Pre-1500 — Ancient settlement#
Katsina is settled by Hausa-speaking iron-workers from at least the 11th century. The Durbi-ta-Kusheyi mounds at Katsina city — burial tumuli of pre-Islamic Sarakuna — are the oldest known royal burials in Hausaland. Katsina sits on the southern edge of the Sahel, on the great west-east trade road that runs from Timbuktu through Gao, Agadez and Kano to Bornu.
1500 — 1804 — Pre-colonial polities#
Katsina is one of the seven Hausa Bakwai and the leading centre of Islamic scholarship in the central Sudan from the 15th century. The Wangara (Soninke) and Tuareg scholarly diaspora make Katsina the *Goron Dutse* tradition's home; al-Maghili teaches at Katsina before moving to Kano. The Habe Sarki Muhammadu Korau (1445–95) is the first formally Muslim Sarkin Katsina; under his successors Katsina becomes the wealthier and more cosmopolitan rival of Kano, with a particular reputation as a centre of learning. The 18th-century Katsina poets Dan Marina and Dan Masani write some of the most important Hausa Ajami poetry.
1804 — 1903 — The long 19th century#
The Fulani flag-bearer Ummarun Dallaji conquers Katsina in 1806–07 and founds the Sullubawa-Katsinawa dynasty as a Sokoto emirate. Maradi (in modern Niger Republic) becomes the seat of the displaced Habe sarkuna, who continue to claim the throne — the Maradawa/Sullubawa rivalry runs for the rest of the 19th century. The British WAFF takes Katsina without serious resistance in March 1903 (after the fall of Kano); Emir Abubakar surrenders and is retained as Emir under indirect rule.
1900 — 1960 — Colonial provinces#
Katsina Province within Northern Nigeria. Katsina College — founded 1922 as the Higher College for the Northern Provinces — becomes the single most important educational institution in northern Nigerian history, educating Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Aminu Kano, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Shehu Shagari and Umaru Yar'Adua. The 1953 anti-Action-Group violence reaches Katsina; the Lugard-era leather and groundnut industry continues.
1960 — present — State creation chain#
- 27 May 1967 — North-Central State (capital Kaduna), one of the 12 states.
- 3 February 1976 — Kaduna State, on Murtala's 7-state northern reform.
- 23 September 1987 — Babangida's Decree No. 24 creates Katsina State (capital Katsina) from northern Kaduna, in the third wave of state creation.
- 2014 onwards — Katsina becomes the northern epicentre of banditry/armed brigandage; the 11 December 2020 Kankara abduction (333 boys from GSSS Kankara) is the largest single mass abduction in Nigerian history after Chibok.Northern Abandonment Cycle