Daura

Daura was a Hausa state centred on the town of Daura, at the edge of the Sahara in what is now northern Nigeria. Hausa tradition traced the origins of all Hausa dynasties to Bayajidda, who killed the serpent guarding the town well and married Queen Magajiya Daurama.

Daura and Katsina were known as kings of the market: caravans carried Saharan salt south and cloth and slaves north. In 1805 the Fulani warrior Malam Ishaku seized Daura during the jihad and founded an emirate. Displaced Hausa princes maintained a rival court at Zango from 1825.