Gidan Makama Museum, Kano

Photography and video making are not my strengths, but this is the place I visited.

"Once upon a time in 1440 AD, a magnificent structure known as Gidan Makama was built by the powerful Sarki (King) Abdullahi Burja. Initially intended as a temporary palace, this architectural wonder has since transformed into a captivating museum. The story of Gidan Makama begins with its creation for Prince Rumfa, who later became the legendary Sarki Muhammadu Rumfa.

Over the centuries, the original Gidan Makama has been divided into three distinct sections. One part now houses the Gidan Makama Museum, where visitors can marvel at the rich history of the Hausalands and beyond. Another section is home to the Gidan Makam Primary School, educating the young minds of Kano. The final part remains a residence for the successive Makaman Kano, carrying on the legacy of this historic site.

The Gidan Makama boasts a stunning display of traditional Hausa architecture, making it an iconic landmark in Kano. Today, it proudly serves as a national museum and reference library, boasting an extensive collection of manuscripts and historical artifacts that offer a fascinating glimpse into the past."

Courtesy Kano Chronicle on X

African Vernacular Architecture

When Africa adopts modern technology devoid of external cultural influences.

Excerpt

"The walls could use hybrid construction systems that guarantee durability over time and that, in turn, maintain the appearance and thermal properties of rammed earth and raw mud; evoking the vernacular and ancestral, but modern at the same time. As well as including the use of beautiful external and internal murals designed by local artists.

The native plant species of the area will be respected, as well as taking advantage of the surrounding trees to generate shade, and the use of outdoor pots to give a human scale, a more welcoming appearance, and a more interesting route. It is essential to involve the community so that a project of these characteristics can be successful..."

Source: https://www.instagram.com/midjourney.../p/CvhPPsWshbA/...

And here https://parametric-architecture.com/rolo-creates.../

A return to the original African outlook on life. Traditional African societies were deeply rooted in a community-based outlook. Life was centred on shared responsibilities where the welfare of the collective outweighed individual interests. These are ideals we should never have left behind. We could have adopted aspects of modern civilisation that were beneficial to us, while holding fast to what was uniquely ours, that which had served us well for thousands of years. We could have adopted modern technology not to ape others, but adapt it to suit our own purposes.

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Cairo

There are relatively few trees in Cairo, but there are lots of palm trees that ornamentally line major boulevards and avenues. 

Alhough downtown Cairo was planned by European architects, throughout the city is a mix of different architectural styles. I was taken aback by how European the downtown area was. I had seen it with my eyes before going to read up on it, then I understood why the downtown is the way it is.

The beauty of this downtown area is fading now, but it must have been splendid at some time in the past. It still is beautiful though, but there is something uniquely Egyptian about it. And not just the downtown. 

Despite the conflicting styles and influences, the European style buildings, as with the modern ones, almost all have subtle Egyptian touches and finishes, which, together with the use of Arabic signage, include unique features like hieroglyphs, pharaonic motifs, ancient Egyptian imagery, and other ornate detailing, everywhere you look; this including inside the elevators at my hotel; small details that constantly reminded me of where I was. And I haven't mentioned the even older traditional North African and Arabian architectural styles. I found the mixture of the ancient, modern, and everything in-between, very interesting. I would have loved to have stayed a bit longer to roam around more. 

This made me feel that in sub Saharan Africa, and in Nigeria in particular, we have abandoned our traditional building styles, such that there is little in modern architecture that can be termed as a uniquely Nigerian style. Our traditional building styles and practices, except perhaps for Hausa traditional architecture to a limited extent, have been largely relegated to a past era. What I've seen in Egypt is the opposite. The Egyptians have brought their traditional styles with them into the 21st century, taking advantage of new technologies to advance that unique style of theirs. This made for a cultural richness and depth that we could have had in Nigeria too, but don't have today in our buildings.

Tubali

It was unexpected and surprising to me when I heard greetings shouted out in the Hausa language at Poto Poto market in downtown Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, where French and the local Lingala language were the only languages I had heard spoken for weeks. I also noted that Hausa was the language of choice in Ghana's Northern and Upper East regions during my visits there. 

I read somewhere that the civilisations of the Pharoahs of Egypt borrowed some of their technology from sub-Saharan Africa. The famous cities of Timbuktu and Jenne, in particular, are cases in point. What is clear is that the exchange of knowledge and ideas has been taking place for millennia.

