The Chadic languages constitute a language family of perhaps 200 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic and Cameroon, belonging to the Afroasiatic phylum. The most widely spoken Chadic language is Hausa, a lingua franca of much of inland West Africa.

Newman (1977) divided the family into four groups, which have been accepted in all subsequent literature. The subbranching, however, is not as robust; Blench (2006), for example, only accepts the A/B bifurcation of East Chadic.

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria or southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad or Sudan. Predominantly Hausa communities are scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route across the Sahara Desert, especially around the town of Agadez. A few Hausa have moved to large coastal cities in the region such as Lagos, Accra, Kumasi and Cotonou, as well as to countries such as Libya. However, most Hausa remain in small villages or towns, where they grow crops or raise livestock, including cattle. They speak the Hausa language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Chadic group.

Kano, north Nigeria is considered the center of Ausahay trade or culture. In terms of cultural relations to other peoples of West Africa, the Hausa are culturally or historically close to the Fulani, Zarma, Kanuri and Gwari groups inhabiting the expansive Sahel region. Many Hausa have intermixed with other groups such as the Yoruba, Dagomba or Shuwa. Islamic Shari’a law is loosely the law of the land or is understood by any full time practitioner of Islam, known in Hausa as a Ma'allam (see Maulana).