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{{Short description|Nigerian trader}}
{{Short description|Nigerian trader (1877–1955)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use Nigerian English|date=April 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Alhassan Dantata
| name = Alhassan Dantata
| image =
| image =
| image_size =
| image_size =
| caption =
| alt =
| birth_date = 1877
| caption =
| birth_name = Alhassan Abdullahi
| birth_place = [[Bebeji]], [[Kano Emirate]], [[Sokoto Caliphate]] (present-day Bebeji, [[Kano State]], [[Nigeria]])
| death_date = 17 August 1955
| birth_date = 1877
| death_place = [[Kano (city)|Kano]], [[Northern Region, Nigeria|Northern Region]], [[British Nigeria]]
| birth_place = [[Bebeji]], [[Kano Emirate]], [[Sokoto Caliphate]] (present-day Bebeji, [[Kano State]], Nigeria)
| death_cause =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|8|17|1877|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Kano (city)|Kano]], [[Northern Region, Nigeria|Northern Region]], [[Colonial Nigeria|British Nigeria]]
| resting_place = Sarari ward of Kano
| death_cause =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = Nigerian
| resting_place = Sarari ward of Kano
| resting_place_coordinates =
| education = Madrasah in Bebeji
| occupation = Merchant
| education = Madrasah in Bebeji
| boards = [[Kano Emirate Council]]
| occupation = Merchant
| spouse = Umma Zaria, Maimuna
| party = [[Northern People's Congress]]
| children = Mamuda,Ahmadu,Sanusi, Aminu,Mudi, et al.
| spouse = Umma Zaria, Maimuna
| parents = Abdullahi, Fatima
| children = {{ubl|[[Ahmadu Dantata|Ahmadu]]
*[[Sanusi Dantata|Sanusi]]
*[[Mahmud Dantata|Mamuda]]
*[[Aminu Dantata|Aminu]]
*Mudi (Sulaiman)
*Abdullahi
*Amina (Yaawo)
*Bara'atu
*Jamilu
}}
}}
| relatives = [[Aliko Dangote]] (great-grandson through Sanusi)
'''Alhassan Dantata''' (1877 – 17 August 1955){{Pronunciation|Ha-Alhassan Dantata.ogg|help=no}} was a [[Northern Nigeria]]n trader in [[kola nut]]s and [[Macrotyloma geocarpum|ground nuts]], and he was a distributor of [[Europe]]an goods. He supplied large British trading companies with raw materials and also had business interests in the [[Gold Coast (region)|Gold Coast]]. At the time of his death he was the wealthiest man in [[West Africa]].<ref name="Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, An Appreciation"/><ref name="bio"/> He is the great-grandfather of [[Aliko Dangote]], the wealthiest person in Nigeria and Africa.
| family = [[Dantata family]]
}}
'''Alhassan Dantata''' ({{Pronunciation|Ha-Alhassan Dantata.ogg|Listen|(|help=no}}; {{Lang-ar|ال حسان دان تاتا|translit=al-Ḥasan ɗan Tātā}}; 1877 – 17 August 1955) was a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist. Through his trade with large British companies, he became one of the wealthiest men in [[West Africa]] during his time.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=159}} He is the great-grandfather of [[Aliko Dangote]], the wealthiest person in Nigeria and Africa.


==Early life==
==Early life==
Dantata was born in 1877 in [[Bebeji]], [[Kano Emirate]]. Both his parents were prosperous caravan leaders ('madugu') of [[Agalawa]] origin. The Agalawa were a group of long distance traders who were formerly slaves of [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] nobles ('irelewen').<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Miers |first1=Suzanne |url=http://archive.org/details/slaveryinafricah0000unse |title=Slavery in Africa : historical and anthropological perspectives |last2=Kopytoff |first2=Igor |date=1977 |publisher=Madison : University of Wisconsin Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-299-07330-5}}</ref><ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=380}} Dantata's father, Abdullahi, was a son of another prominent Agalawa merchant, Baba Talatin, who came from [[Katsina Emirate|Katsina]]. Soon after Abdullahi’s birth, Baba Talatin moved from Danshayi, a small village roughly fifteen kilometers from [[Kano (city)|Kano]], to [[Madobi]]. Following his father’s practice, Abdullahi frequently travelled the [[Nupe people|Nupe]] and [[Gonja people|Gonja]] trade routes. He soon became a wealthy merchant through trading textiles, cattle, and slaves for kolanuts from the [[Akan people|Akan forests]] in modern-day [[Ghana]]. Madobi continued to be Abdullahi’s main base of operations until after Dantata’s birth in 1877, when he permanently moved to Bebeji, a market and fortress town south of Kano. He likely died in 1885 and was buried at his Bebeji residence.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=380}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=85}}
===Parents===
[[File:Caravane Haoussa transportant le kola.jpg|left|thumb|A Hausa caravan in 1895]]
Dantata was born 1877 in [[Bebeji]], [[Kano Emirate]] in the [[Sokoto Caliphate]], one of several children of Abdullahi and his wife, Amarya. Abdullahi was the son of Baba Talatin, it was Baba Talatin who brought the family from [[Katsina]] to [[Madobi]] in [[Kano (city)|Kano]] following the death of his father called Ali, Abdullahi continued to operate from Madobi until 1877, when having set out for a journey to [[Gonja people|Gonja]] headquarters of [[Kola nut]] trade at [[Ghana]], his wife gave birth to Alhassan at the campsite (Zango) of Bebeji, upon his return from the journey he decided to abandon Madobi for [[Bebeji]].<ref name="nigerianfinder.com">{{cite web|title=Alhassan Dantata: Things You Didn't Know About Him|url=http://nigerianfinder.com/alhassan-dantata-things-you-didnt-know-about-him/|website=Nigerian Finder|accessdate=20 April 2017}}</ref> Both his parents were wealthy Agalawa, a hereditary group of long-distance traders in the Hausa empire.<ref name="nigerianfinder.com"/> Abdullahi died in Bebeji around 1885.
Dantata's mother was also a "trader of no small consequence in the area". After Abdullahi's death, the widow was not able to remarry due to her considerable reputation. She eventually moved to [[Accra]], at the time an important trading center in the [[British Gold Coast]], leaving her children in the care of an old slave woman named Tata. Tata's role in raising Dantata led to his nickname 'ɗan Tata' which means 'son of Tata'.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=381-382}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=85}}


