Gusau

About Gusau

Gusau is a city in northwestern Nigeria. It is the capital of Zamfara State and also the name of the state's Local Government Area of Gusau, which has an area of 3,364 km (2,090 mi)² and a population of 383,162 as of the 2006 census.

The current local government chairman is Yahaya Garba.

Gusau City is located north of a line drawn from Kebbi to Kano in Nigeria. The Hausa people are the indigenous inhabitants of Gusau.

Gusau district was one of the Districts that emerged following the jihad movement of the nineteenth century in Hausa land, led by the legendary Sheikh Usman dan Fodio. It was founded around 1799 by Mallam Muhammadu Sambo Dan Ashafa, a disciple of dan Fodio. Gusau district only became prominent after the fall of Yandoto in 1806.

Since its emergence as an important settlement in the Sokoto Caliphate, Gusau town attracted attention as an important agricultural and commercial center. At any rate, the town and its surrounding areas had attracted large presence of agriculturists; farmers and livestock rearers, especially cattle owning Fulani.

Gusau before the colonial period, was an agrarian society; agriculture was the backbone...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.