Hausa people

Hausa

مُتَنٜىٰنْ هَوْسَا / هَوْسَاوَا Mutanen Hausa / Hausawa
Hausa emblem[1][2] is an older and traditionally established emblem of Hausa identity – the 'Dagin Arewa' or 'Northern knot' – in a star shape, used in historic and traditional architecture, design and hand-embroidery.[3][4]
Total population
85 million
Regions with significant populations
Nigeria	69,200,000[5]
Niger	13,400,000[6]
Cameroon	1,040,000[7]
Ivory Coast	1,000,000[8]
Sudan	664,000[9]
Ghana	275,000[10]
Benin	36,360[11]
Eritrea	30,000[12]
Togo	21,900[13]
Gabon	17,000[14][13]
Algeria	12,000[8]
Languages
Hausa
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Other Chadic-speaking peoples, Cushitic-speaking peoples, Habesha peoples, Nilo-Saharans, Omotic-speaking peoples and Tuareg

The Hausa (autonyms for singular: Bahaushe (m), Bahaushiya (f); plural: Hausawa and general: Hausa;^[15] exonyms: Ausa; Ajami: مُتَنٜىٰنْ هَوْسَا / هَوْسَاوَا; Tyap: A̱kpat) are a native ethnic group in West Africa.^[16][17] They speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family.^[18][19] The Hausa are a culturally homogeneous people based primarily in the Sahelian and the sparse savanna areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria respectively,^[20] numbering around 86 million people, with significant populations in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Togo, Ghana,^[10] as well as smaller populations in Sudan, Eritrea,^[12] Equatorial Guinea^{[citation needed]}, Gabon, Senegal, Gambia. Predominantly Hausa-speaking communities are scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route north and east traversing the Sahara, with an especially large population in and around the town of Agadez.^[21] Other Hausa have also moved to large coastal cities in the region such as Lagos, Port Harcourt, Accra, Abidjan, Banjul and Cotonou as well as to parts of North Africa such as Libya over the course of the last 500 years. The Hausa traditionally live in small villages as well as in precolonial towns and cities where they grow crops, raise livestock including cattle as well as engage in trade, both local and long distance across Africa. They speak the Hausa language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Chadic group. The Hausa aristocracy had historically developed an equestrian based culture.^[22] Still a status symbol of the traditional nobility in Hausa society, the horse still features in the Eid day celebrations, known as Ranar Sallah (in English: the Day of the Prayer).^[23] Daura is the cultural center of the Hausa people. The town predates all the other major Hausa towns in tradition and culture.^[24]