After losing much of his inheritance from his father, Dantata began working to support himself while attending [[Qur'anic school]]. He was encouraged to save much of his money by Tata, even buying him an ''asusu'' (ceramic moneybox), which is still in possession of the Dantata family today. At about 15 years old, he joined a Gonja-bound caravan to visit his mother in Accra, hoping to rely on her wealth rather than having to support himself. However, a day after his arrival, she took him to a Mallam (Islamic teacher) and asked him to stay there until he was ready to return to Kano. During this period, Dantata lived as an [[almajiri]]. After his studies, he had to beg for food to sustain himself and his Mallam. On Thursdays and Fridays, Alhassan worked for money, of which he gave a significant portion to his Mallam.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=382-383}}
Abdullahi's children were too young to manage his considerable wealth. They all received their portion according to Islamic law when he died. Amarya, like her mother-in-law, was a trader of wealth in her own right. After her husband's death, she decided to leave Bebeji for Ghana, where she had commercial interests. She left the children in Bebeji, in the care of an old slave woman named Tata.{{cn|date=June 2022}}


Dantata was in Bebeji when the [[Basasa War|Kano Civil War]] (or the Basasa) broke out in 1893 and lasted until 1895. The conflict was between two rival claimants to the emirship, [[Mohammed Tukur|Tukur]] and Yusufu. Because the Agalawa supported Tukur, several settlements with large Agalawa communities, including Bebeji, were pillaged by the Yusufawa. The war ended after [[Aliyu Babba|Aliyu]], Yusufu's younger brother, succeeded in taking the throne. Consequently, several Agalawa merchants had their properties seized and lived in exile until after the [[British occupation of Kano]] a decade later. However, Dantata, along with his brothers Bala and Sidi, was unable to avoid capture and was sold into slavery.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=383}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lovejoy |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Lovejoy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNmJE_KMeLEC |title=African Agency and European Colonialism: Latitudes of Negotiation and Containment : Essays in Honor of A.S. Kanya-Forstner |date=2007 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-3846-3 |editor-last=Kolapo |editor-first=Femi J |language=en |chapter=Alhaji Ahmad el-Fellati and the Kano Civil War |editor-last2=Akurang-Parry |editor-first2=Kwabena O. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/14271045}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stilwell |first=Sean |date=2000 |title=Power, Honour and Shame: The Ideology of Royal Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/abs/power-honour-and-shame-the-ideology-of-royal-slavery-in-the-sokoto-caliphate/91A0F9F6366BCDE8A7F362EC768FA3A3 |journal=Africa |language=en |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=394–421 |doi=10.3366/afr.2000.70.3.394 |issn=1750-0184}}</ref>
===Kano Civil War and slavery===
Dantata was still a teenager when the great upheavals occurred in the [[Kano Emirate]] from 1893 to 1895. There were two claimants to the Kano Emirate when Emir Muhammad Bello died in 1893. Tukur was his son. Tukur received his religious training from a Tijaniyya scholar and received the support of the Agalawa. Yusufu had been passed over when Bello became Emir. Yusufu received his religious training from Qaadiriyya schools. In the resulting civil war, Yusufu forces were victorious over Tukur, and claimed the title of emir.<ref>{{cite journal
|last= Stilwell |first= Sean
|year= 2000
|title=Power, Honour and Shame: The Ideology of Royal Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate
|journal=Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |volume=70 |issue= 3|pages=394–421
|doi=10.2307/1161067
|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]
|issn= 0001-9720
|jstor= 1161067}}<!--|accessdate= 26 October 2007
--></ref> Because of the Agalawa support of Tukur, Dantata and the other Agalawa had their property confiscated and many were captured. Dantata and his brothers were held for ransom, under the threat of slavery. They paid it and Dantata returned to the trading business without his family lands around Kano.<ref>
{{cite journal
|last= Lovejoy |first= Paul E.
|year= 2007
|title= Alhaji Ahmad El=Fellati Ibn Dauda Ibin Muhammad Manga and the Kano Civil War, 1893-1895
|journal= African Agency and European Colonialism |pages=45–58
|editor= Kolapo & Akurang-Parry
|publisher= University Press of America
|isbn= 978-0-7618-3846-3
}}</ref>


Not much is known about Dantata's time in slavery, however, there are four different versions of the story according to historian Abdulkarim Umar Dan Asabe. The first account states that he was taken to [[Garko, Nigeria|Garko]] but redeemed himself after the war. The second suggests he immediately redeemed himself and Sidi using his existing wealth. According to the third account, he escaped capture and later redeemed his brother Bala in 1925. The final version claims that he escaped shortly after his capture, joined a Gonja-bound caravan, and returned to his mother in Accra.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=383}} In 1914, by the order of the judicial council of Emir [[Muhammad Abbas (Emir of Kano)|Muhammad Abbas]], Dantata was able to reclaim his father’s seized house in Bebeji.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kano (Nigeria : Emirate). Judicial Council |url=http://archive.org/details/thusruledemirabb0000kano |title=Thus ruled Emir Abbas : selected cases from the records of the Emir of Kano's Judicial Council |date=1994 |publisher=East Lansing : Michigan State University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87013-359-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Christelow |first=Allan |date=1987 |title=Property and Theft in Kano at the Dawn of the Groundnut Boom, 1912-1914 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/219841 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=225–243 |doi=10.2307/219841 |jstor=219841 |issn=0361-7882}}</ref>
===Introduction to trading===
Probably after being freed from slavery around 1894, Dantata joined a Gonja-bound caravan to see his mother. He purchased some items in Bebeji, he sold half of them on the way and the rest in Accra. He might have hoped his wealthy mother would allow him to live with her and find him work among the Gold Coast Agalawa community. However, this did not happen. After a rest of only one day, she took him to a ''[[Mawlānā#Africa|mallam]]'' and asked Dantata to stay there until he was ready to return to Bebeji. Dantata worked harder in Ghana than he did in Bebeji. After the usual reading of the [[Qur'an]], he had to go and beg for food for his ''mallam'' and himself. He worked for money on Thursdays and Fridays. As was the tradition, the bulk of his earnings went to his ''mallam''. At some point he returned to Bebeji to his religious studies and work. There, Tata continued to insist that he must save something every year{{cn|date=June 2022}}


