Hausaland

In this account, first published in 1896, the clergyman, linguist and traveller Charles Henry Robinson recalls his pioneering fieldwork among the Hausa people of West Africa. Challenging perceptions of them as a warlike race, he argues that they are primarily a trading community, excelling in a variety of commercial endeavours.

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Charles Henry Robinson (1861–1925) was a Cambridge scholar who, during the 1890s, published several books on the language, literature and culture of the Hausa people of West Africa. This study, published in 1896, documents his pioneering fieldwork during which, in three months, he travelled 1500 miles across rivers, mountains, villages and towns. Public interest in the Hausa was high at the time, due to their recruitment as troops by Britain in the Ashanti conflict, and by France to consolidate French power in Madagascar. However, Robinson argues against the perception of the Hausa as primarily a warlike people, despite their formidable strength in battle. In this vivid account of his time among them, he portrays the Hausa as successful traders who excelled above all in commercial endeavours. Exploring enterprises from textiles and tobacco to hunting and river transportation, Robinson gives fascinating first-hand insights into this important African community.