Origin The region was first inhabited by the chiefdoms of Dutsi, Togai, Kiyawa/Kiawa, and Jata. The kingdom emerged centred on Dutsi, with its early history prior to 1600 generally consisting of the consolidation of its neighbours. The Zamfarawa (people of Zamfara) generally claim descent from the
Maguzawa hunters who once occupied what would become
Kano. This is said to be the origin of the
taubastaka (cousinship) that exists between the Zamfarawa and the Kanawa (people of Kano). They first settled at Dutsi, now a town in
Zurmi. After seven years without a chief, they appointed Dakka as the first Sarkin Zamfara (lord of Zamfara).
18th-century During the reign of Babba (c. 1715), Zamfara, allied with Gobir and
Agadez, revolted against their overlord
Kebbi, driving its forces back to the
Gulbin Ka River. Led by Babba's son, Yakubu, the combined forces defeated the Kebbawa and captured their king, Muhammadu dan Giwa. During the war with Kebbi, the soothsayers of Zamfara prophesied a disaster unless a slave was sacrificed. Acali, one of Sarkin Zamfara Yakubu's slaves, volunteered his life on the condition that his family would be honoured in remembrance of his sacrifice. Zamfara defeated the Kebbi forces at Tsamiya Maibaura, and Acali's younger brother, Kare, was appointed the first Sarkin Burmin Bakura. At the height of its power, Zamfara is said to have extended from
Sabon Birni in the north to
Kwiambana in the south, from the rocks of Muniya, Rubu, and Duru and the Babban Baki stream in the east to the
River Gindi in the west. Zamfara's fertile land, described by 19th-century German geographer
Heinrich Barth as 'almost the most flourishing country of
Negroland,' made it attractive to conquerors and migrants. After the Gobirawa were pushed out of the
Asben region by the
Tuaregs of
Agadez, they began settling peacefully in Zamfara in the early 18th century. Sarkin Zamfara Maliki welcomed them as useful warriors, granting them farmland. However, the situation was different on Zamfara's northern border, where the Gobirawa had 'too much nomadic restlessness and pugnacity in their blood to settle for long.' Others claim that the capital was destroyed in 1762. Mairoki fled to
Kiawa, an ancient hill fortress inhabited by Katsinawa, located about twenty miles east of
Kaura Namoda. He took refuge with his vassal, Tsaidu. There are varying accounts of Zamfara's history at Kiawa; however, historians S.J. Hogben and
A.H.M. Kirk-Greene suggest that
Muhammad Bello of
Sokoto provided the version that was likely the most accurate. In his
Raulat al-Afkari, Bello claims that Sarkin Gobir
Bawa Jan Gwarzo (r. 1777–1795) besieged Mairoki in Kiawa for 'fifteen years until at last he got possession of him.' Other sources claim he retired to Banga, where, stricken with remorse for the loss of his kingdom, he committed suicide. Another version asserts that he took his life after being surrendered to Bawa outside Kiawa. Bawa reportedly had him decapitated and his head hung from a fig tree, which is still called
durumin Mairoki at Kiawa. == Rulers of Zamfara ==