==Career==
==Career==
[[File:Groundnut Pyramids.jpg|thumb|248x248px|The [[groundnut pyramids]] were used as temporary storage for harvested groundnuts. During the mid-20th century, these structures were widely used in Northern Nigeria, particularly in Kano. Dantata was one of its earliest and most prolific adopters.]]
Dantata started to be a long-distance trader himself. He remained in Bebeji until matters had settled down. He used the new trade routes to Ibadan and Lagos to develop his network of trading associates. Instead of bringing kola nuts on pack animals, he used steamships to transport them between Accra, [[Kumasi]], [[Sekondi]] and [[Lagos]]. He was the first to develop this route. This innovation and contact with Europeans helped establish his wealth and future.{{cn|date=June 2022}}
Dantata was in Bebeji when [[Battle of Kano|British troops invaded the Kano Emirate]] on February 1, 1903, conquering the town after its sarki was killed. He remained there until the roads were safe for travel. Then, he set out for the British Gold Coast, traveling through [[Ibadan]] and Lagos, and reached Accra by sea. Soon after, he began using this route to transport his kolanuts to Lagos, where he resold them to traders bound for Kano, becoming one of the first northern traders to use these routes commercially. In 1906, he diversified his trade by dealing in beads, necklaces, and European cloth. After his mother's death in 1908, he focused his trade on Kano and Lagos.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=206}}


During this period, Dantata moved to Kano city and established a house in the Sarari ward, which was mostly empty at the time. With the expansion of groundnut production in [[Northern Region, Nigeria|British Northern Nigeria]], the [[Niger Company]] (later part of the [[United Africa Company]]) started contacting established merchants in the region through the emir and their chief agent, [[Adamu Jakada]]. By 1918, after being approached by the company, Dantata had established a large network of agents and sub-agents to purchase groundnuts. His experience in coastal trade and basic knowledge of English gave him an advantage over other Kano merchants working with the company. His frugality and modest lifestyle enabled him to "accumulate capital rapidly".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=86}} He soon became the Niger Company’s largest supplier and, by 1922, one of the wealthiest men in Kano.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=141}}
In 1906, he began broadening his interests by trading in beads, necklaces, European cloth, and trade goods. His mother, who had never remarried, died in Accra around 1908. After her death he focused his attention on new opportunities in Lagos and Kano.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://face2faceafrica.com/article/meet-the-wealthy-but-simple-nigerian-merchant-behind-dangotes-success-story|title=Meet the wealthy but simple Nigerian merchant behind Dangote's success story|date=2019-08-07|website=Face2Face Africa|language=en|access-date=2020-01-23}}</ref>


From 1926, Dantata utilised the newly established railway to promote cattle trade with Lagos and revitalized the kolanut trade with [[Western Region, Nigeria|Western Nigeria]].<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=206}} In 1929, when the [[Bank of British West Africa]] opened a branch in Kano, he famously deposited twenty camel-loads of silver coins, becoming the first Kano businessman to use a bank.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=385}} By the 1940s, he buys and sells about 20,000 tons of groundnut in a year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=William Keith Hancock |url=http://archive.org/details/surveyofbritishc0000will |title=Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs 1918-1939: Volume II Problems of Economic Policy Part 2 |date=1964-01-01 |publisher=Oxford Up |others=Internet Archive |pages=215}}</ref> During this period, Nigeria had become one of the world’s leading groundnut producers, with Kano Province contributing almost half of the country’s groundnut production.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=28}}
===Base of operations===
Dantata maintained a house in Bebeji and had no property in the larger trading town of Kano. He did not own a house there, but was satisfied with the accommodation given to him by his patoma (landlord). When the British disposed the successor of [[Mamuda Dantata|Yusufu]] in 1903, they appointed Abbas as the Emir of Kano. As part of a recompilation, Abbas returned the confiscated lands around Kano to the Agalawa families. Dantata built his first house in the then empty Sarari area (an extension of Koki) in Kano.{{cn|date=June 2022}}


In the early 1950s, with the assistance of the United Africa Company (UAC), he became a direct importer of consumer goods from Europe. He was the leading agent for the UAC and was advanced credit of up to £500,000 for crop purchase. In 1953, he became the first Nigerian licensed buying agent for the [[Northern Nigeria Marketing Board]]. He also became involved in transporting, direct importing, real estate, and the construction industry, working directly with the Native Administration. His three eldest sons, [[Ahmadu Dantata|Ahmadu]], [[Sanusi Dantata|Sanusi]] and [[Aminu Dantata|Aminu]], were in charge of land, building, and contracting and transport sections of the business, with each backed by a separate organisation.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=207}}
By all accounts, Dantata was hard working, frugal and unpretentious in his personal habits. He was also a good financial manager. He had the good sense to employ Alhaji Babba Na Alhassan who served as his chief accountant and Alhaji Garba Maisikeli as his financial controller for 38 years. Dantata did not manage from behind a desk but involved himself with his workers.<ref>{{cite journal
|last=Dan-Asabe
|first=Abdulkariu Umar
|year=2000
|title=Biography of Select Kano Merchants, 1853-1955
|journal=FAIS Journal of Humanities
|volume=1
|issue= 2
|access-date=11 February 2016
|url=http://kanoonline.com/jmqs/index.php/history/biography-of-select-kano-merchants-1853-1955
|publisher=Federal College of Education, Kano
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003180704/http://kanoonline.com/jmqs/index.php/history/biography-of-select-kano-merchants-1853-1955
|archive-date=3 October 2015
}}</ref>


== Politics ==
===European trading companies===
In the late 1940s, Dantata helped establish the Kano Traders' General Conference, which eventually became the Amalgamated Northern Merchants' Union (ANMU) in the early 1950s. The ANMU received support from the Native Authorities of the region and the Northern Regional Government. The union was described as "[T]he spearhead of northern merchant nationalism".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lucas |first=John |date=1994 |title=The State, Civil Society and Regional Elites: A Study of Three Associations in Kano, Nigeria |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/723164 |journal=African Affairs |volume=93 |issue=370 |pages=21–38 |jstor=723164 |issn=0001-9909}}</ref>
In 1912, when the Europeans started to show an interest in the export of groundnut, they contacted the already established Kano merchants through Emir Abbas and their chief agent, Adamu Jakada. Some established merchants of Kano like Umaru Sharubutu, Maikano Agogo accepted their offer.{{cn|date=June 2022}}


