Ethnic Residential Segregation in Kano, Nigeria and Its Antecedents

Abstract

This paper discusses how the settlement known as Sabon gari, in Kano, Nigeria was established. Kano, as Islamic city populated by the Kanawa, resisted vehemently the British colonization in 1903. The colonial authorities became keenly aware of the need to respect the sanctity of Islam in Kano. Within this framework, the Sabon gari settlement was founded for the dominantly Christian southern Nigerian immigrants who trooped into the cities. As the Kanawa distanced themselves from the colonial authorities most especially on religious grounds, more southern Nigerians migrated into Kano to serve the whites, consolidating the image of the Sabon gari as a settlement of "strangers." Soon, Kanawa economy fell into the hands of the southern Nigerian strangers domiciled in the Sabon gari, giving rise to the frequent ethnic and religious violence in the city, the more recent of which took place in 1995.