A VISIT TO THE RUINED PALACE OF QUEEN AMINA THE

23RD RULER OF ZAZZAU (C. 1536-1570)

SUNDAY 13TH DECEMBER 2007.

We left Zaria with one thing in our minds namely: A mission to the old
place of Queen Amina at the mountain top in Turunku the ancient capital of
Zazzau.
After about 35 minutes drive, we arrived at the rather small village of
not more than 100 houses but honoured with some schools and even
served as local government headquarters of Igabi.
Our guide an indigene of Turunku was at his early 20’s.
Not long after our arrival we walked through the town to the mountain
foot and soon starts our ascend via some rouged stone flights to the top a
height of about 70 meters and not long we found our selves in front of a
stone chair. The throne of the Queen from where the whole village at the
foot of the mountain could be seen and further plains where horses were
said to be usually kept, extending several meters away could be seen ........
And I believe also these plains could as well just as it is being use now as
farm be also use as such then. I was among the first to reach the top.
I lay on the stone chair to rest and wait for the remaining members of
that small expedition. We were surprised by the semi-flat nature of the
mountain top and conclude that such a place could certainly be used as a
human settlement. One will have the feeling of being on the ground when
you start going further away from where you could see the ground.
Although there were no remain of some Temples and Pillars such as
the likes that could be found in Egypt and Kursh (in present day Sudan)
due principally to the fact that traditional West African houses were abodes

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made from mud and thatch cover materials that could not have survived the
like of the period of time (16th to 20th century) considering the action of rain
in an abundant dwellings at a mountain top.
Although the Mosque of Agadaz (in Niger Republic) another abode
building built at approximately the same period still exist due to of course
constant maintenance.
Not withstanding, there still exits many evidences to indicate past
human activities at the mountain flat top.
Zaria, under Queen Amina conquered all the towns in Hausa lands
as far as Kwararrafa and Nupe. Every town paid tribute to her.
The Sarkin (king of) Nupe sent Fourty eunuchs and ten thousand
Kolas to her.
She first had eunuchs and Kola in Hausa land. In her time the whole
of the products of the west were brought to Hausa-land.
Queen Amina the 23rd ruler of Zazzau was from the Gunguma
Dynasty.
Who is Gunguma?
Gunguma the first and founder of the dynasty was one of the
products of a marriage of two legends, Queen Daurama and Abu Yazid
known to the Hausas as Bayajida.
THE LEGEND OF DAURA
According to Thomas Hodgkin in his book Nigerian perspective an
Historical Anthology he said:
“The people went up out of Canaan and settled in the land
of Palestine. And a certain man among them named Najib
the Canaanite went up out of Palestine with all his
household and journeyed west ward into Libya, which is

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 one of the provinces of Egypt, and there they dwelt for
many years. And a certain man among them named abdul-
Dar, and he was a son of Najib, went up out of Libya and
dwelt in the province of Tripoli and after a time he sought
the kingship of Tripoli, but the people refused. Where he
arose with his people and journeyed to the south till he
come to an oasis called Kusugu and dwelt there. And he
begat children and they were all daughters.
Their names were Bukainya and Gambo and Kafai and
Waizama and Daura, and she was the youngest. All these
he begat before they came to Daura.

THE LEGEND OF ABU YAZID SON OF ABDULLAHI KING OF

BAGHDAD
Abu yazid known to Hausas as “Bayajida’’ which means “he do not
understand Hausa language before’’ was a prince of the kings of Baghdad
whom according to the legend, left home to escape death penalty and
traveled to Africa.
He first settled at Kanem Bornu Empire where he was offered political
asylum. He married the daughter of the king named Magira. But not long he
also offended the king and had to run away because the king planned to kill
him, taking away his wife along. He left her at Birom ta Gabas to bear him a
child.
At Gaya near Kano a blacksmith made him a sword according to his
specifications. He proceeds to Daura on his way to an unknown destination
we he become a guest to an old woman called Ayyama.
It was said he demanded for water to drink and give his animal of
barding but was told the only well in the city was a home to a large snake

