It is the traditional state of the Dabo dynasty who have ruled as emirs over the city-state since the 19th century. Kano Emirate Council is the current traditional institution inside the city boundaries of Kano, and under the authority of the Government of Kano State.
The city is one of the seven medieval Hausa kingdoms. The principal inhabitants of the city are the Hausa and Fulani people. Centuries before British colonization, Kano was strongly cosmopolitan with settled populations of Arab , Tuareg , Kanuri and remains so with the Hausa language spoken as a lingua-franca by over 70 million speakers in the region. Islam arrived in the city in the 11th century or earlier primarily through the trans-Saharan trade.
As a result, Kano became wealthy and the commercial nerve centre of the region and Northern Nigeria , and is still associated as the " centre of commerce ". Kano was originally known as Dala, after the hill , and was referred to as such until the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th by Bornoan sources. In the 7th century, Dala Hill , a residual hill in Kano, was the site of a hunting and gathering community that engaged in iron work Nok culture ; it is unknown whether these were Hausa people or speakers of Niger—Congo languages.
Barbushe was from the lineage of the hunter family maparauta who were the Maguzawa and the city's first settlers. They worshipped the deity Tsumburbura Elizabeth Isichei notes that the description of Barbushe is similar to those of Sao people. While small chiefdoms were previously present in the area, according to the Kano Chronicle, Bagauda son of Bawo and grandson of the mythical hero Bayajidda , [ 12 ] became the first king of Kano in , reigning until His own son, Tsaraki — , the fifth king, completed them during his reign.
In the 12th century, Ali Yaji from Kudawa lineage as King of Kano renounced his allegiance to the cult of Tsumburbura, converted to Islam and proclaimed the Sultanate that was to last until its fall in the 19th century. The reign of Yaji ensued an era of expansionism that saw Kano becoming the capital of a pseudo Habe Empire.
