against Agadez and rebelled. He established an independent kingdom in the Kebbi region of north-western Hausaland and built fortified capitals at Surame and later Birnin Kebbi.

Rule and society

Kanta defeated Songhai and the Kanem-Bornu Empire and made Kebbi the dominant power in western Hausaland, taking tribute from Katsina, Zamfara and others. After his death Kebbi lost much of its empire but remained a strong military state, a member of the Banza Bakwai. Its people, the Kebbawa, are farmers and fishermen of the Rima and Niger valleys.

Decline and legacy

In 1805 jihadists of the Sokoto Caliphate took Birnin Kebbi. The Kebbi dynasty fought on from the marshes and in 1831 established the Argungu Emirate, which resisted Sokoto until British rule. The name lives on in Kebbi State.