Sokoto Empire
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 caliphate 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 the Fulani War. However, slavery in the Caliphate was not the more common chattel slavery; slaves provided labor for plantations and were provided an opportunity to become Muslims.
Although the British abolished the political authority of the Caliphate 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.
The major power in the region in the 17th and 18th centuries had been the Bornu Empire. However, revolutions and the rise of new powers decreased the power of the Bornu empire and by 1759, its rulers had lost control over the oasis town of Bilma and access to the Trans-Saharan trade. Vassal cities of the empire gradually became autonomous, and the result by 1780 was a political array of different, independent states in the region.
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