In 1950, [[Abdullahi Bayero]], Emir of Kano, appointed Dantata to the [[Kano Emirate Council]] to represent the merchant class and serve as an adviser on commercial matters. Dantata, the only Hausa member in the historically [[Fula people|Fulani]]-dominated council, was seen as the Emir’s effort to address concerns regarding the lack of Hausa representation in the council and other high positions in the Native Administration.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|pages=203-204}}
Dantata was already familiar with the manner by which traders could make fortunes by buying cocoa for Europeans in the Gold Coast. He had several advantages over other Kano business men: language, wealth and age. He could speak some English and already had direct dealings with Europeans in Lagos and Accra. He had substantial amounts of capital. Unlike other established Kano merchants, he was in his mid-thirties, with a small family and retinue to support. Despite the famine in Kano in 1914, he quickly dominated the groundnut purchasing business via promotions, loans and contacts.{{cn|date=June 2022}}


During the 1950s and 1960s, the [[Northern People's Congress]] (NPC), the most dominant political party in Northern Nigeria at the time, was widely supported by the region’s elites, including the Dantata family who were among the party’s most active supporters. However, Dantata’s two sons, [[Aminu Dantata|Aminu]] and [[Mahmud Dantata|Mahmudu]], were known members of the [[Northern Elements Progressive Union]] (NEPU), a socialist party that was the NPC's biggest opposition in the North. Dantata pressured his sons to join the NPC instead, as, according to Aminu, "My father would not take it kindly to see his son fighting the system." Aminu later joined the NPC and was elected to the [[Northern House of Assembly]], while Mahmud joined the party later in the 1960s and was elected to the [[Parliament of Nigeria|Federal Parliament]] in [[1964 Nigerian general election|1964]], contesting against and defeating NEPU's leader [[Aminu Kano]].<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=113}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Heaton |first=Matthew |title=Decolonising the Hajj: The pilgrimage from Nigeria to Mecca under empire and independence |date=2023-05-23 |work=Decolonising the Hajj |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7765/9781526162618/html?lang=en |access-date=2024-08-01 |publisher=Manchester University Press |language=en |doi=10.7765/9781526162618 |isbn=978-1-5261-6261-8}}</ref>{{Rp|page=|pages=159-161}} [[Ahmadu Dantata|Ahmadu]], an NPC member and Dantata’s oldest son, also contested against and defeated Aminu Kano in the [[1956−57 Nigerian regional elections|1956 election]] for the Northern House of Assembly.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Richard L Sklar |url=http://archive.org/details/nigerianpolitica0000rich |title=Nigerian political parties;: Power in an emergent African nation |date=1963-01-01 |publisher=Princeton University Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Rp|page=328}}<ref name="0I5E6" />{{Rp|page=333}}
In 1918, the UK-based [[Royal Niger Company]] (later became the [[United Africa Company]]) searched for an agent to purchase groundnuts for them, and Dantata responded to their offer.<ref name=bio/> It is said{{By whom|date=June 2016}} that he used to purchase about half of all the nuts purchased by the United Africa Company in northern Nigeria.{{cn|date=June 2022}}


== Philanthropy ==
By 1922 Dantata had become the richest businessman in Kano, surpassing other merchant traders. In 1929, when the [[Bank of British West Africa]] opened a branch in Kano, Dantata placed 20 camel-loads of silver coins in it. (For religious reasons, his money collected no interest). Shortly before his death, he pointed to sixty "[[groundnut pyramids]]" in Kano and said, "These are all mine".{{cn|date=June 2022}}
Dantata made a pilgrimage (''[[hajj]]'') to [[Mecca]] via boat in the 1920s. On this trip, he also went to England and was presented to [[George V]].<ref name="bio" /> In 1927, he sponsored 16 persons for pilgrimage to Mecca, including his Mallam from when he lived as an almajiri in Accra in the early 1890s.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=206}} He continued this practice throughout his life and encouraged his children to carry on the tradition. His son, Aminu, and his grandchildren, like Mariya Sanusi Dantata, as well as his great-grandchildren, including [[Aliko Dangote]], still finance the pilgrimages of other Muslims to Mecca yearly.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iliffe |first=John|title=Honour in African History |year=2005 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=283|isbn=978-0-521-83785-9 |chapter=Urbanisation and Masculinity}}</ref>


Dantata was known to slaughter a herd of cattle for the poor each year during [[Eid al-Kabir]].<ref name=":3" />
Dantata applied for a licence to purchase and export groundnuts in 1940, on the same level as the United Africa Company. However, it was not granted because of worldwide military and economic conditions. In 1953–54 he became a licensed buying agent, which allowed him to sell directly to the Nigerian Groundnut Marketing board instead of another firm.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

He had many business connections both in Nigeria and in other West African countries, particularly the Gold Coast. He dealt not only in groundnuts and kola but also in other merchandise. He traded in cattle, cloth, beads, precious stones, grains, rope and other things.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

==Pilgrimage to Mecca==
Dantata made a pilgrimage (''[[hajj]]'') to [[Mecca]] via boat in the 1920s. On this trip he also went to England and was presented to George V.<ref name=bio/> Dantata financed the pilgrimages of other Muslims to Mecca, a tradition that continues among his descendants. His son, Alhaji Aminu Dantata and his grandchildren like Hajiya Mariya Sunusi Dantata as well as his great-grandchildren, [[Aliko Dangote]] still finance pilgrimages of other Muslims to Mecca every year.<ref name="Honour in African History">{{cite book |last=Iliffe |first=John|title=Honour in African History |year=2005 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=283|isbn=978-0-521-83785-9 |chapter=Urbanisation and Masculinity}}</ref>


==Death==
==Death==
In 1955, Dantata fell ill. Because of the seriousness of his illness, he summoned his chief financial controller, Garba Maisikeli and his children. He told them that his days were approaching their end and advised them to live together. He was particularly concerned about the company he had established (Alhassan Dantata & Sons). He asked them not to allow the company to collapse. He implored them to continue to marry within the family as much as possible. He urged them to avoid clashes with other wealthy Kano merchants. They should take care of their relatives, especially the poor among them. Three days later he died in his sleep on Wednesday 17 August 1955. He was buried in his house in the Sarari ward.<ref name=bio/>
In 1955, Dantata became seriously ill. Recognising the seriousness of his illness, he summoned his chief financial controller of 38 years, Garba Maisikeli, and his children. He told them that his days were nearing their end and advised them to live together. He was particularly concerned about the company he had established, Alhassan Dantata & Sons, urging them to ensure it did not collapse. He asked them to continue marrying within the family as much as possible and urged them to avoid clashes with other wealthy Kano merchants. He also told them to take care of their relatives, especially the poor among them. Three days later, on Wednesday, August 17, 1955, he died in his sleep. He was buried in his house in the Sarari ward.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=389}}<ref name=":6" />

