Fulaman198:


The number of Hausa speakers are hard to gauge. I would say about 85 million in Nigeria, if we use the figure that half the country can speak Hausa, possibly more, then another 20 million from Niger Republic, 750,000 in Ghana, 500,000 in Ivory Coast, 500,000 in Cameroon, 400,000 in Chad. The other countries have an insignificant Hausa speaking population.

I would say and estimate no more than 110 million. That is a rough estimate. Correct me if I'm wrong, thanks!

So you think All of Niger belongs to Hausa by assigning all the population to them?

So where would you put Zarma-Songhai (25%), Arabic, Tamasheq, Fulfulde? ohh and Kanuri.

Mind you,, There is no way there are 85 million Hausa speakers in Nigeria.

scholes0:
This is very very inaccurate.
Hausa is not the 11th most spoken language in the world. Lies.



So you think All of Niger belongs to Hausa by assigning all the population to them?

So where would you put Zarma-Songhai (25%), Arabic, Tamasheq, Fulfulde? ohh and Kanuri.

Mind you,, There is no way there are 85 million Hausa speakers in Nigeria.

First of all I love the saltiness of your comment. But let me explain, he's modest. He puts Hausa speakers at 85m and I put them at 100m. More than half of Nigeria's population does speak Hausa after all

Just like there are minorities with other languages in northern Nigeria same goes for Niger. But 97+% percent of Nigeriens speak Hausa as the Lingua Franca. All those so called "northerners" you have as gate men and tea sellers in the south, you think they are Nigerian or even Hausa? Lol

Then have Sudan with at least a couple of million speakers. its spoken in almost every country within the sahelien belt and hajj route and even Saudi itself.

If jealously or hatred is what is making you so irked I assure you, I only enjoy comments like yours.

oodualover:
Hausa, 150. Is this a joke?

It's about damn time the number of Hausa speakers stops being underestimated. Definitely in the 9 figure area and growing.

It is after all the most spoken indigenous African language.

scholes0:



So you think All of Niger belongs to Hausa by assigning all the population to them?

So where would you put Zarma-Songhai (25%), Arabic, Tamasheq, Fulfulde? ohh and Kanuri.

Mind you,, There is no way there are 85 million Hausa speakers in Nigeria.

Niger is a lot like Nigeria in that regardless of whichever ethnic group someone belongs to, they speak Hausa. It is the main lingua franca in Niger.

scholes0:
This is very very inaccurate.
Hausa is not the 11th most spoken language in the world. Lies.



So you think All of Niger belongs to Hausa by assigning all the population to them?

So where would you put Zarma-Songhai (25%), Arabic, Tamasheq, Fulfulde? ohh and Kanuri.

Mind you,, There is no way there are 85 million Hausa speakers in Nigeria.

Nigeria is a country of 170 million people. The entire North speaks Hausa as the lingua franca regardless of what ethnic group they belong to, so it's definitely between 80 - 85 million. There are more 2nd speakers of the language than native Hausa.

DevdanSanguine:


First of all I love the saltiness of your comment. But let me explain, he's modest. He puts Hausa speakers at 85m and I put them at 100m. More than half of Nigeria's population does speak Hausa after all

Just like there are minorities with other languages in northern Nigeria same goes for Niger. But 97+% percent of Nigeriens speak Hausa as the Lingua Franca. All those so called "northerners" you have as gate men and tea sellers in the south, you think they are Nigerian or even Hausa? Lol

Then have Sudan with at least a couple of million speakers. its spoken in almost every country within the sahelien belt and hajj route and even Saudi itself.

If jealously or hatred is what is making you so irked I assure you, I only enjoy comments like yours.

Exactly

Fulaman198:


The number of Hausa speakers are hard to gauge. I would say about 85 million in Nigeria, if we use the figure that half the country can speak Hausa, possibly more, then another 20 million from Niger Republic, 750,000 in Ghana, 500,000 in Ivory Coast, 500,000 in Cameroon, 400,000 in Chad. The other countries have an insignificant Hausa speaking population.

I would say and estimate no more than 110 million. That is a rough estimate. Correct me if I'm wrong, thanks!

You forgot Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea amongst others but I guess like you said those don't have significant numbers. But Eritrea I know because I have heard of clashes, Sudan as well. The figure in Sudan is out in millions though I don't know how true but I know there was an incident where the president didn't want Hausa and fulani voters in an election and there was an outrage. Then Saudi should have anywhere between 500,000 to a million.

This is just my point of view. Maybe I'm too biased but I guess your figure and that of ABU (120) are also acceptable.

