View source for Sokoto Caliphate

{{Short description|Islamic state in West Africa (1804–1903)}}
{{About|the 19th century state|the Nigerian traditional state|Sokoto Sultanate Council}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| common_name            = Sokoto Caliphate
| era                    = [[Fula jihads]]
| native_name            = {{plainlist|
*{{small|{{native name|ha|{{script/Hausawi|دَوْلَارْ خَلِيڢرْ سَݣَُوتُواْ}}}}}}
*{{small|Daular Khalifar Sakkwato}}
*{{small|{{native name|ar|دَوْلَةُ الخِلَافَة فَي بِلَاد السُودَان}}}}
*{{small|Dawlatu'l-Khilāfah fī Bilād as-Sūdān}}
}}
| conventional_long_name = Sokoto Caliphate
| event_start            = [[Fulani War|Founded]]
| year_start             = 1804
| date_start             = 21 February
| event_end              = [[Battle of Burmi]]
| year_end               = 1903
| date_end               = 27 July
| event2                 = [[Fall of Alkalawa]]
| date_event2            = 3 October 1808
| p1                     = Sultanate of Kano
| flag_p1                = Unconfirmed Kano Flag.svg
| p2                     = Katsina Emirate{{!}}Sultanate of Katsina
| flag_p2                = 
| p3                     = Gobir{{!}}Sultanate of Gobir
| flag_p3                = 
| p4                     = Kingdom of Zazzau{{!}}Sultanate of Zazzau
| flag_p4                = Flag of the Zaria Emirate.svg
| p5                     = Bornu Empire
| flag_p5                = Flag of the Bornu Empire.svg
| p6                     = Sultanate of Damagaram
| flag_p6                = 
| p7                     = 
| flag_p7                = 
| p8                     = Kwararafa{{!}}Jukun Kingdoms
| flag_p8                = 
| p9                     = Kebbi Emirate{{!}}Kebbi Sultanate
| flag_p9                = 
| p10                    = Nupe people{{!}}Nupe Kingdom
| flag_p10               = 
| p11                    = Dendi Kingdom
| flag_p11               = 
| p12                    = Sultanate of Agadez
| flag_p12               = 
| p13                    = Tuareg Oligarchy
| flag_p13               = 
| p14                    = Sultanate of Zamfara
| flag_p14               = 
| p15                    = Yauri Emirate{{!}}Sultanate of Yauri
| flag_p15               = 
| s1                     = Northern Nigeria Protectorate
| flag_s1                = Flag of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate (1900–1914).svg
| s2                     = German Kamerun
| flag_s2                = Reichskolonialflagge.svg
| s4                     = French West Africa
| flag_s4                = Flag of France.svg
| image_coat             = 
| symbol                 = 
| image_map              = File:Sokoto Sultanate (cropped).png
| image_map_caption      = Map of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1870
| national_motto         = 
| capital                = {{ubl
  |'''Eastern territories:'''{{ubl|
*[[Sokoto (city)|Sokoto]] <small>(1808–1850, 1851–1902)</small>
*[[Birnin Konni]] <small>(1850)</small>
*Burmi <small>(1903)</small>}}
|'''Western territories:'''{{ubl|
*[[Gwandu Emirate|Gwandu]] <small>(1808–1811, 1817–1860, 1876–1903)</small>
*[[Bodinga]] <small>(1811–1817)</small>
*Ambursa <small>(1860–1876)</small>
}}
}}
| common_languages       = {{plainlist|
*[[Hausa language|Hausa]]
*[[Fula language|Fulfulde]]}}
| government_type        = [[Sarauta]]-[[Caliphate]]
| title_leader           = [[Caliph]] / [[Amir al-Mu'minin|Amir<br />al-Mu'minin]]
| leader1                = [[Usman dan Fodio]] (first)
| year_leader1           = 1804–1817
| leader2                = [[Muhammadu Attahiru I|Muhammadu Attahiru]] (last)
| year_leader2           = 1902–1903
| title_deputy           = [[Sokoto Grand Vizier|Grand Vizier]]
| deputy1                = [[Abdullahi dan Fodio]] (first)
| year_deputy1           = 1804–1817
| deputy2                = [[Muhammadu al-Bukhari]] (last)
| year_deputy2           = 1886–1903
| legislature            = [[Shura]]
| house1                 = 
| type_house1            = 
| house2                 = 
| type_house2            = 
| stat_year1             = 
| official_languages     = [[Arabic]]
| religion               = [[Sunni Islam]]
| currency               = {{plainlist| 
* [[Dirham]] 
* [[Dinar]]
* [[Maria Theresa thaler]]
* [[Cowrie]]
}}
| area_km2               = 2200000
| area_footnote          = <ref>{{cite book | last = Last | first = M.| title = The Sokoto Caliphate | date = 2021| publisher = [New York] Humanities Press| url = https://archive.org/details/sokotocaliphate0000last/page/152/mode/2up}}</ref>
| area_rank              = 
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year           = 
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
| p16                    = 
}}
The '''Sokoto Caliphate''' ({{langx|ar|دولة الخلافة في بلاد السودان}}, literally: '''Caliphate in the Lands of Sudan'''), also known as the '''Sultanate of Sokoto''',<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=388mswEACAAJ |title=The Times Complete History of the World |publisher=Times Books |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-00-795956-3 |editor-last=Overy |editor-first=Richard |edition=9th |location=London |page=265 |language=en}}</ref> was a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslim]] [[caliphate]] in [[West Africa]]. It was founded by [[Usman dan Fodio]] in 1804 during the [[Fula jihads|Fulani jihads]] after defeating the [[Hausa Kingdoms]] in the [[Fulani War]]. The boundaries of the caliphate extended to parts of present-day [[Cameroon]], [[Burkina Faso]], [[Niger]], and [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 24393055|title = Intellectual Discourse in the Sokoto Caliphate: The Triumvirate's Opinions on the Issue of Ransoming, ca. 1810|last1 = Lofkrantz|first1 = Jennifer|journal = The International Journal of African Historical Studies|year = 2012|volume = 45|issue = 3|pages = 385–401}}</ref><ref>McKay, Hill, Buckler, Ebrey, Beck, Crowston, Weisner-Hanks. ''A History of World Societies.'' 8th edition. Volume C – From 1775 to the Present. 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin's. {{ISBN|978-0-312-68298-9}}. "The most important of these revivalist states, the enormous Sokoto caliphate, illustrates the general pattern. It was founded by Usuman dan Fodio (1754-1817), an inspiring Muslim teacher who first won zealous followers among both the Fulani herders and Hausa peasants in the Muslim state of Gobir in the northern Sudan." p. 736.</ref> By 1837, the Caliphate had a population of 10–20 million people, becoming the most populous empire in West Africa.<ref name="Falola" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Usman dan Fodio: Sokoto Caliphate founder – DW – 02/24/2020 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/usman-dan-fodio-founder-of-the-sokoto-caliphate/a-51995841#:~:text=In%201837%2C%20the%20Sokoto%20Caliphate,April%2020%2C%201817%20in%20Sokoto. |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> It was dissolved when the [[British Empire|British]], [[French colonial empire|French]], and [[German colonial empire|Germans]] conquered the area in 1903 and annexed it into the newly established [[Northern Nigeria Protectorate]], [[Senegambia and Niger]] and [[Kamerun]] (the latter during the [[Adamawa Wars]]) respectively.

