Kano, historic kingdom and traditional emirate in northern Nigeria. According to the Kano Chronicle (1890s), the best-known native history of the Hausa people, the Kano kingdom was founded as one of the Hausa Bakwai (“Seven True Hausa States”) in 999 by Bagauda, a grandson of Bayajida (Abuyazidu), the legendary progenitor of the Hausa people.
Its capital was moved from Sheme (to the north) to the present site of Kano city in KingGajemasu’s reign (1095-1134). Malinke scholars from the Mali empire introduced Islām into theregion in the 1340s, and Yaji (reigned 1349-85) was probably Kano's first Muslim Hausa king. Islāmwas blamed for Kano’s defeat by Zaria about 1400, and King Kanajeji renounced the faith; but inthe 1450s new Malian teachers arrived, and Islām regained its influence.