'Tubali' is the Hausa architectural style

"The Hausa are the largest ethnic group in West and Central Africa made up of a diverse but culturally homogeneous people, predominantly based in the Sahelian and savannah areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria. Today, with close to 82 million descendants and significant indigenised populations spread across Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Sudan, The Republic of Congo, Togo, Ghana, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Senegal and Gambia, the Hausa were once best known for fishing, hunting, agriculture, salt-mining, and blacksmithing. Historically, the communities resided in small villages as well as in precolonial towns and cities where they would grow crops, raise livestock, including cattle, as well as engage in trade, both locally and long distance across Africa.

While in more recent times the penchant for foreign tastes, in terms of building form aesthetics and materials underpinned by colonial influences and the modern trends of the time has come to the forefront of African architecture, the Hausa style remains a vital and influential traditional mode of building in the continent. Hausaland, historically a collection of states started by the Hausa people, situated between the Niger River and Lake Chad, boasts countless inventive building forms, bursting with colourful motifs, decorations and innovative uses of interior space. Characterised by vaults and piers, beautifully decorated walls, slashes and punctures, archways, and motifs in various proportions, Hausa buildings are impressive feats of both art and design.

For millennia, the main materials used in traditional African construction have been earth stone and straw, which have been skilfully utilised respectively and in combination. Though few original earth structures remain, aside from a number of carefully preserved monuments temples and mosques, this method of building continues to be an enduring cultural practice among rural communities throughout the continent. Traditionally, Hausa builders have considered the roof as the most challenging part of the construction, both owing to the technology required to support the structure and the decoration that is applied to it. The conventional method of building saw walls being made thicker to meet the structural requirements of the roof; this was done partly to be safe and partly because the thick walls kept the inside rooms cooler.

Customarily, the architectural decorations which envelop Hausa structures are carried out by accomplished engravers, traditional builders who like artisans are highly skilled at handwork and can draw out freehand patterns directly onto the surface of walls before carving out their designs. Consequently, the complexity of a facade decoration usually demonstrates the wealth and social standing of the property’s owner. Another key element of Hausa architecture are the pinnacles, or Zankwaye. Zankwaye are a classic feature of the Hausa building, manifesting in various shapes and sizes, and giving the structures their characteristic form. Like the horns of a bull, Zankwaye were originally reinforced vertical projections around the parapet wall of the roof, handily providing builders with a way to climb up onto the roof during construction or repairs.

Taking into account spaces for social activities as well as lighting and ventilation, a traditional Hausa residence is ideally split into three parts, following a layout that includes an inner core, designated as the private area, a central core, which is considered as semi-private, and an outer core, which is deemed public and is open to visitors. At the centre of the compound is an open courtyard, where the family spends the best part of their days, providing the setting for various household activities as well as important ceremonial rituals. The inner core also connects with a backyard space to keep animals and manage the disposal of household waste. Thought to have been derived from the domestic schemes of ancient Egypt, these principals of living continue to influence contemporary architecture today."    

https://somethingcurated.com/2022/01/11/a-history-of-hausa-architecture/

Soft spoken?

So I've been accused, for the first time in my life, of being soft spoken. Me? Soft spoken? Well, I call this an accusation because it is a description of myself that I do not recognise, but this claim has come from two different unrelated sources. The first time I heard it was when I went to meet my friend at a location that we had agreed to meet. I arrived early, so rather than enter into the building I went to sit with a woman selling snacks and drinks by the roadside under a commercial umbrella.

"Madam I beg, make I siddown, I dey wait for my friend, give me Coke make I drink", were the words I said to her while gesturing that she kindly make room for me on her bench where she sat. "Oga, welcome o", was the reply as she moved aside creating room for me to sit while at the same time digging into her cooler to fish out my Coke. "Your friend know say you dey here? You don call am?" (Meaning, does your friend know you're here? Have you called him?). "I go call am again to tell am where I dey", I replied, and all this while I thought I was trying to be very Nigerian, embracing my Nigerian roots.

So I called my friend who said he had already arrived, and that he was inside the building looking for me. Our arrangement had been for us to meet at the building, not necessarily inside it. Our plan was after meeting, to proceed somewhere else together. I then told him that I was outside sitting by the roadside among the stalls where people are selling things. As I sat I had my back to the building, which likely explains why I had not seen him when he arrived, so even as I was still on the phone with him I turned around and saw him emerge from the building. "I can see you, just look straight ahead, you'll see me."

