Fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in Northern Nigeria

                          

The Sokoto Caliphate was an independent Islamic Caliphate, in West Africa. Founded during the jihad of the Fulani War in 1809 by Usman dan Fodio, it was abolished when the British defeated the caliph in 1903 and put the area under the Northern Nigeria Protectorate.

Developed in the context of multiple, independent Hausa kingdoms, at its height the Caliphate linked over 30 different emirates and over 10 million people in the most powerful state in its region and one of the most significant empires in Africa in the nineteenth century. The caliphate was a loose confederation of emirates that recognized the suzerainty of the "commander of the faithful", the sultan or caliph.The caliphate brought decades of economic growth throughout the region. An estimated one to 2.5 million non-Muslim slaves were captured during jihad.However, slavery in the Caliphate was not practiced in the same manner as it was by Europeans at the time, as it was not chattel slavery. Slaves provided labor for plantations and were provided an opportunity to become Muslims.

Though the British abolished the political authority of the Caliph the title of Sultan was retained, and remains an important religious position for Muslims in the region to the current day.Usman dan Fodio's jihad provided the inspiration for a series of related jihads in other parts of the savanna and Sahel far beyond Nigeria's borders that led to the foundation of Islamic states in Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, and Sudan.

Compiled by Ahmed