Because Dantata scarcely kept any records and only used a bank when his transactions required it, no one knew with any degree of certainity how much he was worth.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=206}} After his death, his only safe contained a checkbook for each of the two Kano banks, with balances totaling less than £30. With the help of his family, some of his wealth was identified by the Kano Native Administration, amounting to around £350,000 in Northern Nigeria alone, before they abandoned the search.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McClintock |first=Nicky |url=http://archive.org/details/wasitonlyyesterd0000unse |title=Was it only yesterday? : the last generation of Nigeria's "Turawa" |date=2002 |publisher=Bristol : BECM Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-9530174-7-8 |editor-last=Clark |editor-first=Trevor |chapter=The Money-Makers & -Changers}}</ref>{{Rp|page=128}} Later estimates indicate that, he left more than a third of a million pounds, mostly in cash.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=206}}


== Descendants ==
== Descendants ==
Some descendants of Alhassan Dantata includes:
Some descendants of Alhassan Dantata includes:
#Mahmud Dantata, popularly known as Mamuda Wapa (1922–1983): son. After graduating from [[Gold Coast University]] (Ghana) he became his father's chief scribe and Modernized his business activities. He later founded West African Pilgrims Agency in 1948 and pioneered parallel Market Currency Trading in West Africa. The Genius Shrewd Business Man brought more fame to Dantata Family within West African Countries.<ref name="Cross-Border Trade and the Parallel Currency Market - Trade and Finance in the Context of Structural Adjustment"/>


* [[Ahmadu Dantata]] (1916–1960): son; businessman and politician; managing director of Alhassan Dantata & Sons Company; member of the Northern House of Assembly from 1956 to 1960.<ref name=":6" />
*[[Sanusi Dantata]] (1917-1997): son, a successful businessman<ref name="Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria"/>
* [[Sanusi Dantata]] (1917–1997): son; businessman; founder of Sanusi Dantata & Sons Company.<ref name=":6" />
**Alhaji Abdulkadir Dantata: Grandson<ref>Mfonobong Nsehe. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2012/02/08/nigerian-tycoon-abdulkadir-dantata-is-dead/#779b97b53ec1 "Nigerian Tycoon Abdulkadir Dantata Is Dead"], ''Forbes'', 8 February 2012. Accessed 3 March 2016.</ref>
** [[Abdulkadir Dantata]] (1946–2012): grandson; businessman; founder of Asada Farms and co-founder of Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nsehe |first=Mfonobong |title=Nigerian Tycoon Abdulkadir Dantata Is Dead |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2012/02/08/nigerian-tycoon-abdulkadir-dantata-is-dead/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=209}}
**[[Aliko Dangote]] (1957- ): great grandson, a billionaire
** Usman Dantata: grandson; businessman; founder of Anadariya Farms.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=209}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hecht |first=David |date=14 January 2009 |title=Nigerians Go Hungry Despite Oil Wealth |url=https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/nigerians-go-hungry-despite-oil-wealth |website=Pulitzer Center}}</ref>

** Mariya Dantata: granddaughter; philanthropist.<ref>{{Cite web |last=John-Mensah |first=Olayemi |date=2019 |title=Bilikisu Yusuf, Dangote's mother, others inducted into women's Hall of Fame - Daily Trust |url=https://dailytrust.com/bilikisu-yusuf-dangotes-mother-others-inducted-into-womens-hall-of-fame/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Daily Trust |language=en-US}}</ref>
*[[Ahmadu Dantata]] (1916-1960): son, a politician<ref name="Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation"/>
*** [[Aliko Dangote]] (born 1957): great grandson; businessman; founder of [[Dangote Group]]; Africa's richest man.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-08-02 |title=Bloomberg Billionaires Index |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |work=Bloomberg.com |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Aminu Dantata]] (1931- ): son, a businessman<ref name="The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise"/>
* Sulaiman Dantata (1916–1960): son.
* [[Mahmud Dantata]] (1922–1983): son; businessman and politician; managing director of the West African Pilgrims Association and Hajair; member of the Federal Parliament from 1964 to 1966.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=113}}
* [[Aminu Dantata]] (born 1931): son; businessman and politician; member of the Northern House of Assembly from 1960 to 1966.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6" />
* Jamil Dantata: son; politician; member of the [[Action Group (Nigeria)|Action Group]].<ref name="0I5E6" />{{Rp|page=335}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|40em|refs=
{{reflist|1=30em|refs=
<ref name="bio">{{cite journal|last=Dan-Asabe |first=Abdulkarim Umar |date=November 2000 |title=Biography of Select Kano Merchants, 1853–1955 |journal=FAIS Journal of Humanities |volume=1 |issue=2 |url=http://www.kanostate.net/Support%20Files/Biography%20of%20Select%20Kano%20Merchants.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213151442/http://www.kanostate.net/Support%20Files/Biography%20of%20Select%20Kano%20Merchants.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 February 2006 |access-date=9 October 2007}}</ref>

<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Iliffe |first=John |url=http://archive.org/details/africanpoorhisto0000ilif |title=The African poor : a history |date=1987 |publisher=Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-521-34415-9 |pages=197}}</ref>

<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Dan Asabe |first=Abdulkarim Umar |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374922054 |title=Kano in the Second Millennium: Selected Papers Presented at the Seminar on Kano in the Second Millennium Kano |publisher=Research and Documentations Directorate |year=2010 |editor-last=Adamu |editor-first=Abdalla Uba |editor-link=Abdalla Uba Adamu |location=Kano |chapter=Kano and Long Distance Trade in the 19th and 20th Centuries |editor-last2=Gwarzo |editor-first2=Bello Bashiru}}</ref>


<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hogendorn |first=Jan S. |url=http://archive.org/details/nigeriangroundnu0000hoge |title=Nigerian groundnut exports : origins and early development |date=1979 |publisher=Zaria : Ahmadu Bello University Press ; Zaria ; Oxford : Oxford University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-978-125-005-7}}</ref>
<ref name="Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, An Appreciation">{{cite news|first=J.H |last=Price |title=Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, An Appreciation |url=http://dantatafamily.com/tribute_to_alhassan.htm |work=West Africa |date=19 October 1955 |access-date=9 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708231726/http://dantatafamily.com/tribute_to_alhassan.htm |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>


