Ningi Raids and Slavery in Nineteenth Century Sokoto Caliphate
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SLAVERY AND ABOLITION A Journal of Comparative Studies Edilorial Advisory Boord · RogerT. Anstey (Kent) Ralph A. Austen (Chicago) Claude Meillassoux (Paris) David Brion Davis (Yale) Domiltique de Menil (Menil ~O'LIlmllllllll Carl N. Degler (Stanford) Suzanne Miers (Ohio) M.1. Finley (Cambridge) Joseph C. Miller (Virginia) Jan Hogendorn (Colby) Orlando Patterson (Harvard) A. G. Hopkins (Birmingham) Edwin Wolf 2nd (Library Co. of Winthrop D. Jordan (Berkeley) Philadelphia) Ion Kenneth Maxwell (Columbia) Edit"': Associate Ediwr: John Ralph Willis (Princeton) C. Duncan Rice (Hamilton) Volume 2 Number 2 September 1981 .( deceased) Manusc ripts and all editorial correspondence and books for review should be Tuareg Slavery and the Slave Trade Priscill a Elle n Starrett 83 (0 Professor John Ralph Willis, Near Eastern Studies Department, Prince. University , Princeton, New Jersey 08540. ~in gi Raids and Slave ry in Nineteenth Articles submiued [0 Slavery and Abolilion are considered 0t:\ the understanding Centu ry Sokoto Ca liphate Adell Patton, Jr. 114 they are not being offered for publication elsewhere , without the exp ressed cO losenll the Editor. Slavery: Annual Bibliographical Advertisement and SUbscription enquiries should be sent to Slavery and IIbol"'", Supplement (198 1) Joseph C. Miller 146 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., Gainsborough House, II Gainsborough London Ell IRS. The Medallion on the COVel" is reproduced by kind perm.ission of Josiah W"dgwoocU Sons Ltd. © Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. 1981 All rigllt! ,eseroed. No parr of his publication may be reprodU4ed. siored in 0 retrieval sysu.. lJ'anmliJt~d in anyfarm. or by any ,"eal'lJ. eUclJ'onic. rMchonicoJ. phalocopying. recording. or without tlu pn·or permissicm of Frank Call & Co. Lui. Published by Annual subsc ription (i ncluding postage): Institutions £30 .00 FRANK CASS & CO. LTD. Individuals £18 .00 Single issues £8. SO GAINS BOROUGH HOUSE, GAINSBOROUGH ROAD P aymull. may be mode in dollars at tM cllrmuly prevailing rau LONDON E ll IRS Published in May, September and December by FRANK CASS & CO. LTD., Gainsborough House, II Gainsborough London Ell IRS, England. \,INGI RAIDS AND SLAVERY 1J5 Ningi Raids and Slavery in Nineteenth Century Sakata Caliphate Adell Patton, Jr. * Introduction Ningi territory is located in (he eastern region of Nigerian Hausaland at the .. nonhernmost end of [he Jos Plateau massif. From remote rimes into the v,' , ..... r .... ,', nineteenth century numerous small scale patrilineal and heterogenous , ,.. ..J.. \ .. ) , , societies scaled into this frontier region; these societies consisted of the ,-- , Butawa, Ningaw3, Chamaw3, Basaw3 , Warjawa, Sirawa and Pa 'awa. By 1846 the population movements into this region occupied the major , ,---- ... ........ escarpments. Dissident Kana Hausa mallamai (religious practitioners and 0 " teachers) scttled the area last j organized the acephalous non-Muslim moun ., taineer societies ima revolt against the Sakata Ca liphate ; and founded the ,: .", Ningi Chi efdom ca. 1847. The N ingi resisted successfull y the emirates of '" " Bauchi, Kano, Zazzau, and many others. This paper highlights the Ning: v raiding strategy agai nst the imposition of Soko[Q rule in the nineteentl: ce nrury. ' Pre-chiefdom era and Kano Imperialism In the pre-chiefdom era, most of [he stateless societies were the target o! slave raiders. Mixed success marked th e military strategy of the moun taineers against centralized forces. With the help of smiths, who made iroa equipmem, provisioning of war materiels became available. And based OIl I I observations of plateau ecology, it is possible to extrapolate the reconstruc -......_...-'- " , tion of military strategy, which was to set camp in the vi cinity of the mountaineers. In a procedural manner, envoys were sem in the first Sla e with tribute demands usually [or sla ves needed in a variety of capacities. 