I understood that he would not have expected me to be sitting by the roadside, but that's where I was, and try as I did to steer him towards me while calmly speaking to him on the phone, he seemed to be resolute in his belief that I could not possibly be sitting by the roadside. The woman, the stall owner, while sitting next to me had also turned around to see my friend approaching us, but whom she could see was staring in a completely different direction. So she stood up, waved both her arms vigorously, and shouted at high decibel levels, "Brother na here, na here o", which finally caught my friend's attention.

After my friend and I were reunited, this woman now turned on me and accused me of speaking in a soft bedroom voice when trying to communicate my location to my friend, saying this in jest, mockingly. But I had seen no need to raise my voice or put up an animated theatrical display. My friend had his phone clutched to his ear, and I assumed he could clearly hear the instructions I was delivering to him.

The second time I was accused of this was by my own brother. Last year on my previous visit to Nigeria I never heard the accusation that I am soft spoken, so did something happen between that time and now? I cannot but attach a lot of weight to my brother's observation though, he would know, and he himself put it down to me having lived in England for as long as I have. Could it be true then that I might be losing some of my Nigerianness?

Transatlantic slave trade? Africans were active participants

 

In light of the United Nations voting today to recognise the enslavement of Africans as the 'gravest crime against humanity', I wish to set out my view on this matter. To be clear, I do not disagree with this vote. What I have a grouse with is that this resolution was proposed by an African member state of the United Nations, whereas Africans themselves were active participants in the transatlantic slave, and historians have suggested that approximately 90 percent of enslaved Africans in the this trade were captured and enslaved by fellow Africans before being sold to European traders. 

Now Africans are among those rightly demanding contrition (and reparations) from the perpetrators of this crime against humanity, yet Africans have not shown that they have acknowledged the full extent of their own participation in it. As direct evidence of Africans' involvement, below are the words of my own ancestors set out in a document written by them as a complaint to the then British colonial officers. 

In 2013, I had obtained a copy of the original report published in 1896. 

From 7 December, 2013

Today I obtained my copy of this report from H.M. Stationery Office. It is the Report by Sir John Kirk on the inquiry into the attack on the Royal Niger Company's headquarters in Akassa by the people of Nembe (Brass) in 1895, titled Disturbances At Brass. The attack was led by the king of Nembe, King William Koko. 

Sixty of the company's European employees were captured during the raid and reportedly later killed and ceremonially cannibalised. The report was published by the then British Colonial Office and presented to both Houses of the British Parliament in 1896.

Excerpts from the Report:-

"(Grievances of the Brass/Nembe people) 

Memorandum - Case of the Brass Chiefs.   (These are my ancestors)

Many years ago our fathers used to make their living by selling slaves to Europeans. This Slave Traffic was stopped by the Queen's Government and a Treaty made in 1856, to the effect that they should discontinue that traffic, and enter into a legitimate one, and that if they did so an allowance called "comey" should be paid them by the traders on all produce brought down from the interior.

This they agreed to; so that from that time to now we have not shipped a single person, but have traded only in palm oil and kernels.

Some time after this Europeans began trading in the Niger. Seeing this we at once complained to the Consul, but with no effect.

In 1878 Consul Hopkins arrived here and offered us the markets from Abo downwards, but we claimed from Onitsha to the sea.

The Consul went away, promising to consult the Government, but unfortunately he died the following year, and nothing was done.

In 1884 Consul Hewitt arrived to renew old Treaties. We brought the subject of the restoration of our markets to us before him, and positively told him we would sign no more Treaties, because no good came of it, until he gave us some assurance that justice would be done us, and that our markets would be given back to us.

In reply, he said he had no power to make this promise without consulting the Government. We refused to sign the Treaty. Then he requested us to sign it only for six months if we would not sign it altogether, and he would try to get us the exclusive use of the Assay markets in the Warri branch.

On this condition we signed a Treaty.

At the end of six months Vice-Consul H. A. White induced us, on the same promise, to extend it for another six months, in order to await the reply of the Government.

While this was going on (1884-1885) the French Government sent and asked us to enter into an agreement with it, and offered us large and costly presents, and promised us all sorts of good returns and aid; but we refused, thinking we would be more secure under the English.

In March 1886 Consul Hewitt arrived here with a printed form of Treaty for us to sign in place of the above-mentioned one, and said that the Government had decided that markets could not be divided nor given to any one particularly, that white men and black men might trade equally in all the markets, and that all and every market was to be free to everybody.

Seeing we could not do otherwise, we agreed to free trade. Article VI of this Treaty deals particularly with free trade.