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called Sarki who allows people to fetch water once in a week (Fridays)
when it usually goes out.
Abu Yazid however not believing, request the old woman to direct him
to the well but on his attempt to fetch the water the snake comes out via the
rope. He cuts its head and fetched the water.
The following day passersby seeing the body of the snake outside the
well reported the matter to the Queen. The Queen as it was narrated had
earlier promised to give half of the land to whoever got rid of the snake.
So when what actually happened was known she announced that the
killer of the snake who took away the head and left one of his shoes should
come forward with the head and other pair of the shoe for his price. But
when Abu Yazid came he demanded for her hands in marriage instead.

MARRIAGE OF TWO LEGENDS

Daura and Abu Yazid got married and she also gave him a Gwari
slave girl as a concubine. According to a brief history of Daura given in the
pamphlet during the presentation of staff of office of the sixtieth Emir of
Daura Alhaji Umar Faruk Umar page 16:-
Bayajida begot two children in Daura called Bawo ( the son of the
Queen) and Karab-Da-Gari (the son of concubine). Bawo ruled Daura after
Bayajida whose children become the origin of seven Hausa state namely
Daura, Kano, Katsina, Zazzau (Zaria), Gobir, Rano. One the son of
Bayajida who was born before his arrival to Daura called Buram become
the founder of the seventh Hausa state called Gabas ta burum (Garin
Gabas) in Hadeja Emirate of Jigawa state.

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 1. Bayajida’s other son Karab da Gari become the Banza states
namely:- Yawuri, Kebbi, Zamfara, Ilorin, Gwariland, Nupeland and
Kwararrafa.

GUNGUMA DYNASTY
According to Zaria chronicles the first king among Bawo’s children
was Gunduma and the dynasty he found in Zaria has a total of sixty kings
in which Queen Amina was the 23rd and the only Woman. The dynasty was
overthrown by the Sokoto Jihadist initiated by Usman bin Fodio in 1804.
Palmer however regards this Abu Yazid as:
“having some historical connection with the Abu Yazid who
led the revolt of the nomad Kharijite Berbers against the
Fatimids in North Africa in the first half of the 10 th Century
A.D. This Maghrib Abu Yazid was probably born in the
western Sudan and was known as “the man on the
donkey”; and was eventually captured and killed by the
Fatimis in A.D (Palmer 1936, pp. 273-4. n.1) ...................”

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QUEEN AMINA THE DAUGHTER OF KING BAKWA TORANKA 1536-70
Thomas Hodgkin maintained that:
“In the case of Zazzau, the phase of economic and
political expansion associated with semi-legendary
Queen Amina would to seem to belong to the sixteenth
rather than fifteenth century.”
He further states that:
“Her conquest extends over thirty-years”.
On coming to power, Amina shifted her capital to Kufena area and
named it after her elder sister Zariya.
Zaria her elder sister was to be the Queen. The legend has it that
Zaria use to send Amina to a man that she kept purposely to constantly be
supplicating for her to become a Queen, but when he write some verses of
the Holy Qur’an in a tablet and wash it for her to drink, Amina on the way
will drink most part of it. That is why when she become the Queen instate
of Zaria she renamed her Capital as Zaria in honor. Of the elder sister
Although some historians gave the credit to her father whose grave is
still in Turunku near the old mountain palace.
Queen Amina organized a large force and wage wars of conquest
that brought all the Hausa lands under her control comprising parts of
present day Nigerian, Niger Republic and Cameroon. She once said that
the southern fringes of her boarder was the water (Bahar) could it be the
sea Or the Rivers Niger and Benue?
Muhammed Bello, the successor to the founder of the Sokoto
Caliphate in an answer to a question by the first Europeans to visits him
said that, Queen Amina of Zazzau and Mohammadu Kanta of Kebbi were