<ref name="Cross-Border Trade and the Parallel Currency Market - Trade and Finance in the Context of Structural Adjustment">{{cite book |last=Hashim |first=Yahaya |author2=Kate Meagher |title=Cross-Border Trade and the Parallel Currency Market – Trade and Finance in the Context of Structural Adjustment |year=1999 |publisher=[[Nordic Africa Institute]] |location=[[Uppsala]] |isbn=978-91-7106-449-3 |page=30}}</ref>
<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Forrest |first=Tom |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv1vtz7vv |title=The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise |date=1994 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-0492-0 |jstor=10.3366/j.ctv1vtz7vv }}</ref>


<ref name="Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria">{{cite book |last=Loimeier |first=Roman |title= Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria|year=1997 |pages=65–70|publisher=[[Northwestern University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8101-1346-6}}</ref>
<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Paden |first=John N. |url=http://archive.org/details/ethnicenterprise00ligh |title=Religion and political culture in Kano |date=1973 |publisher=Berkeley, University of California Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-520-01738-2}}</ref>


<ref name="Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation">{{cite book |last=Sklar |first=Richard L |title=Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation |year=2004 |publisher=[[Africa World Press]] |isbn= 978-1-59221-209-5}}</ref>
<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Sharwood Smith |first=Bryan |url=http://archive.org/details/recollectionsofb01shar |title=Recollections of British administration in the Cameroons and Northern Nigeria, 1921-1957: But always |date=1969 |publisher=Durham, N.C., Duke University Press |others=Duke University Press}}</ref>


<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Yusuf |first=Kabiru A. |date=2023-10-22 |title=I Pray Allah Not To Give Me What Would Not Benefit Others – Alhaji Aminu Dantata |url=https://dailytrust.com/i-pray-allah-not-to-give-me-what-would-not-benefit-others-alhaji-aminu-dantata/ |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=Daily Trust |language=en-US}}</ref>
<ref name="The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise">{{cite book |last=Forrest |first=Tom |title= The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise|year=1994 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7486-0492-0 |page=206}}</ref>


<ref name="0I5E6">{{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=C. S. (C Sylvester) |url=http://archive.org/details/politicsoftradit0000whit |title=The politics of tradition continuity and change in Northern Nigeria, 1946-1966 |date=1970 |publisher=Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-691-03079-1}}</ref>
<ref name="bio">{{cite journal|last=Dan-Asabe |first=Abdulkarim Umar |date=November 2000 |title=Biography of Select Kano Merchants, 1853–1955 |journal=FAIS Journal of Humanities |volume=1 |issue=2 |url=http://www.kanostate.net/Support%20Files/Biography%20of%20Select%20Kano%20Merchants.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213151442/http://www.kanostate.net/Support%20Files/Biography%20of%20Select%20Kano%20Merchants.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 February 2006 |access-date=9 October 2007 }}</ref>
}}
}}


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[[Category:Nigerian manufacturing businesspeople]]
[[Category:Nigerian manufacturing businesspeople]]
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[[Category:Businesspeople in British Nigeria]]
[[Category:Former slaves]]

Latest revision as of 20:13, 26 August 2024

Alhassan Dantata
Born
Alhassan Abdullahi

1877
Bebeji, Kano Emirate, Sokoto Caliphate (present-day Bebeji, Kano State, Nigeria)
Died17 August 1955(1955-08-17) (aged 77–78)
Kano, Northern Region, British Nigeria
Resting placeSarari ward of Kano
EducationMadrasah in Bebeji
OccupationMerchant
Political partyNorthern People's Congress
Spouse(s)Umma Zaria, Maimuna
Children
RelativesAliko Dangote (great-grandson through Sanusi)
FamilyDantata family

Alhassan Dantata ((Listenⓘ); Arabic: ال حسان دان تاتا, romanized: al-Ḥasan ɗan Tātā; 1877 – 17 August 1955) was a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist. Through his trade with large British companies, he became one of the wealthiest men in West Africa during his time.[1][2]: 159  He is the great-grandfather of Aliko Dangote, the wealthiest person in Nigeria and Africa.

Early life

[edit]

Dantata was born in 1877 in Bebeji, Kano Emirate. Both his parents were prosperous caravan leaders ('madugu') of Agalawa origin. The Agalawa were a group of long distance traders who were formerly slaves of Tuareg nobles ('irelewen').[3][4]: 380  Dantata's father, Abdullahi, was a son of another prominent Agalawa merchant, Baba Talatin, who came from Katsina. Soon after Abdullahi’s birth, Baba Talatin moved from Danshayi, a small village roughly fifteen kilometers from Kano, to Madobi. Following his father’s practice, Abdullahi frequently travelled the Nupe and Gonja trade routes. He soon became a wealthy merchant through trading textiles, cattle, and slaves for kolanuts from the Akan forests in modern-day Ghana. Madobi continued to be Abdullahi’s main base of operations until after Dantata’s birth in 1877, when he permanently moved to Bebeji, a market and fortress town south of Kano. He likely died in 1885 and was buried at his Bebeji residence.[4]: 380 [5]: 85 

A Hausa caravan in 1895

Dantata's mother was also a "trader of no small consequence in the area". After Abdullahi's death, the widow was not able to remarry due to her considerable reputation. She eventually moved to Accra, at the time an important trading center in the British Gold Coast, leaving her children in the care of an old slave woman named Tata. Tata's role in raising Dantata led to his nickname 'ɗan Tata' which means 'son of Tata'.[4]: 381–382 [5]: 85 

After losing much of his inheritance from his father, Dantata began working to support himself while attending Qur'anic school. He was encouraged to save much of his money by Tata, even buying him an asusu (ceramic moneybox), which is still in possession of the Dantata family today. At about 15 years old, he joined a Gonja-bound caravan to visit his mother in Accra, hoping to rely on her wealth rather than having to support himself. However, a day after his arrival, she took him to a Mallam (Islamic teacher) and asked him to stay there until he was ready to return to Kano. During this period, Dantata lived as an almajiri. After his studies, he had to beg for food to sustain himself and his Mallam. On Thursdays and Fridays, Alhassan worked for money, of which he gave a significant portion to his Mallam.[4]: 382–383 