DevdanSanguine:


You forgot Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea amongst others but I guess like you said those don't have significant numbers. But Eritrea I know because I have heard of clashes, Sudan as well. The figure in Sudan is out in millions though I don't know how true but I know there was an incident where the president didn't want Hausa and fulani voters in an election and there was an outrage. Then Saudi should have anywhere between 500,000 to a million.

Yah the Hausa population in Sudan is pretty significant too, about 1.5 million. It is one of those insignificant numbers although it's more than Cameroon.

Yeah, you are right about how Hausa and Fulani are treated in Sudan, it's despicable. Many of the Fulani in Sudan are Mbororo'en.

Number of Hausa speakers definitely exceeds 100 million for sure.

Fulaman198:


Yah the Hausa population in Sudan is pretty significant too, about 1.5 million. It is one of those insignificant numbers although it's more than Cameroon.

Yeah, you are right about how Hausa and Fulani are treated in Sudan, it's despicable. Many of the Fulani in Sudan are Mbororo'en.

You saw my mention before the edit. Well...

Like I said. I'm probably biased but your figure and that of ABU seem justifiable.

As for Sudan well everything about their politics is despicable.

That's interesting. No wonder nearly every big international media house has a Hausa version. Here is something I wrote about the BBC Hausa. http://www.heavy.ng/bbc-hausa-five-facts/ Will help with the perspective.

DevdanSanguine:


You forgot Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea amongst others but I guess like you said those don't have significant numbers. But Eritrea I know because I have heard of clashes, Sudan as well. The figure in Sudan is out in millions though I don't know how true but I know there was an incident where the president didn't want Hausa and fulani voters in an election and there was an outrage. Then Saudi should have anywhere between 500,000 to a million.

This is just my point of view. Maybe I'm too biased but I guess your figure and that of ABU (120) are also acceptable.

There are no Hausa in Ethiopia.

Hati13:

There are no Hausa in Ethiopia.

Lol! A source online said there's 100,000 of us. Not too significant but there are some nonetheless.

DevdanSanguine:


Lol! A source online said there's 100,000 of us. Not too significant but there are some nonetheless.

Just checked online and you are right. Sorry for my mistake.

Hausa are Afroasiatic (you know this) and there ancestors migrated from Ethiopia to West and Central Africa some thousands years ago. It was there that there current identity emerged. If you know, at what period was some of them reappeared in Ethiopia?

Hati13:

Just checked online and you are right. Sorry for my mistake.

Hausa are Afroasiatic (you know this) and there ancestors migrated from Ethiopia to West and Central Africa some thousands years ago. It was there that there current identity emerged. If you know, at what period was some of them reappeared in Ethiopia?

From what I know some got stuck around the hajj route with no money to come back or just found greener pastures.

Been doing some reading and I see this theory of yours pop up a lot. But if you were to convince me that this were true, apart from language family. What would you point to?

DevdanSanguine:


From what I know some got stuck around the hajj route with no money to come back for just found greener pastures.

Been doing some reading and I see this theory of yours pop up a lot. But if you were to convince me that this were true, apart from language family. What would you point to?

There is some DNA connection between Hause and Ethiopians. Language is very important in the history of ppl. What I read in Chadic family language speakers in general is that few Afroasiatic migrated to Central Africa and intermingled with Nilotic groups. Through time those new offsprings had their own identity. This group further spread to West Africa and intermingled with diverse other groups and their language diversified. Many diverse groups were also just assimilated in Chadic speakers identity.

Hati13:

There is some DNA connection between Hause and Ethiopians. Language is very important in the history of ppl. What I read in Chadic family language speakers in general is that few Afroasiatic migrated to Central Africa and intermingled with Nilotic groups. Through time those new offsprings had their own identity. This group further spread to West Africa and intermingled with diverse other groups and their language diversified. Many diverse groups were also just assimilated in Chadic speakers identity.

East African admixture for hausas is usually less than 0.5 percent. Do you reckon thats enough to warrant validation?

What's interesting about what you say is it stipulates the possibility of some hausas being afro Asiatic and others not. What's also interesting is apparently about 50% of hausas carry a west Eurasian haplogroup. Normally I'd say it's due to fulanis but in this case fulanis don't have this particular haplogroup. And African DNA in hausas is not ev38 like other west Africans but similar to that of nilotics and I think this validates your claim further.

The whole thing is pretty confusing. Usually I don't pay too much mind to these theories but given the facts at hand I guess there maybe some truth to this.

