Amina of Zazzau

Amina, also called Aminatu, is a Hausa historical figure of the city-state of Zazzau, today Zaria in Kaduna State. According to Wikipedia, she was born around 1533 and died in 1610, the daughter of Nikatau, the 22nd ruler of Zazzau, and Queen Bakwa Turunku.

Traditions about her differ. Palace tradition holds that she reigned as queen (sarauniya), while other traditions say she was a princess (gimbiya); her name does not appear on the regnal lists in the Chronicle of Abuja or in the two lists published by E. J. Arnett. Some traditions say she became queen after the death of her brother Karama in 1576 and ruled the territories she conquered.

According to oral traditions collected by the anthropologist David E. Jones, Amina was brought up at her grandfather's court and instructed by him in political and military matters. At sixteen she was named Magajiya, heir apparent. After her parents died, around 1566, her brother became king, and Amina became known as a leading warrior in his cavalry (Wikipedia).

Zazzau was one of the seven original Hausa states, and before Amina's time already one of the largest. Traditions say that soon after becoming queen she began a 34-year campaign of expansion to the south-east and south-west, since Kano, Katsina and the Jos Plateau blocked the way north and east, with an army of 20,000 foot soldiers and 1,000 cavalry, conquering lands as far as Kwararafa and Nupe. To protect her lands she is said to have surrounded her towns with earthen walls; many survive and are known as ganuwar Amina, "Amina's walls". The circumstances of her death are uncertain: one tradition says she died in battle at Attaagar, probably near Idah (Wikipedia).

She is still celebrated in Hausa praise songs as "Amina daughter of Nikatau, a woman as capable as a man", remembered as a leader of men in war (Wikipedia).