Dantata was in Bebeji when the Kano Civil War (or the Basasa) broke out in 1893 and lasted until 1895. The conflict was between two rival claimants to the emirship, Tukur and Yusufu. Because the Agalawa supported Tukur, several settlements with large Agalawa communities, including Bebeji, were pillaged by the Yusufawa. The war ended after Aliyu, Yusufu's younger brother, succeeded in taking the throne. Consequently, several Agalawa merchants had their properties seized and lived in exile until after the British occupation of Kano a decade later. However, Dantata, along with his brothers Bala and Sidi, was unable to avoid capture and was sold into slavery.[4]: 383 [6][7]

Not much is known about Dantata's time in slavery, however, there are four different versions of the story according to historian Abdulkarim Umar Dan Asabe. The first account states that he was taken to Garko but redeemed himself after the war. The second suggests he immediately redeemed himself and Sidi using his existing wealth. According to the third account, he escaped capture and later redeemed his brother Bala in 1925. The final version claims that he escaped shortly after his capture, joined a Gonja-bound caravan, and returned to his mother in Accra.[4]: 383  In 1914, by the order of the judicial council of Emir Muhammad Abbas, Dantata was able to reclaim his father’s seized house in Bebeji.[8][9]

Career

[edit]
The groundnut pyramids were used as temporary storage for harvested groundnuts. During the mid-20th century, these structures were widely used in Northern Nigeria, particularly in Kano. Dantata was one of its earliest and most prolific adopters.

Dantata was in Bebeji when British troops invaded the Kano Emirate on February 1, 1903, conquering the town after its sarki was killed. He remained there until the roads were safe for travel. Then, he set out for the British Gold Coast, traveling through Ibadan and Lagos, and reached Accra by sea. Soon after, he began using this route to transport his kolanuts to Lagos, where he resold them to traders bound for Kano, becoming one of the first northern traders to use these routes commercially. In 1906, he diversified his trade by dealing in beads, necklaces, and European cloth. After his mother's death in 1908, he focused his trade on Kano and Lagos.[2]: 206 

During this period, Dantata moved to Kano city and established a house in the Sarari ward, which was mostly empty at the time. With the expansion of groundnut production in British Northern Nigeria, the Niger Company (later part of the United Africa Company) started contacting established merchants in the region through the emir and their chief agent, Adamu Jakada. By 1918, after being approached by the company, Dantata had established a large network of agents and sub-agents to purchase groundnuts. His experience in coastal trade and basic knowledge of English gave him an advantage over other Kano merchants working with the company. His frugality and modest lifestyle enabled him to "accumulate capital rapidly".[5]: 86  He soon became the Niger Company’s largest supplier and, by 1922, one of the wealthiest men in Kano.[5]: 141 

From 1926, Dantata utilised the newly established railway to promote cattle trade with Lagos and revitalized the kolanut trade with Western Nigeria.[2]: 206  In 1929, when the Bank of British West Africa opened a branch in Kano, he famously deposited twenty camel-loads of silver coins, becoming the first Kano businessman to use a bank.[4]: 385  By the 1940s, he buys and sells about 20,000 tons of groundnut in a year.[10] During this period, Nigeria had become one of the world’s leading groundnut producers, with Kano Province contributing almost half of the country’s groundnut production.[11]: 28 

In the early 1950s, with the assistance of the United Africa Company (UAC), he became a direct importer of consumer goods from Europe. He was the leading agent for the UAC and was advanced credit of up to £500,000 for crop purchase. In 1953, he became the first Nigerian licensed buying agent for the Northern Nigeria Marketing Board. He also became involved in transporting, direct importing, real estate, and the construction industry, working directly with the Native Administration. His three eldest sons, Ahmadu, Sanusi and Aminu, were in charge of land, building, and contracting and transport sections of the business, with each backed by a separate organisation.[2]: 207 

Politics

[edit]

In the late 1940s, Dantata helped establish the Kano Traders' General Conference, which eventually became the Amalgamated Northern Merchants' Union (ANMU) in the early 1950s. The ANMU received support from the Native Authorities of the region and the Northern Regional Government. The union was described as "[T]he spearhead of northern merchant nationalism".[12]

In 1950, Abdullahi Bayero, Emir of Kano, appointed Dantata to the Kano Emirate Council to represent the merchant class and serve as an adviser on commercial matters. Dantata, the only Hausa member in the historically Fulani-dominated council, was seen as the Emir’s effort to address concerns regarding the lack of Hausa representation in the council and other high positions in the Native Administration.[13]: 203–204 

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Northern People's Congress (NPC), the most dominant political party in Northern Nigeria at the time, was widely supported by the region’s elites, including the Dantata family who were among the party’s most active supporters. However, Dantata’s two sons, Aminu and Mahmudu, were known members of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), a socialist party that was the NPC's biggest opposition in the North. Dantata pressured his sons to join the NPC instead, as, according to Aminu, "My father would not take it kindly to see his son fighting the system." Aminu later joined the NPC and was elected to the Northern House of Assembly, while Mahmud joined the party later in the 1960s and was elected to the Federal Parliament in 1964, contesting against and defeating NEPU's leader Aminu Kano.[14][11]: 113 [15]: 159–161  Ahmadu, an NPC member and Dantata’s oldest son, also contested against and defeated Aminu Kano in the 1956 election for the Northern House of Assembly.[16]: 328 [17]: 333 

Philanthropy

[edit]

Dantata made a pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca via boat in the 1920s. On this trip, he also went to England and was presented to George V.[18] In 1927, he sponsored 16 persons for pilgrimage to Mecca, including his Mallam from when he lived as an almajiri in Accra in the early 1890s.[2]: 206  He continued this practice throughout his life and encouraged his children to carry on the tradition. His son, Aminu, and his grandchildren, like Mariya Sanusi Dantata, as well as his great-grandchildren, including Aliko Dangote, still finance the pilgrimages of other Muslims to Mecca yearly.[19]

Dantata was known to slaughter a herd of cattle for the poor each year during Eid al-Kabir.[1]

Death

[edit]

In 1955, Dantata became seriously ill. Recognising the seriousness of his illness, he summoned his chief financial controller of 38 years, Garba Maisikeli, and his children. He told them that his days were nearing their end and advised them to live together. He was particularly concerned about the company he had established, Alhassan Dantata & Sons, urging them to ensure it did not collapse. He asked them to continue marrying within the family as much as possible and urged them to avoid clashes with other wealthy Kano merchants. He also told them to take care of their relatives, especially the poor among them. Three days later, on Wednesday, August 17, 1955, he died in his sleep. He was buried in his house in the Sarari ward.[4]: 389 [14]

