When discussion turns, as it occasionally does, to consideration of a lingua franca for Africa, Hausa and Swahili are the top contenders. Swahili is the most widely diffused African language, but because the population density is lower in East than in West Africa, it takes second place to Hausa, numerically. As a language of commerce and interethnic communication, Hausa has outgrown its ethnic base. In Nigeria it is spoken by about forty million people, or close to 45 percent of the population, but it is the mother tongue for only about half this number. The Hausa language is classified--like Tavinagh, the Tuareg language, and Amharic--as neo-Semitic or Afro-Asiatic. Some northern states, such as Borno, Gongola, and Plateau, have only a tiny Hausa population, yet Hausa is increasingly used for communication between disparate ethnic groups. Hausa's importance as a major African vernacular is underscored by the number of Hausa-language programs broadcast from non-African radio stations, including the BBC of London, Voice of America, West Germany, the Soviet Union, and China.
The Hausa and Fulani are often taken to be a single group. This perception is due in part to reciprocity between Hausa farmers and Fulani pastoralists, and in part to the fact that the Hausa have accepted the rule of Fulani emirs (kings) since the Fulani jihads of the early nineteenth century. Hausa depend on Fulani herdsmen for dairy products and most of their meat. Seasonal visits by Fulani cattle herds to Hausa farmland are encouraged so manuring can take place. In turn, Fulani obtain supplies of grain, salt, cloth, and other goods and services. Through these exchanges, the lives of the Hausa and Fulani have become interwined.
The Hausa are of mixed origins and are generally regarded as those people who speak the Hausa language by birth. Adherence to Islam, rule by emirate, agricultural production for subsistence and exchange, and a propensity for trade are the principal characteristics of the Hausa proper, differentiating them from the Maguzawa, pagan Hausa-speaking groups who are scattered throughout the center of Hausaland.
Well-known as itinerant traders, the Hausa have a long history of contact with people to the north and south of the Sahara. Trans-Saharan caravans linked Hausaland with Tripoli and Tunisia, and Hausa traders took up residence at the major trade stations at Ghadames and Ghat oases in the Sahara. Trade tours to the southeast brought them to the fringes of the Congo in what are now the Central African Republic and Cameroon. To the southeast, the Hausa traders were in touch with Lagos, an important port. With currency consisting of silver bars, brass rods, and cowrie shells, they plied a trade antimony, beads, cloth and clothes, slaves, and horses. Using human porterage and such beasts of burden as pack oxen, horses, or camels, their caravans ranged from two hundred persons or fewer to well over five thousand.
The Fulani are a mysterious people whose origins have never been determined. Their nomadic pastoralism has resulted in their being found in many countries throughout Sahelian West Africa. As a consequence, they are also known as Fulbe, Peuhl, Bororo, Torobe, and Wodaabe. Due to their light complexions, slender features, exotic adornment, and graceful demeanor, they are generally admired throughout West Africa. Light skin color, referred to as "red," ranks high in the Hausa criteria of beauty, and henna skin dyes are often used by women to achieve this
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