Tessawa

Tessaoua lies northeast of Katsina in the Hausa country of the southern Sahel. Local traditions connect its foundation with the Tazarawa, who are said to have lived first at Birnin Tazar before settling here. Their arrival in the Katsina region is placed by tradition in the sixteenth century. In the early nineteenth century, the wars that followed the Sokoto jihad changed the political balance across Hausaland. After Fulani forces were driven from Maradi and neighbouring northern districts in 1819, Tessaoua became part of the state centred on Maradi.