About this time Consul Hewitt came back again, and, to our great surprise, informed us that the Government had granted to the National African Company a Royal Charter on the River Niger, which meant that they had full power to do what they liked in the river, and to impose and receive duties from everybody who wished to go there for the purpose of trade. We called his attention to the fact that our Treaty states that trade was free : how was it then that we were not allowed to go and trade freely at villages the people of whom we, our fathers, and grandfathers had traded with in past times?

The Company, which is now known as the Niger Company, has done us many injuries, which were made known to Consul Hewitt in writing : for some time after the Charter was granted they drove us away from our markets in which we and our forefathers had traded for generations, and did not allow us to get in our trust, or trade debts, some of which remain unpaid to this day. Neither will they permit the Ejoh or market people to come down and pay us.

In 1889, Major MacDonald now our big Consul, came to us, and we told him of all these things, and he promised that he would lay our complaints before the Queen's Government : Consul Hewitt was still in the Rivers.

In 1891, he, Major MacDonald, came again and explained to us that it was the intention of the Queen's Government to send Consuls to these Rivers and that we should then have a Consul of our own who would specifically look after our interests. He pointed out to us that this could not be done without money, and explained how the money could be raised by means of duty, and asked us whether we consented to pay these duties. At first we refused because we could get no satisfactory answer about our markets : but eventually we signed, but begged the Major that he would do what he could do to get some of our markets back for us. He then appointed a Vice-Consul Captain MacDonald to the River.

Since then we have seen the Major many times, and he has always told us to be patient, but latterly things have gone from bad to worse, and the markets that we have are quite insufficient to sustain us.

We thoroughly understand that all markets are free, and open to everybody, black and white man alike : and we are quite willing to trade side by side with the white man at those markets. We do not now ask for any exclusive privileges whatever, but only that we be allowed to trade without molestation at the places we and our fathers have traded in days gone by.

We are willing to pay fair duties : but we cannot understand, however, if all markets are open to black and white man alike, while there are many villages and markets in the Niger where neither are allowed to go and trade.

We submit that if we have to go to Akassa, a distance of nearly 40 miles, to pay our duties and are only allowed to trade at certain places selected by the Niger Company called "ports of entry", and have to take out trade and spirit licences and pay a very heavy duty going into the territories, and a heavy duty coming out, it is the same thing as if we were forbidden to trade at all.

The Niger Company say, "We (the Company) have to do these things, why not you?"

We can only say that, with our resources, to carry out these regulations and pay these duties means ruin to us.

The Niger Company are cleverer than we are. We humbly submit that we have a right, confirmed by our Treaty, to go and trade freely in the places we have traded at for all these generations. We are ready to pay to do so, but let us pay a fair duty and conform to fair Regulations.

The duties and Regulations of the Company means to us ruin : of this there is no doubt.

We do not deny that we have smuggled, but under the circumstances, can this be wondered at?

We have suffered many hardships from the Company's regulations. Our people have been fired upon by the Company's launches, they have been fired upon from the Company's hulks, our canoes have been seized and goods taken, sometimes when engaged in what white men call smuggling, and sometimes when not.

The "chop" canoes coming from the Ejohs have also been stopped.

Within the last few weeks the Niger Company has sent messengers to the Ejohs and other tribes with whom we have always traded and said that any of them who traded with us at all, or who paid us their debts, would be severely punished and their villages burnt.

We have evidence to prove all this, which we would like to lay before the big man who has been sent by the Queen.

All these unjust things have been done to us, and many times we have been told to be patient, and have been so, and the wrongs which we consider we have suffered are now worse than ever, all these drove us to take the law into our own hands and attack the Company's factories at Akassa.

We know now we have done wrong, and for this wrong we have been severely punished ; but we submit that the many unjust oppressions we have borne have been very great, and it is only in self defence, and with a view to have our wrongs inquired into, that we have done this thing. We have frequently asked the Consuls that have been put over us, from Consul Hewitt to the present time, to tell us in what way we have offended the Queen to cause her to send this trouble on us.    

Traders we are, have been and will always be.

The soil of our country is too poor to cultivate sufficient food for all our people, and so if we do not trade and get food from other tribes we shall suffer great want and misery.

We fervently hope and pray that some arrangements may be arrived at which will enable us to pursue our trade in peace and quietness.

(Signed) 

WARRI KAREMMA                                                  

NATHANIEL HARDSTONE E.  

                              Witnesses :

(Signed)  

H. L. GALLWEY

Deputy Commissioner and Vice-Consul

Benin District 

CUTHBERT E. HARRISON

Acting Vice-Consul Brass District 

Brass, June 8, 1895