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Caliphate · 1804–1903

Sokoto Caliphate

Sokoto Sultanate and Fulani Empire

Born from Usman dan Fodio's jihad of 1804, the caliphate swept away the Hausa kingdoms and joined some thirty emirates under the Commander of the Faithful at Sokoto, with a western half ruled from Gwandu.

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At a glance

When did the Sokoto Caliphate exist?
From 1804 to 1903. It was at its height around 1850.
What was the capital of the Sokoto Caliphate?
Sokoto.
What was the ruler of the Sokoto Caliphate called?
Sultan (Amir al-Mu'minin, Commander of the Faithful).
What happened to the Sokoto Caliphate?
The caliphate ended in 1903, but the Sultan of Sokoto remains the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims and president-general of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.
Who lives in the lands of the Sokoto Caliphate today?
Hausa, Yoruba, Nupe, Fulani, Gbagyi, Chamba (Sama), Dakarkari (Lelna), Kambari

Overview

Born from Usman dan Fodio's jihad of 1804, the caliphate swept away the Hausa kingdoms and joined some thirty emirates under the Commander of the Faithful at Sokoto, with a western half ruled from Gwandu. By the mid 19th century it was the largest state in West Africa, reaching from today's Burkina Faso to Cameroon. The British conquered it in 1903.[1],[2],[13]High confidence

Through the centuries

  1. 1804

    The jihad begins

    In February 1804 Usman dan Fodio leaves Degel for Gudu, and his followers declare a jihad against the king of Gobir. Flag bearers carry the movement across Hausaland.[1],[2]High confidence

    Capital: Gudu (approximate)

    The core is only the area around the first camps.

  2. 1808–1815

    Alkalawa falls; Sokoto is built

    Alkalawa, Gobir's capital, falls in October 1808 and Sarki Yunfa is killed. In 1809 Muhammad Bello, dan Fodio's son, founds Sokoto as the capital. The jihad sweeps east and south: Ngazargamu is burned in 1808, though al-Kanemi saves the rest of Bornu, and flag-bearers found emirates at Bauchi, Gombe, Katagum and Hadejia and in Adamawa.[1],[3]High confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

  3. 1812

    Hausaland conquered

    Kano, Katsina, Zaria and Daura have fallen. Alkalawa, the Gobir capital, fell in 1808, and Sokoto was founded in 1809. New emirates rise at Bauchi, Gombe, Katagum, Hadejia and in Adamawa.[1],[2],[5]Medium confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

  4. 1815–1835

    Two halves: Sokoto and Gwandu

    In 1815 Usman dan Fodio withdraws from government and divides the realm: his brother Abdullahi rules the west from Gwandu, his son Muhammad Bello the east from Sokoto. Dan Fodio dies in 1817. Hausa nobles revolt in 1816–1817, and Bello ends the risings by granting them land titles. He rules for a time from his ribat at Wurno and builds a chain of walled ribats with schools and markets to settle the Fulani and guard the frontiers. Ilorin joins the caliphate in 1823.[1]High confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

  5. 1836–1849

    Gawakuke

    Gobir's exiled kings and the Hausa king of Katsina at Maradi rise together in 1836. Sultan Bello crushes them at Gawakuke, near Isa, his last great victory before his death in 1837. Kebbi, still unbowed, keeps up its war from Argungu.[3],[1]High confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

  6. c. 1850

    The largest state in West Africa

    Ilorin has joined (1823), Fulani rule Nupe, and Adamawa reaches deep into today's Cameroon. Gwandu oversees the western emirates as far as Liptako. Emirs send yearly gifts to Sokoto, and the caliphate's slave-worked plantations feed a booming trade. Emirs travel to Sokoto each year to swear allegiance and bring tribute in crops, cowries and slaves; by 1900 the caliphate holds at least a million and perhaps two and a half million slaves, second only to the United States among modern slave societies.[1],[2],[5],[9],[10]Medium confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

    Hill peoples inside the emirates (Ningi, Jos Plateau, southern Zaria, Dakarkari) often stayed independent; LGA-level drawing hides those pockets.

  7. c. 1880

    Frontier emirates in the south

    Kontagora (1859) and Muri raid southward, and Bida's Nupe armies take tribute from the Ebira, Okun Yoruba and northern Edo towns. Kebbi, rebuilt at Argungu, still fights Gwandu.[1],[5],[11],[10]Medium confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

  8. 1891–1896

    A tottering caliphate?

    The French explorer Monteil visits Sokoto in 1891 and finds it at war with the emir of Argungu, whom it beats the next year; he judges Fulani power shaken by the war and by the unpopular new caliph, Abdurrahman. Europeans close in: Britain's Royal Niger Company holds the river, Germany pushes into Adamawa from Cameroon, and France sends columns along the northern edge.[1]Medium confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

  9. 1897

    The Royal Niger Company takes Bida and Ilorin

    British company troops capture Bida and Ilorin in 1897. Lugard turns rivalries between the southern emirs and Sokoto against the caliphate as his West African Frontier Force marches north. Kano falls in February 1903 and Sokoto in March; on 13 March the last vizier concedes to British rule in Sokoto's market square. Caliph Attahiru I leads thousands east on a hijra towards the Nile, joined by Muslims from Hausaland, Massina and Adamawa, and dies fighting at Burmi in July. The British make Attahiru II sultan and keep the title, but abolish the caliphate.[1],[13],[1]High confidence

    Capital: Sokoto

    Told in full as an event on the timeline.

Wars, treaties and turning points

Today

Sultan of Sokoto, Sokoto

The caliphate ended in 1903, but the Sultan of Sokoto remains the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims and president-general of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. Most of the emirates it created still have emirs.[1]High confidence

Its people

Fulani, Hausa

Living in its lands today

Peoples whose homelands lie inside its lands at its height, by number of LGAs.

Hausa, Yoruba, Nupe, Fulani, Gbagyi, Chamba (Sama), Dakarkari (Lelna), Kambari, Mumuye, Kamuku, Afo (Eloyi), Alago

Sources

Every claim carries a confidence level: high (well attested), medium (one source or approximate) or disputed (sources disagree).

  1. Wikipedia contributors. Sokoto Caliphate
  2. Last, Murray. (1967). The Sokoto Caliphate. Longmans, London (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  3. Wikipedia contributors. Gobir
  4. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi
  5. Hogben, S. J.; Kirk-Greene, A. H. M. (1966). The Emirates of Northern Nigeria: A Preliminary Survey of Their Historical Traditions. Oxford University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  6. Wikipedia contributors. Kingdom of Kebbi
  7. Wikipedia contributors. Bauchi Emirate
  8. Wikipedia contributors. Gombe Emirate
  9. Ajayi, J. F. Ade; Crowder, Michael (editors). (1985). Historical Atlas of Africa. Cambridge University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  10. Suleiman, AbdulRahman Adebayo. (2023). The Factor of Trade in the Diplomatic Relations between the Nupe People and the Ilorin Emirate. Sejarah 32(2): 107–120 (“Nupe rulers directly conquered … Ijumu, Kakanda, Kabba, Oworoland, Igbomina and Ekitiland”). Journal of the History Department, University of Malaya
  11. Mason, Michael. (1981). Foundations of the Bida Kingdom. Ahmadu Bello University Press, Zaria (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  12. Wikipedia contributors. Muhammadu Attahiru II
  13. Adeleye, R. A. (1971). Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria, 1804–1906. Longman, London (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)