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the greatest rulers of Hausa land before the Jihad of his father, that
dismantled most of the Hausa ruling dynasties.
An unknown European cotemporary of the Queen who visited her
further state that she recently shifted her capital from new Turunku to old
Turunku – Reaffirming the belief that Kufena area in Zaria was the earlier
settlement in which Gunduma himself was said to have been invited to,
when the people of the area were being threaten from the south. It might be
that it was the subsequent rulers that later moved to Turunku before Amina
re-locate here capital back to Kufena area when she become confident
enough to come down to the plains!
Amina walled the newly named capital.
She might have started the wars of conquest before she shifted to
Zaria, but it was evident that she walled each city she conquer, a reason
why all the walls of the cities of Hausa lands were called Amina’s walls
(Ganuwar Amina). It is claimed she usually garrison her force within the
walls for defense reasons.
The walls some of which encircled several kilometers squares and at
least a meter wide and several meters high, most have required hundreds
of thousand of people to provide the needed labour to complete the work in
such a small period of time.
Amina was the contemporary of Mai (king) Idris Alooma of Borno
Empire whom she spares of her conquest because of his use of firearms
supplied from Spain where he maintained an Embassy!
Queen Amina died when she fell from her horse and breaks her neck,
but her legend persists till date. May God forgive her wrongs. Ameen.

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 At the mountain top where her palace once stood in the old capital
Turunku we saw about a mater behind the stone-chair a place where three
stone ridges each of about a quarter of a meter high and such wide and
about half a mater width beside which what looks like a small grinding
stone was wedged. Our guide said the elders told them that it was were her
bed was placed on!
And what to us looks like grinding stone was actually used for
sharpening arrow heads, spears and other war objectives!
Similar sports could be identified in several other places. At the
extreme northern fringe of the mountain there is a well! What a tedious job
must it have been to dug a well on top of a mountain at that time!!
Another evidence of human settlements, was the fact that the place
was once cultivated because our guide told us that even some few years
back people use to plant onions and other vegetables on the mountain,
although at the time of our visit, the action of running rain water have
washed away most of the land!
Could the land here been raise artificially?
I also noticed a place where some lines where deliberately chipped
out of a particular stone.
Could it be a map as one of us suggested?
I also noticed that at a place not far from the stone chair, there was a
stone circle.
Could it be foundation of a room?
Could it be that when the sand was removed it could lead to other
under ground parts of the place?
The evidences are so many that only a professional archeologist
could decipher.

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 THE GRAVEYARD OF BAKWA TORONKA
Our little expedition of non professionals comprising of myself (Umaru
Yusuf), Honourable Umaru Barau (Umaru II), Lawal Umaru, Abubakar
Inusa AbdulRashid Mailafiya and our guide went down from the place very
exited about these encounter with the past.
Then we seek to known the grave yard of one of the kings that I at
first thought was that of Gunguma, but turns out to be that Queen Amina’s
Father, King Bakwa Toranka.
A large heap of stones which recently the local government of the
area built a wall around it that a visitor could stand outside and watched
every thing within, though it had a gate but we do not need to go in as we
were as if within.
The legend of Queen Amina is still as fresh in the mind of the people
of Zaria as if she ruled just some few years back.
There is a place today in Niger state of Nigeria were only women
served as traditional rulers. The origin of that ruling house was Queen
Amina. Although she never married in her life time nor ever give birth her
relatives still pride themselves as members of her family. There was a time
a woman claimed ownership a large piece of land (From Zaria to Kaduna),
when the she was ask to produce evidence she brought war dress of the
Queen claiming the piece of land in question was the queen’s farm!
Although she never won the case at list she recalls history.
May his soul rest in peace! Amen.

Umaru Yusuf
Representative,
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American International Insurance Company (AIICO Insurance Plc) and
also Mathematics/Computer Student,
Federal College of Education, Zaria,
(Anguwan Juma No. 180 Po box 271)
E-mail: umaruyusuf@yahoo.com.

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