DevdanSanguine:


East African admixture for hausas is usually less than 0.5 percent. Do you reckon thats enough to warrant validation?

What's interesting about what you say is it stipulates the possibility of some hausas being afro Asiatic and others not. What's also interesting is apparently about 50% of hausas carry a west Eurasian haplogroup. Normally I'd say it's due to fulanis but in this case fulanis don't have this particular haplogroup. And African DNA in hausas is not ev38 like other west Africans but similar to that of nilotics and I think this validates your claim further.

The whole thing is pretty confusing. Usually I don't pay too much mind to these theories but given the facts at hand I guess there maybe some truth to this.

Yeah Hausa ancestors were Afroasiatic and other groups; especially Nilotic that were assimilated into Afroasiatic identity. But in language term, they are full Afroasiatic.

Afroasiatic originated in Ethiopia and this is why I said that the partial or even less ancestors of Chadic speakers in general descended from Ethiopia.

I think the main reason why 50% Hausa carry Eurasia DNA is because Proto-Afroasiatic were from Eurasia. This group then migrated to the Horn of Africa (during the back to Africa migration) and through time Afroasiatic emerged.

Hati13:

Yeah Hausa ancestors were Afroasiatic and other groups; especially Nilotic that were assimilated into Afroasiatic identity. But in language term, they are full Afroasiatic.

Afroasiatic originated in Ethiopia and this is why I said that the partial or even less ancestors of Chadic speakers in general descended from Ethiopia.

I think the main reason why 50% Hausa carry Eurasia DNA is because Proto-Afroasiatic were from Eurasia. This group then migrated to the Horn of Africa (during the back to Africa migration) and through time Afroasiatic emerged.

Well when you put it in terms like this it makes a lot more sense than folklore. The Kano chronicles has spoken of migrations but hasn't specified regions. The bayajidda myth which I reckon is utter rubbish spoken of eastern or middle Eastern origin for the figure but like I said I don't believe a single part of that stupid story. I think linguistics and DNA are much more reliable. I have very limited knowledge on this but if you could recommend some articles that would be swell.

Side note:

One thing I admire about you east Africans is you all tend to have or at least try to get an in-depth knowledge of history and anthropology I don't even know why, maybe it's the complexities of your societies but it's laudable.

Fulaman198:
A lot of you here are Naive. No German does not have 229 million speakers. Germany as a country is much smaller than Nigeria population wise. The only 3 German speaking countries in the world with significant German speaking populations are Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

NO you are wrong, there are native german speakers in the united states too.

engrjoseph208:
NO you are wrong, there are native german speakers in the united states too.

LOL

DevdanSanguine:


Well when you put it in terms like this it makes a lot more sense than folklore. The Kano chronicles has spoken of migrations but hasn't specified regions. The bayajidda myth which I reckon is utter rubbish spoken of eastern or middle Eastern origin for the figure but like I said I don't believe a single part of that stupid story. I think linguistics and DNA are much more reliable. I have very limited knowledge on this but if you could recommend some articles that would be swell.

I forgot the given article which I read about Chadic speakers, but you could just google Chadic speakers and will find some articles.

DevdanSanguine:

Side note:

One thing I admire about you east Africans is you all tend to have or at least try to get an in-depth knowledge of history and anthropology I don't even know why, maybe it's the complexities of your societies but it's laudable.

Thanks for the complement, but I don't think so. For example, here in Ethiopia most don't even know their history well let alone history and anthropology of others. Illiteracy is a major problem.

Are you from Nigeria or other?

engrjoseph208:
NO you are wrong, there are native german speakers in the united states too.

In what states? because I lived in the United States for a long time. There have not been many native German speakers in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century. The only native speakers are German/Swiss/Austrian recent immigrants.

America is very BIG on everyone speaking English. They are very intolerant of other cultures.

DevdanSanguine:


Well when you put it in terms like this it makes a lot more sense than folklore. The Kano chronicles has spoken of migrations but hasn't specified regions. The bayajidda myth which I reckon is utter rubbish spoken of eastern or middle Eastern origin for the figure but like I said I don't believe a single part of that stupid story. I think linguistics and DNA are much more reliable. I have very limited knowledge on this but if you could recommend some articles that would be swell.

Side note:

One thing I admire about you east Africans is you all tend to have or at least try to get an in-depth knowledge of history and anthropology I don't even know why, maybe it's the complexities of your societies but it's laudable.

@Bolded
I don't think it's rubbish, but a historical misrepresentation. The folklore is real only that Bayajidda was not the Original progenitor of the Hausa ppl.

