Haussa

Haussa, or HOUSSA, a people of the Soudan, who have been conquered by the Fulbé, and now constitute the larger part of the population in Sokoto, Adamawa, and Gando (q.v.). Whether they are of pure Negro race, or an immigrant wave of ancient Hamitic stock, now indistinguishable from the Negroes, is not yet fully determined. Their language is allied in its grammatical forms with the Hamitic tongues to the east and north, whilst its vocabulary resembles in many points that of the neighbouring Negro tribes. At any rate the Hausssa language is the common medium of communication in the commercial world of central Soudan, and is spoken by 15,000,000 between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Guinea. An association for the study of Hausssa in England was founded in 1895. The Hausssa themselves are keen traders, occupy themselves with agriculture and industrial pursuits, and are great slave-traders. They have adopted Islam from their conquerors. Many of them are employed as armed constabulary in the Gold Coast colonies. See Robinson's Hausaland (1896); AFRICA, FULAHs, BORNU, KANO.