Migration is a universal culture across human history. The culture of migration is unavoidable in human history from time immemorial (evolution of mankind) to date. By definition, human migration is the movement by people from one place to another with the intention of settling, permanently or temporarily in a new location (Wikipedia). The said movement could be external, which is often over long distances or internal within a short range within the province, state or kingdom. Experts in the history of Hausaland observed that, one aspect of the internal history of Hausaland was large scale emigration from the area in the seventeenth century (Adamu, 1978:27). This paper is an attempt to study the religio-cultural impact of migration in respect of native Hausa-Muslim scholars of Zinder to the rest of Hausa-Muslim world. The paper intends to look through factors behind their migration, their traces in the many regions of Hausaland, their impact on and relevance to the receiver population. In addition, their identity, cultural inter-marriage and assimilation (if any) in the host communities would be critically assessed. In the opinion of this paper, the migration of Hausa native speakers (of whatever status or category) regardless of the reasons behind it, is hitherto referred herein, as internal migration.
Author: Bunza, A.M.
