Aerial view of the old town, Kano, Nigeria

The city of Kano is surrounded by mud-brick walls which at their maximum extent enclose an area more than 15 km in circumference. The area within the walls includes not only the city itself but agricultural and grazing land as well. Inside the city are narrow streets leading on to houses which consist of square or irregular-shaped compounds. A typical compound (or gida) is entered via a circular entrance vestibule that leads into an outer courtyard which may contain huts for unmarried sons and a reception room. At the back of the rectangular reception room is a door leading to the inner courtyard which contains the owner's house, huts for his wives, granaries, a well and a bathroom. The best houses are located within the fifteenth-century palace compound of the emir known as the Gidan Rumfa which is a large area of over 30 acres. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from August 18, 1959 to December 20, 1959.