I think the following threads could be useful to that end.

https://www.nairaland.com/3035589/unpacking-bayajidda-myth-crisis-legitimacy

https://www.nairaland.com/3384056/where-ancestral-home-all-hausas

Baaballiyo:


@Bolded
I don't think it's rubbish, but a historical misrepresentation. The folklore is real only that Bayajidda was not the Original progenitor of the Hausa ppl.

I think the following threads could be useful to that end.

https://www.nairaland.com/3035589/unpacking-bayajidda-myth-crisis-legitimacy

https://www.nairaland.com/3384056/where-ancestral-home-all-hausas

Hmmmm. Interesting discussions. I saw Danzubair making some very funny claims about gobir there as well but that's besides the point. You made some good points.

I also like your belief that the banza bakwai theory was fabricated which also makes the story more reliable and the overall explanation of Hausa ancestry. You also spoke extensively about the link between hausas and Ethiopia which means you subscribe to Dan masanin Kanos theory.

Overall I would love to hear your general opinion on the afro Asiatic theory.

DevdanSanguine:


Hmmmm. Interesting discussions. I saw Danzubair making some very funny claims about gobir there as well but that's besides the point. You made some good points.

I also like your belief that the banza bakwai theory was fabricated which also makes the story more reliable and the overall explanation of Hausa ancestry. You also spoke extensively about the link between hausas and Ethiopia which means you subscribe to Dan masanin Kanos theory.

Overall I would love to hear your general opinion on the afro Asiatic theory.

Yes he did, but I think it's out of "superiority contest" that used to exists between the different Hausa states in the past and still exist today.


Actually what the late Dan-masani said was not his own theory, but a historical account that is popular within the circle of Kano historians especially the unlettered ones (oral historians).


As M.G. Smith said in his book Government of Kano 1350-1950 " Any historical statement intergrates three dimension of reality; Certitude, Significance and adequacy......... As regards certitude such statements (should) presume or refer to concrete events and/or conditions that prevailed at specific times and places in recent or remoter past". So overall I believe the Afro-asiatic theory to be plausible, bc this account have concrete evidence to back it, like the existence of the towns and name of places named after the Original ancestors and it's a folklore that was passed down verbally over many centuries (so we can't summarily discard the whole of it) and backed by a little of modern science. Though am not so sure but I think Hausa language is the only language in Nigeria that is categorised as an Afro-asiatic language. With regards to Significance the theory is worthy of acceptance, since it shade more light on the possible link between the concrete evidances (mentioned) and the remoter and obscure past. But the account falls short of being adequate so should not be considered as a definate historical origin of Hausa ppl. I hv my reservations on it, but it plausibility by far out weight its im-plausibility. The major problem with the account is that its mainly found in Kano, and Hausa ppl of Daura, Katsina and Zazzau and elsewhere may dismissed it easily (due to the superiority contest I mentioned earlier) and scientific data is not adequate enough. Why I stick to it ? Is bc the Hausa ppl don't hv any other account more plausible or as near as plausible as this account.

Just my humble opinion.

Baaballiyo:


Yes he did, but I think it's out of "superiority contest" that used to exists between the different Hausa states in the past and still exist today.


Actually what the late Dan-masani said was not his own theory, but a historical account that is popular within the circle of Kano historians especially the unlettered ones (oral historians).


As M.G. Smith said in his book Government of Kano 1350-1950 " Any historical statement intergrates three dimension of reality; Certitude, Significance and adequacy......... As regards certitude such statements (should) presume or refer to concrete events and/or conditions that prevailed at specific times and places in recent or remoter past". So overall I believe the Afro-asiatic theory to be plausible, bc this account have concrete evidence to back it, like the existence of the towns and name of places named after the Original ancestors and it's a folklore that was passed down verbally over many centuries (so we can't summarily discard the whole of it) and backed by a little of modern science. Though am not so sure but I think Hausa language is the only language in Nigeria that is categorised as an Afro-asiatic language. With regards to Significance the theory is worthy of acceptance, since it shade more light on the possible link between the concrete evidances (mentioned) and the remoter and obscure past. But the account falls short of being adequate so should not be considered as a definate historical origin of Hausa ppl. I hv my reservations on it, but it plausibility by far out weight its im-plausibility. The major problem with the account is that its mainly found in Kano, and Hausa ppl of Daura, Katsina and Zazzau and elsewhere may dismissed it easily (due to the superiority contest I mentioned earlier) and scientific data is not adequate enough. Why I stick to it ? Is bc the Hausa ppl don't hv any other account more plausible or as near as plausible as this account.

