Shira

Shira lies in the country between the Hausa states and Bornu, on a route that also reached toward Adamawa. The old settlement stood on rocky heights above the later town, and archaeological evidence points to a long period of occupation. Local traditions recall Shira alongside the neighbouring settlements of Tashena and Auyo, each with its own rulers before the upheavals of the nineteenth century. In 1807 Malam Zaki took Shira during the wars associated with the Sokoto jihad, bringing a new power into this region of small chiefdoms.