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The Hausa People (Nigeria)

Last modified: 2016-03-25 by bruce berry
Keywords: nigeria | yoruba | star: 7 points | head | striped flag | hausa |
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Background

The Hausas are the dominant ethnic group in the north of Nigeria (40-45% of the population of the country), with Kano as their capital. In 1966, after an aborted coup, the federal system was to be abolished. The north reacted violently because this abolishment was interpreted as a means to establish domination by the south (especially the Ibos). This movement, followed by tribal and political violence, led to the secession of Biafra. So the Hausa flag might have been used during one of the several military rebellions which occurred in the north during1966 (Source: Encyclopaedia Unversalis [eunXX].
Ivan Sache, 12 Sept 1999

Hausa is a language group consisting of 10-15 million people primarily in northern Nigeria and Niger.
Michael Smuda, 02 Mar 1999


Flag of the Hausa

[Northern Nigeria 1966] image by Ivan Sache, 04 March 2001

The flag of the proposed Hausa dominated state of 1966 as shown in Flags of Aspirant Peoples [eba94] consists of five horizontal stripes: red, yellow, black, green, and light brown (shown above). Nations Without States, however, describes the 1966 flag adopted by the Hausas as having five horizontal stripes of red, yellow, indigo blue (instead of black), green and khaki beige (shown below).
Ned Smith, 03 March 2001

[Northern Nigeria, 1966] image by Ivan Sache, 03 March 2001


Other Hausa Flags and emblems - the "Northern Knot"

This site shows another flag used by the Hausa.  
Gvido Petersens

This website is a tribute website with the biography of famous Brazilian footballer Pelé in eight languages, each identified with a flag: Brazil, for Brazilian Portuguese, Argentina for Argentine Spanish, Italy for Italian, Finland for Finnish, Indonesia for Indonesian, the Esperanto flag for Esperanto, and the U.S. flag] for American English.  Hausa comes 4th in this list, between Italian and Finnish, and shows a squarish white flag with the “Northern Knot” symbol lined in black with some of its inner meshes filled in green. 

image by Antonio Martins, 07 Feb 2016

The “Northern Knot” symbol shows three interlocked (or merely superimposed) loops, forming a 2-axis symmetrical design: One larger rhombus (45°-tilted square) with concave curved sides, and two oblong “runtrack” shapes crossed at 90° on the center and filling the bigger shape’s concave quadrants.

original image by John Beadle, 12 April 2000 and updated by Antonio Martins, 07 Feb 2016

John Beadle quotes from the website of Today, a newspaper published in Abuja, Nigeria, another version of the 'Hausa symbol'  This time the version of the emblem is in blue with a globe on it. It looks stretched, though, possibly for effect.  Its normalized look is shown below.
Antonio Martins, 07 Feb 2016

image by Antonio Martins, 07 Feb 2016

The flag shown at this website is a "logo on a bedsheet" with the emblem of the Hausas. That was official in a green flag (within a white circle) and yellow cross fimbriated white from 12 December 1958 to 1963 as a Northern Region flag, probably later adopted by the Hausa people (or at least by an organization). The emblem is named "Northern Knot" and was used in the Nigerian national flag for some months in 1963 (until October) and as the Northern Nigeria regional flag. After October 1963 only the national Nigerian flag was in use.
Jaume Ollé, 05 March 1999

  image by Antonio Martins, 07 Feb 2016

Jaume Ollé’s contribution links to Northern Nigeria but on the timeline and flag designs shown thereon this is contradictory. Offering a 1:2 green-white triband with a "Northern Knot" symbol on it is as trivial as it is conjectural.
Antonio Martins, 07 Feb 2016