1;' , ~ the mountaineers deci ded (Q yield to the demands, there was no wa r bur K , ,./,' the cont rary, once the Tsafi chiefs and elders made the decision to fight , t.he hill guerilla contingems met the oncoming mixed forces with showerinE arrows, rocks, and other items of weaponry at the edge of the hills, Wh these materiels ran out, the hill warriors then retreated to the successi,"-: wave of hills with pursuing enemy forces where they repeated the strategy Walls of rock served as barriers against enemy penetration, and pebble:.. hun the unshod horses' hoofs. Once the plains cavalrymen climbed dowt. the hills against oncoming boulders and arrows, they were at continui. I Depanment of History. Howard Universi ty "INGI RAIDS AN D SLAVERY 116 SLAVER Y AND ABOLITIOK 11 7 di sad vantage ag ainst th e mountain eers. Wi rh th ese facto rs in mind, cen· blind suffered in th e household s) but sin ce there were few walls in moumain cu ltures, ra id ers entered easil y. They searched grain bins and sought vari . trali zin g in va ding fo rces ofreo pu rsued a waiting st rategy jn effort s, to s ta~e J the peopl e who would then come down in sub mission. Sometlmes (hu olUS olher ilems. Generall y in the search fo r caplives, lhey killed the aged the infirm, bUl the sla ves mosl preferred were the young and children slralegy worked and al olher limes il did not. The hill dwell ers oflen localed ~d th eir granaries on isolated hill tops, and age d women and children were ~ rn into slaver y and brought up within (he SOCi ety. It is sa id that people twenty· five hidden in hill va ll eys some dislance away from the scenes of ballie. )ver we re most often unsuitable for re tention because of their Evid ence of wa rfare between th e mountaineers and Kana imperia lism ..:mm erous efforts to esca pe, and upon ca pture the raiders sold off persons in :his calegory as Soon as possible.' The slralegy for calching slaves by raiders app ea red as far back as th e founeenth and earl y fi fteenth cemuries. Ya ji wa~ 1lld centrali zed forces aga in st th e mountain people remain ed basica ll y lhe el eventh Sarki who reigned during the years AD 1349-1385. In efforts ar ....oaltered over several centuries. Away from home and und er the captivity consolid ation he moved hi s capital about and reigned at Bunu for twO years , . Mu slim owners, the mountai neers could onl y hope for th e good treat. in Rano. Yaji moved lat er to Kur whi ch brought him in cl ose contact WILD lO ~ .e m and possibl e manumission en couraged by th e Qur'an . ~ Indeed, slave s [h e Warjawa ("Worjawa ) and other tran shumant m o untai~ ee rs. :h~ 'from Ningi came lO holJ hi gh governmenlal posilions in Kano hislory. The probable acquisilion of horses by Yaji may have lurned th e llde agalns;: =ineteenth cemury, however, introduced yet another dimension of religious dwell ers of dual ecology for he made war wilh Warji and remamed lhere fo: md economi c change onto th e hori zon of Nigerian Hau sa land th at created some time. In time th e praise song abo ut the eleventh Sarki yielded clues (g lIl. even greater demand for raid s and slaves. th e growing power of Kano against th e mount ai n societi es: "Yaj i, con queror of th e rocky heigh (s , scatte red hos ts, lord of th e ~ o wn ." Th e . s ~h juga tion of San tolo opened the way for cont inua l cont::tc t With t~e~e sOC letla Sako lo Caliphate and Plantalion Slavery south wes terl y of Kana. However J the prowess of these SOCIeti eS causcG h 1804- 1808 , the SOkOlO Caliphale was founded . It was nOl only the mOS l innovalion in K ano armor. K anajeji , th e lhineenth Sarkl AD 1390-1410 :.eveloped horizonlal based Slale in the whole of Wesl Africa in the nine was the first Hau sa chi ef to introduce "Lifi di" or gild ed armor to prOl ect the: .zcnth centu ry, but its exis tence ended nea rly a thousand year history of th e horses iron helmels and flexible coals of armor lO prolecl the bod y. H~ Bausa.city states. Paul E. Lovejoy illustrates in his pionee ri ng work on the made inn" ova tions be ca use of heav y losses suffered in the war aga lO. St tG=. nomic hislo ry of Sokolo the presence of markel weak forces and a Butaw3 (U mbaw ). It is sa id that Kanaje ji return ed aga in to make wr :=gion al based economy that was labo r·intensive .6 The plantation (rinji, aga in st th e Butawa but wi th out success. Not given to defea t., he came p du, runrde, lwzgazi) was th e major land tenure development with slavery BelU and stayed for tw o year s, and being unabl e to till th e soil , he star \" its dominant form of labor, frequ ently organized in gangs. h s sector wa s oUl the people, and lhey agreed lO his demands of 1,000 male and I , vSl fully developed in the melropolilan region of the Caliphale in such female slaves plus children . Kanajeji granled a lOlal peace when lhey ga'% c::ni rates as Kano, Kat sin a, Za:llau, (h e Za mfara town s of Gu sau and Kaura anolher 2,000 slaves. This sizable demographic loss from th e BUlawa ranb -amoda, and th e capital di stricts of Gwandu and Sokoto; oth er emirates, ca used consid erable stru ctural weaknesses."! .