Historical Sociology of Migration and Segregation in Metropolitan Kano

Two underlining and defining characteristics of Kano, one of Sudanic Africa’s oldest cities, are cosmopolitanism and the segregation of neighbourhoods. Both trends began to coalesce from the early stages of Kano’s foundation. Its segregation – one of the greatest influence in its socio-political organisation – is essentially a consequence of the immigration of its diverse populations, and took two waves: the pre-colonial (7th Century) traditional pattern and the 20th Century colonial model. Importantly too, it was both between social groups (‘indigenes’ and ‘settlers’) and on religious grounds (between Islamic believers and non-believers). In this paper, I critically interrogate the history, dynamics, politics and sociology of migration and segregation in Kano, as well as examine their various implications on human relations in the city. This paper shows how the combination of both phenomena and the interaction of their diverse exigencies have defined the posture of Kano in contemporary times.