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The Sokoto Caliphate: the 1804 jihad and British conquest
In 1804 a Fulani scholar declared a jihad against the Hausa kings. A century later the caliphate he founded fell to British troops, and its rulers became the colonial government’s partners.
A scholar who walked out of a kingdom, an army of students and farmers, a state of emirates stretching across the savanna and a collapse that took only months. This chapter covers the biggest political change in Hausa history, and what came next.
In this chapter
01Usman dan Fodio and the jihad of 1804
A preacher, a king of Gobir and a march to Gudu in 1804.
2 min read →
02How the caliphate was organized
Fifteen emirates, a blended elite and a state built on enslaved labour.
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03The British conquest of 1903
How the British took Kano and Sokoto in 1903.
1 min read →
04Indirect rule and its consequences
Why the emirs stayed in power, and what that did to tradition.
2 min read →