Just my humble opinion.

But if the indigenous people have these stories and folklore. And scientists also stipulate this theory like hati13 pointed out. Does that not give it validity?

scholes0:
This is very very inaccurate.
Hausa is not the 11th most spoken language in the world. Lies.



So you think All of Niger belongs to Hausa by assigning all the population to them?

So where would you put Zarma-Songhai (25%), Arabic, Tamasheq, Fulfulde? ohh and Kanuri.

Mind you,, There is no way there are 85 million Hausa speakers in Nigeria.

do you know that most tribes from niger speaks hausa as a second language? including tamasheq /tuaregs. They can speak hausa.

DevdanSanguine:


But if the indigenous people have these stories and folklore. And scientists also stipulate this theory like hati13 pointed out. Does that not give it validity?

Yes, for me and many others consider it valid, but for now it's Validity still remain an individual issue, since Modern historians especially Academics are reluctant to inculcate it as the Valid Origin of Hausa ppl. I don't know why, but they prefer to stick to the Bayajidda account, and to be sincere the Bayajidda account (as the origin of Hausa not Origin of the ancientHausa ruling class) was championed by the Colonial people.

DevdanSanguine:


Hmmmm. Interesting discussions. I saw Danzubair making some very funny claims about gobir there as well but that's besides the point. You made some good points.

I also like your belief that the banza bakwai theory was fabricated which also makes the story more reliable and the overall explanation of Hausa ancestry. You also spoke extensively about the link between hausas and Ethiopia which means you subscribe to Dan masanin Kanos theory.

Overall I would love to hear your general opinion on the afro Asiatic theory.

Not that funny I only gave my own opinion based on what our history custodian in Gobir (the Akalawa kindred in Tsibirin Gobir) referred to us, and trully they are, only if one make extensive research and can tell the truth. But it come to my surprise how brother baballiyo labelled us nonhausas da rana tsakkiya duk da cewa bashi bane farau ba ga fadin haka, have encountered some with these idiologies. What i know is Gobirawa speaks hausa which no Kanawa hausas can interpret, we put them in puzzle whenever we speak our dialet to them thereby making us their professors in hausa. A yita a gama su dinne dai.

Have not read any of his books wlh yan bayanan da nike tattarowane a nan yanar gizo na gabatar. Ina karuwa daku duka danganeda tarihin hausa, ance ilimi kogone. Nagode.

Check here
http://gargajiyarbahaushe..com.ng/

DevdanSanguine:


First of all I love the saltiness of your comment. But let me explain, he's modest. He puts Hausa speakers at 85m and I put them at 100m. More than half of Nigeria's population does speak Hausa after all

Just like there are minorities with other languages in northern Nigeria same goes for Niger. But 97+% percent of Nigeriens speak Hausa as the Lingua Franca. All those so called "northerners" you have as gate men and tea sellers in the south, you think they are Nigerian or even Hausa? Lol

Then have Sudan with at least a couple of million speakers. its spoken in almost every country within the sahelien belt and hajj route and even Saudi itself.

If jealously or hatred is what is making you so irked I assure you, I only enjoy comments like yours.

The Hausa figures still sound overrated. If Nigeria population is 170 Million, then there is no way Hausa speakers in Nigeria can be more than or even up to 85 million. It's not everybody in the north that speak Hausa. The bulk of Kwara, Kogi and Benue do not speak Hausa. Even, there are parts of Borno and Adamawa that do not understand Hausa. Like Fulaman said the correct number of Hausa speakers should be less than 110 million

ofsegs:


The Hausa figures still sound overrated. If Nigeria population is 170 Million, then there is no way Hausa speakers in Nigeria can be more than or even up to 85 million. It's not everybody in the north that speak Hausa. The bulk of Kwara, Kogi and Benue do not speak Hausa. Even, there are parts of Borno and Adamawa that do not understand Hausa. Like Fulaman said the correct number of Hausa speakers should be less than 110 million

Nigeria's population is projected at 195 million in 2018. Like I mentioned, Benue and Kogi are the only states with less than 50 percent Hausa speakers. I know Nigerian politics might say different but I have never considered kwara as part of the north and I don't think kwarans do. However I do know some kwarans especially those with the Gambari Surname that speak fluent Hausa.

Anyways. I honestly wouldn't mind anywhere between 120-150. Whatever puts it at its rightful place as Africa's most spoken indigenous language is fine with me.