Queen Amina of Zaria – The Warrior Queen
Amina (meaning truthful, honest) was born the eldest daughter of Queen Bakwa Turunku, who founded the Zazzau Kingdom (which is in modern day Zaria, Nigeria) in 1536. Popularly known as the warrior queen, Queen Amina came to power between 1588 and 1589 A.D, becoming the first woman who ruled an African kingdom for over 30 years in the 16th century.
Queen Amina commanded a vast army which conquered many territories and greatly expanded her kingdom. She fought so many wars, and she won in all. Through her conquests, Queen Amina expanded the area under her reign southward to the great River Niger — including Idah and Nupe Land — and up to Kano in the north.
The expansion of Queen Amina’s kingdom made it the trading centre for all southern Hausaland, spanning the traditional east-to-west trans-Saharan axis and guaranteeing Zaria’s prosperity.
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Queen Amina brought untold wealth to the land. Because her people were talented metal workers, Amina introduced metal armour, including iron helmets and chain mail, to her army. She also commanded the construction of defensive murals around each military camp that she established. Later, those camps evolved into prosperous cities within those walls, and some can still be seen today in northern Nigeria. Those cities are known as walls “ganuwar of Amina” or “Amina’s walls”.
The introduction of kola nuts into the region is also attributed to Queen Amina.
Queen Amina is still celebrated across Hausaland as a great warrior queen who was born to rule.