Kano Travel Guide, Nigeria

Kano happens to be a very important city for Nigeria as it is the third largest city for Nigeria when it comes to area of expansion. It is also the capital city for the state of Kano and the major political hub for the state of Kano. The other two cities which are larger in size than Kano are Ibadan and the city of Lagos.

In terms of population, Lagos is the most populated city for Nigeria and Kano bags the second spot for the most populated cities. The king for a city is known as Emir of that city and as of today Ado Bayero holds the position of Emir for Kano. He took control of this position somewhere in 1963 and since then he has been seated on this position till today.

The city of Kano has been divided into six major districts so as to make the administration of the city an easier job. The six districts are Bompai, Sabon Gari, Nassarawa, Syrian Quarter, Fagge, and the famous Old City. This last district called as Old City is famous for its historical gates and the remains of the wall which was used to cover the Old City. Kurmi Market of Old City is famous for the local styled products which the foreign tourists are actually interested in.

99 percent of Kano’s population is Muslim and only the rest 1 percent population follows Christianity. The so called non Muslim population lives in the Foreign Quarter (called as Sabon Gari in local language). Mostly you will find Sunni Muslims flocking the city of Kano but there are considerable number of Shia Muslims too in the city.

The city of Kano is famous for its annual festival called as Durbar in local language. This festival is organized every year in order to celebrate two major Muslim festivals namely Eid - el - Kabir (the famous religious festival that marks the holy pilgrimage called as Haj) and Eid - el - Fitr (the famous religious festival which marks the end of the holy Islamic month called as Ramadan). Tourists from neighboring foreign countries regularly visit this city of Kano in order to be a part of this huge festival which reflects the Muslim culture as well as the historical culture of Kano and Nigeria.