KUFENA

Kufena is located at about six kilometres west of Zaria. It developed as an ancient settlement around the massive granitic outcrops that dominated the area. It featured prominently in the early history of Zaria as one of the seats of government of the state of Zazzau.
It is still difficult to talk with precision about the antiquity of Kufena. This is because information about the time when the settlement began still remains quite hazy. However, like Turunku, archaeological remains here contributed to the knowledge of the antiquity of the area. The impressive assemblage of archaeological artefacts on the area suggests that man was in continuous habitation of the area since the late Stone Age period. It should be noted that the archaeological information is limited in the sense that the artefacts could not give us information about their makers and by implication the identity of the people that first settled on the site. This would have been very useful, as the tribal identity of the early inhabitants of Kufena had been generating heated debates.
According to local tradition, Kufena was founded by a group of hunters who inhabited the area at the early period of its existence. This idea of giant hunters featured prominently in the traditions of several communities in Hausa land which according to Historians appeared to represent the collective memory of the people of the hunting community of probably the late stone age whose ways of life faded away as a result of the introduction and increasing use of iron tools before or in the middle of the first millennium A.D.
Inferences from linguistic studies seem to suggest that the Hausa speaking group occupied the site since ancient time. This view is based on information from the local tradition, which indicates the presence of two giants residing on two prominent hills on the plains of Zaria. These are Kufena and Madarkachi that are said to have been Hausa expressions derived from “Madara ka chi”, and “Kafe nan”. Meaning “Madara, have you eaten?” and “Keep it there” respectively. The first expression that is “Madara ka chi” was made by the giant residing on the Kufena hill inviting apparently the other giant on Madarkachi hill to eat. While the second expression, i.e. “kafe nan” was apparently a response to the call. This may be a clear demonstration that the earliest populations living on these inselbergs settlements were Hausa speaking people.
As a result of continued migration of people into the region, the gradual expansion in agricultural productions, trade and commerce as well as industrial growth, there seemed to have been noticeable increase in the number of population living around the towns of Kufena and Madarkachi. This consequently led to the extension of human settlements, as the settlements around the inselbergs became contracted and inadequate due to population explosion caused by the factors enumerated above. This may explain why the Kufena settlement was extended to areas within the Birni. The popularly known “Amina wall” that linked up with the Birni wall. Amina wall initially extended up to the Madarkachi wall before the construction of the outer Zaria wall.
However, considering the strategic importance of the area around Babban Dodo as a convergent point of trade routes, one will think that it was possible that the rulers of Kufena extended their control over the area in order to secure the trade routes especially the junction of the trade routes around Babban Dodo in order to ensure the economic prosperity of the rulers of Kufena.
This is demonstrated by a wall extension linking Zaria with Kufena leading to the inclusion of large space of land into the Kufena settlement as indicated on the map as settlement “A”. See the Map below. Settlement “A” seemed to have finally fallen into disuse following the evacuation of Kufena after the Kano attacks and that when Zaria town was eventually rebuilt Kufena town was curved out from the Birni. The curving of Kufena from the Birni seemed to be informed by military factors. Firstly, it is clear that following the defeat of Zaria at Kufena, it no longer have any protective value. Secondly, if Kufena was incorporated within the new city wall, the Birni would have been too large for effective military control.