The most important of these states was the Sokoto Caliphate or Fulani Empire.

Hausa-Fulani Sokoto Caliphate in the 19th century

According to the Encyclopedia of African History, " It is estimated that by the 1890s the largest slave population of the world, about 2 million people, was concentrated in the territories of the Sokoto Caliphate.

Shaihu Usman dan Fodio (), born Usuman ɓii Foduye, ( also referred to as Shaikh Usman Ibn Fodio, Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye, or Shehu Usman dan Fodio, 1754 – 1817 ) was the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809, a religious teacher, writer and Islamic promoter.

After his death in 1817, his son, Muhammed Bello, succeeded his as amir al-mu ’ minin and became the ruler of the Sokoto Caliphate, which was the biggest state south of the Sahara at that time.

The Islamic State and the Challenge of History: Ideals, Policies, and Operation of the Sokoto Caliphate.

Paper Presented to the International Seminar on the Intellectual Tradition in the Sokoto Caliphate and Borno.

Fugitive Slaves: Resistance to Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate, In Resistance: Studies in African, Caribbean, and Afro-American History.

* Usman dan Fodio ( 1754-1817 ), founder of the Sokoto Caliphate

At the beginning of the 19 century, Fulani Islamic leader Usman dan Fodio led a jihad affecting much of northern Nigeria, leading to the emergence of the Sokoto Caliphate.

the Sokoto Caliphate.

The war resulted in the creation of the Sokoto Caliphate, headed by Usman dan Fodio, which became one of the largest states in Africa in the 1800s and inspired similar jihads in Western Africa.

Other battles continued against a number of Hausa kingdoms and the Sokoto Caliphate expanded over the next two years.

The Sokoto Caliphate remains in existence to this day ; although since British conquest of the Caliphate in 1903, the political authority has diminished and only spiritual authority remains.

Category: Sokoto Caliphate

What is now Niger was created from four distinct cultural areas in the pre-colonial era: the Djerma dominated Niger River valley in the southwest ; the northern perephery of Hausaland, made mostly of those states which had resisted the Sokoto Caliphate, and ranged along the long southern border with Nigeria ; the Lake Chad basin and Kaouar in the far east, populated by Kanuri farmers and Toubou pastoralists who had once been part of the Kanem-Bornu Empire ; and the Tuareg nomads of the Aïr Mountains and Saharan desert in the vast north.

The Sokoto Caliphate or Fulani Empire is an Islamic spiritual community in Northern Nigeria, led by the Sultan of Sokoto ( currently Sa ' adu Abubakar ).

The independent Sokoto Caliphate arose in 1804 and grew into one of the most significant empires in Africa in the 1800s.

In 1809, Muhammad Bello, the son of dan Fodio, founded the city of Sokoto, which became the capital of the Sokoto Caliphate.

Sokoto Caliphate in the 19th century

From 1808 until the mid 1830s, the Sokoto Caliphate expanded gradually annexing the plains to the west and key parts of Yorubaland.

Usman ruled from Sokoto as the religious leader of the Fulani jihad states from that point until 1815 when he retired from administrative duties.

Muhammed Bello () was the second Sultan of Sokoto and reigned from 1815 until 1837 and was an active writer of history, poetry, and Islamic studies.

He remained in Sokoto as an advisor until Bello's death.

~ Saurdauna of Sokoto until 17 June 1938, when he became Sultan Abubakar III

Although the people of Zamfara have over the years struggled to have autonomy, it was not until 1996 that the then Military Administration of the Late General Sani Abacha detached Zamfara State from Sokoto State.

~ Born at Dange, on 15 March 1903, same day on which the British finally subdued the Sokoto Caliphate

Umar Tal was inspired by Ibrahim Pasha, when Umar returned to Sokoto he followed the trends set by the Pasha.

A controversy developed with the death of Siddiq Abubakar in 1988 when the Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Babangida interfered in the succession decision and named Ibrahim Dasuki, a business associate of Babangida, the Sultan of Sokoto.

It was formed in 1976 when the then North-Western State was bifurcated into Niger State and Sokoto State.

Chamberlain had successfully imposed British control over the Niger and the inland territories of Sokoto, later joining them together as Nigeria.

However, the British had expanded into Southern Nigeria and by 1902 had begun plans to move into the Sokoto Caliphate.

British General Frederick Lugard used rivalries between many of the emirs in the south and the central Sokoto administration to prevent any defense as he worked toward the capital.

As the British approached the city of Sokoto, the new Sultan Muhammadu Attahiru I organized a quick defense of the city and fought the advancing British-led forces.

The British moved in to the largely depopulated Sokoto and appointed Muhammadu Attahiru II the new Caliph.

The area of the Sokoto Caliphate was divided between the British, French, and Germans under the terms of the Berlin Conference.

The British established the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to govern the region which included most of the Sokoto empire and its most important emirates.

In the lands of the Sokoto Caliphate, conquered by the British Empire at the turn of the century, Lugard instituted a system whereby external, military, and tax control was operated by the British, while most every other aspect of life was left to local pre-British aristocracies who may have sided with the British during or after their conquest.

1900, with the British take-over, Sokoto, which then encompassed the entire north-west corner of Nigeria, became a province of the British protectorate of Nigeria.

A British resident of the first class has been placed at Sokoto and assistant residents at other centres.

The leader was condemned to death in the emir's court and executed in the market place of Sokoto, and the incident was chiefly interesting for the display of loyalty to the British administration which it evoked on all sides from the native rulers.