00:00Welcome to my channel Shadows of History. I'm planning to do a series on African women in
00:10power or influential roles. I've already mapped out some saved drafts. I may not drop them one
00:15after another. I didn't want to wait for Women's History Month either. So stay tuned. Copy them to
00:20your own folders and arrange them as you see fit. The art is AI prompted by me, but based on the
00:25records of the time, the text is mind-drawn from various sources. Queen Amina of Zaza. Power without
00:31apology. Much of African history is told through kings, warriors, and dynasties of men. That imbalance
00:39is not historical. It is archival. When women appear, they are often reduced to legends, scandals,
00:46or symbols rather than examined as rulers who governed real states. Queen Amina of Zaza,
00:51modern Zarya in northern Nigeria, is one of the clearest reminders that African women did not
00:56merely influence power. They wielded it. Who was Queen Amina? Queen Amina ruled Zaza,
01:03one of the major house of city-states, traditionally dated to the mid-late 16th century. Zaza was not
01:09a peripheral kingdom. It was a strategic commercial hub linking the central Sudan, the Niger basin,
01:15and forest regions to the south. Control of trade routes meant wealth, soldiers, and political
01:21leverage. Amina did not rule as a regent or placeholder. Hausa traditions remember her as a
01:28sovereign in her own right, trained in warfare from a young age and recognized for military competence
01:33long before she ascended the throne. That detail matters. She was not elevated despite her abilities.
01:39She ruled because of them. Based on Hausa political norms and oral tradition, Amina fits the profile of
01:46a hands-on military ruler. She personally led campaigns rather than delegating entirely to
01:52generals. She expanded Zaza's influence farther than any previous ruler. She emphasized consolidation
01:58after conquest, not chaos. What drove her expansion? Queen Amina's campaigns are often described simply as
02:05conquests, but that word hides the logic behind them. Her military actions served three interconnected
02:12goals. Securing trade routes. Zaza depended on long-distance commerce, kola nuts, leather goods,
02:19metals, textiles, and enslaved labor. Amina's wars brought key routes under Zaza's influence,
02:26reducing tolls paid to rivals and increasing state revenue. Textile workers such as dyers and
02:31broilers were the biggest industry among the Hausa cities. Cotton was grown in surrounding towns and
02:36villages in the Hausalands and brought to the cities. Where thousands of weavers worked with
02:40treadle looms to make cloths, dyers dipped these cloths in indigo pits and embroiderers added unique
02:45geometric patterns to each robe. Cotton was grown in the Hausalands as early as the 10th to 13th
02:51century with textile production and dyeing following not long after. By the 15th century textile
02:56production and cotton growing had already come to be associated with the Hausa cities as noted by
03:00historian Leo Africanus in 1526 AD who wrote about the abundance of cotton around Cano and Zamphara.
03:07Forcing tributary relationships. Rather than annihilating neighboring polities, her campaigns
03:13often imposed tribute systems. This allowed Zaza to benefit economically without the costs of permanent
03:20occupation everywhere. Projecting legitimacy. In a competitive political landscape and as a woman
03:26ruling a patriarchal society, military success was political proof. Victory translated directly into
03:33authority. This was not reckless expansion. It was statecraft through warfare, a familiar model across
03:40the pre-modern world. Did Queen Amina build, or only conquer? This is where her legacy becomes tangible.
03:48Across northern Nigeria, multiple cities attribute major defensive structures to her, collectively known as
03:54the Ganuar Amina, walls of Amina. These fortifications. Queen Amina was not alone. Across Africa, women ruled kingdoms,
04:04resisted empires, negotiated treaties, and built states. Many were erased, some survived as legend. A few, like Amina,
04:14left walls behind. This series will explore them, not as myths, not as mascots, but as historical actors whose power
04:21was real, structured, and lasting. Part 2 will move north, to the Nile Valley, and a woman who made Rome
04:28retreat. Sources and historical notes, for readers who want to go deeper.
04:33Muhammad Bello, Infak al-Masir, early 19th century Hausa historical traditions referencing Amina.
04:40Abdullahi Smith, the early states of the central Sudan, on Hausa City, states and political structure.
04:47Adela I, RA, power and diplomacy in northern Nigeria trade routes and military politics.
04:54Elizabeth Isake, a history of African societies to 1870 oral tradition vs. historiography.
05:02This is one of my personal favorites backhand index pointing up medium dark skin tone.
05:07Saad Abubakar, studies on Ganuar Amina, walls of Amina, and urban fortifications.
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