HAUSA, a long-headed people of northern Nigeria (Emirates of Sokoto, Katsina, Zaria) and, in the French area north of Kano, the sultanate of Zinder. They are of mixed blood; the organiza tion is feudal with local centralization. The paramount chief is assisted by a council of notables and court functionaries. The Muslim laws of inheritance are applied. Marriage between brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law is common. The oldest brother of the deceased succeeds to headship of the family. They are cultivators and great traders, whose harmonious language is spread over the whole of Central Africa. They are Mohammedans, but there are many animistic survivals and traces of totemism, with belief in witchcraft. The priest-king was killed in certain even tualities.
See Tremearne, Hausa Superstitions and Customs; Meek, The Northern Tribes of Nigeria (1925). (H. LAB.)