Today History is an Epic story about a Warlord , a conqueror , a brave commander and a Great general …
General Usman dan Fodio, Usman also spelled Uthman or Usuman, Arabic ʿUthmān ..He was born 15 December 1754, Maratta, Gobir, Hausaland [now in Nigeria] died 1817,
Founder of Sokoto Caliphate and Fulani empire, He was a philosopher, and revolutionary reformer who, in a jihad (holy war) between 1804 and 1808, created a new Muslim state, the Fulani empire, in what is now northern Nigeria..
Usman Dan Fodio is considered the greatest Warlord in the history of not only Nigeria but in whole West Africa ..He founded the largest empire and Dynasty in West Africa..
Usman was born in the Hausa state of Gobir, in what is now northwestern Nigeria. His father, Muhammad Fodiye, was a scholar from the Toronkawa clan, which had emigrated from Futa-Toro in Senegal about the 15th century. While he was still young, Usman moved south with his family to Degel, where he studied the Quran with his father.. His teacher was One powerful intellectual and religious influence at this time in the southern Saharan city of Agadez, Jubril ibn Umar, a radical figure whom Usman both respected and look up to..
During Fulani Wars (Jihads) ..
Usman Dan Fodio had been actively educating and preaching in the city of Gobir with the approval and support of the Hausa leadership of the city. However, when Yunfa, a former student of dan Fodio, became the sultan of Gobir, he restricted dan Fodio’s activities, eventually forcing him into exile in Gudu..A large number of people left Gobir to join dan Fodio, who also began to gather new supporters from other regions. Feeling threatened by his former teacher, Sultan Yunfa declared war on dan Fodio on February 21, 1804……
Usman dan Fodio was elected as the Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu’minin) by his followers,marking the beginning of the Sokoto state. Usman dan Fodio then created a number of flag bearers amongst those following him, creating an early political structure of the empire..
Declaring a jihad against the Hausa kings, dan Fodio rallied his primarily Fulani “warrior-scholars” against Gobir..Despite early losses at the Battle of Tsuntua and elsewhere, the forces of dan Fodio began taking over some key cities starting in 1805..
The Fulani used guerrilla warfare to turn the conflict in their favor, and gathered support from the civilian population, which had come to resent the despotic rule and high taxes of the Hausa kings. Even some non-Muslim Fulani started to support dan Fodio..The war lasted from 1804 until 1808, and resulted in thousands of deaths.The forces of dan Fodio were able to capture the states of Katsina and Daura, the important kingdom of Kano in 1807,and finally conquered Gobir in 1809..In the same year, Muhammed Bello, the son of dan Fodio, founded the city of Sokoto, which became the capital of the Sokoto state..
The jihad had created a new slaving frontier on the basis of rejuvenated Islam.By 1900 the Sokoto state had “at least 1 million and perhaps as many as 2.5 million slaves”, second only to the United States (which had 4 million in 1860) in size among all modern slave societies. However, there was far less of a distinction between slaves and their masters in the Sokoto state..
From 1808 until the mid-1830s, the Sokoto state expanded, gradually annexing the plains to the west and key parts of Yorubaland. It became one of the largest states in Africa, stretching from modern day Burkina Faso to Cameroon and including most of northern Nigeria and southern Niger. At its height, the Sokoto state included over 30 different emirates under its political structure
The Sokoto Caliphate also known as the Sultanate of Sokoto,was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio during Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Fulani War.The boundaries of the caliphate are part of present-day Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria..It was dissolved when the British and Germans conquered the area in 1903 and annexed it into the newly established Northern Nigeria Protectorate and Kamerun respectively.
The caliphate arose after the Hausa King Yunfa attempted to assassinate Usman dan Fodio in 1802. In order to escape persecution, Usman and his followers migrated towards Gudu in February 1804..
By 1808, the Sokoto Caliphate had gained control of several northern Nigerian states. Under the sixth caliph Ahmadu Rufai, the state reached its maximum extent, covering a large swath of West Africa. In 1903, the twelfth and last caliph Attahiru was assassinated by British forces which led to the end of the caliphate..
Developed in the context of multiple independent Hausa Kingdoms, at its peak, the caliphate linked over 30 different emirates and 20+ million people in the largest and most developed state of pre-modern Subsaharan Africa. The caliphate brought decades of economic growth throughout the region. An estimated 1 to 2.5 million non-Muslim slaves were captured during the Fulani War..
Although European colonists abolished the political authority of the caliphate, the title of sultan was retained and remains an important religious position for Sunni 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 Sudanian Savanna and the Sahel far beyond the borders of what is now Nigeria that led to the foundation of Islamic states in the regions that would become Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Chad, the Central African Republic, and Sudan..
During the 16th century to 18th century, the three biggest empires were the Yoruba Oyo Empire, the Hausa-Fulani Caliphate and the Igbo kingdom…