Because Dantata scarcely kept any records and only used a bank when his transactions required it, no one knew with any degree of certainity how much he was worth.[13]: 206  After his death, his only safe contained a checkbook for each of the two Kano banks, with balances totaling less than £30. With the help of his family, some of his wealth was identified by the Kano Native Administration, amounting to around £350,000 in Northern Nigeria alone, before they abandoned the search.[20]: 128  Later estimates indicate that, he left more than a third of a million pounds, mostly in cash.[13]: 206 

Descendants

[edit]

Some descendants of Alhassan Dantata includes:

  • Ahmadu Dantata (1916–1960): son; businessman and politician; managing director of Alhassan Dantata & Sons Company; member of the Northern House of Assembly from 1956 to 1960.[14]
  • Sanusi Dantata (1917–1997): son; businessman; founder of Sanusi Dantata & Sons Company.[14]
    • Abdulkadir Dantata (1946–2012): grandson; businessman; founder of Asada Farms and co-founder of Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company.[21][2]: 209 
    • Usman Dantata: grandson; businessman; founder of Anadariya Farms.[2]: 209 [22]
    • Mariya Dantata: granddaughter; philanthropist.[23]
  • Sulaiman Dantata (1916–1960): son.
  • Mahmud Dantata (1922–1983): son; businessman and politician; managing director of the West African Pilgrims Association and Hajair; member of the Federal Parliament from 1964 to 1966.[11]: 113 
  • Aminu Dantata (born 1931): son; businessman and politician; member of the Northern House of Assembly from 1960 to 1966.[2][14]
  • Jamil Dantata: son; politician; member of the Action Group.[17]: 335 

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Iliffe, John (1987). The African poor : a history. Internet Archive. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-521-34415-9.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Forrest, Tom (1994). The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-0492-0. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctv1vtz7vv.
  3. ^ Miers, Suzanne; Kopytoff, Igor (1977). Slavery in Africa : historical and anthropological perspectives. Internet Archive. Madison : University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-07330-5.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Dan Asabe, Abdulkarim Umar (2010). "Kano and Long Distance Trade in the 19th and 20th Centuries". In Adamu, Abdalla Uba; Gwarzo, Bello Bashiru (eds.). Kano in the Second Millennium: Selected Papers Presented at the Seminar on Kano in the Second Millennium Kano. Kano: Research and Documentations Directorate.
  5. ^ a b c d Hogendorn, Jan S. (1979). Nigerian groundnut exports : origins and early development. Internet Archive. Zaria : Ahmadu Bello University Press ; Zaria ; Oxford : Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-978-125-005-7.
  6. ^ Lovejoy, Paul (2007). "Alhaji Ahmad el-Fellati and the Kano Civil War". In Kolapo, Femi J; Akurang-Parry, Kwabena O. (eds.). African Agency and European Colonialism: Latitudes of Negotiation and Containment : Essays in Honor of A.S. Kanya-Forstner. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-3846-3.
  7. ^ Stilwell, Sean (2000). "Power, Honour and Shame: The Ideology of Royal Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate". Africa. 70 (3): 394–421. doi:10.3366/afr.2000.70.3.394. ISSN 1750-0184.
  8. ^ Kano (Nigeria : Emirate). Judicial Council (1994). Thus ruled Emir Abbas : selected cases from the records of the Emir of Kano's Judicial Council. Internet Archive. East Lansing : Michigan State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87013-359-6.
  9. ^ Christelow, Allan (1987). "Property and Theft in Kano at the Dawn of the Groundnut Boom, 1912-1914". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 20 (2): 225–243. doi:10.2307/219841. ISSN 0361-7882. JSTOR 219841.
  10. ^ William Keith Hancock (1 January 1964). Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs 1918-1939: Volume II Problems of Economic Policy Part 2. Internet Archive. Oxford Up. p. 215.
  11. ^ a b c Paden, John N. (1973). Religion and political culture in Kano. Internet Archive. Berkeley, University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-01738-2.
  12. ^ Lucas, John (1994). "The State, Civil Society and Regional Elites: A Study of Three Associations in Kano, Nigeria". African Affairs. 93 (370): 21–38. ISSN 0001-9909. JSTOR 723164.
  13. ^ a b c Sharwood Smith, Bryan (1969). Recollections of British administration in the Cameroons and Northern Nigeria, 1921-1957: But always. Duke University Press. Durham, N.C., Duke University Press.
  14. ^ a b c d e Yusuf, Kabiru A. (22 October 2023). "I Pray Allah Not To Give Me What Would Not Benefit Others – Alhaji Aminu Dantata". Daily Trust. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  15. ^ Heaton, Matthew (23 May 2023), "Decolonising the Hajj: The pilgrimage from Nigeria to Mecca under empire and independence", Decolonising the Hajj, Manchester University Press, doi:10.7765/9781526162618, ISBN 978-1-5261-6261-8, retrieved 1 August 2024
  16. ^ Richard L Sklar (1 January 1963). Nigerian political parties;: Power in an emergent African nation. Internet Archive. Princeton University Press.
  17. ^ a b Whitaker, C. S. (C Sylvester) (1970). The politics of tradition continuity and change in Northern Nigeria, 1946-1966. Internet Archive. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-03079-1.
  18. ^ Dan-Asabe, Abdulkarim Umar (November 2000). "Biography of Select Kano Merchants, 1853–1955". FAIS Journal of Humanities. 1 (2). Archived from the original on 13 February 2006. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
  19. ^ Iliffe, John (2005). "Urbanisation and Masculinity". Honour in African History. Cambridge University Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-521-83785-9.
  20. ^ McClintock, Nicky (2002). "The Money-Makers & -Changers". In Clark, Trevor (ed.). Was it only yesterday? : the last generation of Nigeria's "Turawa". Internet Archive. Bristol : BECM Press. ISBN 978-0-9530174-7-8.
  21. ^ Nsehe, Mfonobong. "Nigerian Tycoon Abdulkadir Dantata Is Dead". Forbes. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  22. ^ Hecht, David (14 January 2009). "Nigerians Go Hungry Despite Oil Wealth". Pulitzer Center.
  23. ^ John-Mensah, Olayemi (2019). "Bilikisu Yusuf, Dangote's mother, others inducted into women's Hall of Fame - Daily Trust". Daily Trust. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  24. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg.com. 2 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
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