13 Facts About Amina

Amina's had a younger sister named Zaria for whom the modern city of Zaria was renamed by the British in the early twentieth century.

Amina carried her around court and instructed her carefully in political and military matters.

At age sixteen, Amina was named Magajiya, and was given forty female slaves (kuyanga).

At this point, Amina had distinguished herself as a "leading warrior in her brother's cavalry" and gained notoriety for her military skills.

Amina's is still celebrated today in traditional Hausa praise songs as "Amina daughter of Nikatau, a woman as capable as a man that was able to lead men to war.

Only three months after being crowned queen, Amina waged a 34-year campaign against her neighbors, to expand Zazzau territory.

Amina's waged war in the Hausa lands and took them all so that the men of Katsina and the men of Kano brought her tribute.

Additionally, Amina has been credited with ordering the construction of a distinctive series of ancient Hausa fortifications, known as 'Amina's walls', and with introducing kola nut cultivation in the area.

One of the earliest textual sources to mention Amina is Muhammed Bello's history Ifaq al-Maysur, composed around 1836.

Amina's is mentioned in the Kano Chronicle, a well-regarded and detailed history of the city of Kano, composed in the late nineteenth century, but incorporating earlier documentary material.

Amina is not mentioned in this chronicle, but oral tradition in the early twentieth century held her to be the daughter of Bakwa Turunku, whose reign is dated by the chronicle from 1492 to 1522.

Amina holding the dagger did not shock Marka, rather it was that Amina held it exactly as a warrior would.

Amina's helped Zazzau become the center of trade and to gain more land.