Kano

Capital of Kano state in northern Nigeria, trade centre of an irrigated area; population (2007 est) 3,848,900. Kano is a major centre for the groundnut and cattle trade. Products of local industry include rolled steel, bicycles, assembled motor vehicles, glass, furniture, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, office equipment, flour, and vegetable oil. Kano is a tourist centre with trade in leather, brass, cloth, silverware, and beads. Founded about 1000 BC, Kano is a walled city, with New Kano extending beyond the walls.

The present city was built on the site of a 9th-century town. The old city along the Jakara River is surrounded by a wall 12 m/39 ft high and 20 km/12 mi long. The traditional houses are made of sun-dried bricks plastered with mud. Kano was for centuries a great commercial centre as a caravan terminus for trans-Saharan trade. The emirate of Kano was a great and rich political force before it was captured by the Fulani in 1807, but it retained its leading position in West African commerce. It was taken by the British in 1903.

Kano has Nigeria's second international airport, and is a major centre of higher education, whose institutions include Bayero University (1977), an Arabic law school (1934), an agricultural reseach institute, and several institutes of teacher education.