In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Land and Government in Kano I 25 ONE Land and Government in Kano KASAR KANO Kano is one of the great cities of the world. For more than a thousand years it has sat in the rolling savanna of what is now northern Nigeria . The city itself is relatively compact but densely populated, with perhaps one million people. Kano’s population is quite diverse. Although the inhabitants of Kano’s old city are overwhelmingly Muslim and Hausaspeaking , areas outside the city walls are much more variegated, including members of many ethnic groups and considerable numbers of Christians. Poor and densely populated areas coexist with much more elite neighborhoods , which largely center on the area around the state governor’s house. In addition to Nigerians and people from surrounding countries, Kano has a substantial and well-established population of Lebanese (and indeed not far from the large Sabon Gari market is Beirut Road, with its Lebaneseowned businesses). Kano has long been a center of trade and learning and has served as the capital of a polity whose influence has far exceeded the relatively modest territory it controlled. An irregularly shaped area around the city, called in the secondary literature the “Kano Close-Settled Zone,” is also very densely populated, with population densities of 250/km2 and higher.1 This area includes the Ungogo Local Government Area (Ungogo L.G.A.), whose seat is the town of Ungogo. Ungogo L.G.A. lies just north of the Kano metropolitan authority , and the town is a few miles off the road leading to Katsina, the next major city to the north. It is said that Ungogo was founded about six hundred years ago. The mud walls surrounding the town, like those of Kano itself, have been allowed to fall into disrepair, but they attest to the town’s significance and history; a town with walls was a relatively major settlement. Ungogo has long been subject to rule by Kano; its proximity to the larger city meant it was incorporated tightly into kasar Kano (“the land of Kano”). At the same time, Ungogo retains a fairly rural character. A 26 I Looking for Land Tenure number of Ungogo’s inhabitants now work in the city (or in other towns within the Kano metropolitan area), and commuting is a matter of a thirtyminute , N25 ($0.20) bus ride.2 In earlier periods, walking between Ungogo and Kano was quite feasible, if something of a project. Nonetheless, even today most of its inhabitants farm, and the town has its own market and mosque.3 Most of the people living in Ungogo town have substantial connections to the place, and almost all are native speakers of Hausa. In addition to the headquarters of the L.G.A., which lie just outside the town proper, Ungogo boasts the residence of the district head of Ungogo—an officeholder in Kano Emirate’s traditional government—and also his office , which has been there ever since he was obliged to leave Kano at the start of the colonial period. These are in the center of town, a short walk from the market and motor park. A primary school sits on the southern edge of town. In addition, there are a number of Qur’anic schools. The inhabitants of Ungogo farm plots in a sizeable swath around the town. Farmers commonly use more than one plot, and these may be at a considerable remove from one another. In northern Nigeria the seasons divide sharply between a rainy season, from roughly May until September (beginning later and ending earlier in more northerly areas), and the much longer dry season, marked by very little precipitation at all. The dry season is divided into a period between September and December in which the weather is fairly warm, with highs of perhaps 95˚F; the cool season from December until February or March, during which the harmattan winds blow; and the hot season, in which temperatures can reach 110˚. This hot season lasts from roughly March to the beginning of the rains in April or May, though it seems much longer. The area around Kano has a number of soil types, which vary radically in their relative fertility. Marshy areas near rivers, termed fadama lands, are able to support crops during the dry season. Less well watered soils, which generally are reddish in color, can be farmed only during the rainy season, except where irrigation is possible. Traditionally, small-scale farmers near Kano have grown millet...

Share