Ozikoro“The ‘Birmingham of Africa’: Analyzing the Smelting Pits of Kano as a Hub for 19th-Century West African Armaments”
By the nineteenth century, Kano, one of the principal cities of the Sokoto Caliphate had become one of the most important industrial centres in West Africa. Its extensive blacksmithing, metalworking, and smelting industries earned it the nickname “The Birmingham of Africa,” echoing the English city known globally for metal production during the Industrial Revolution.…