The caliphate emerged after the [[Hausa Kingdoms|Hausa King]] [[Yunfa]] attempted to assassinate Usman Dan Fodio in 1802. To escape persecution, Usman and his followers migrated towards [[Gudu]] in February 1804. Usman's followers pledged allegiance to Usman as the [[Amir al-Mu'minin|Commander of the Faithful]] ({{Transliteration|ar|Amīr al-Muʾminīn}}). By 1808, the Sokoto Caliphate had gained control over Hausaland and several surrounding 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 [[Muhammadu Attahiru I|Attahiru]] was assassinated by British forces, marking the end of the caliphate.<ref name="Falola2">{{cite book |last=Falola |first=Toyin |title=Historical Dictionary of Nigeria |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2009 |location=Lanham, Md}}</ref>

Developed in the context of multiple independent [[Hausa Kingdoms]], at its peak, the caliphate linked over 30 different emirates and 10–20+ million people in the largest independent polity in the continent at the time.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Last |first1=Murray |title=The Oxford World History of Empire |date=3 March 2021 |isbn=978-0-19-753276-8 |pages=1082–1110 |language=en |chapter=The Sokoto Caliphate |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197532768.003.0040 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/39071/chapter-abstract/338399135?redirectedFrom=fulltext}}</ref> According to historian [[John Iliffe (historian)|John Iliffe]], Sokoto was "the most prosperous region in tropical Africa."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Iliffe |first1=John |title=Africans: The History of a Continent |date=25 August 1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-48422-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/africanshistoryo0000ilif |url-access=registration |language=en |page=171}}</ref> The caliphate was a loose confederation of emirates that recognized the [[suzerainty]] of the [[Amir al-Mu'minin]], the [[List of Sultans of Sokoto|Sultan of Sokoto]].<ref name=countrystudies>{{cite book|editor1-last=Metz |editor1-first=Helen Chapin |editor-link=Helen Chapin Metz |title=Nigeria: A Country Study |date=1991|publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress|location=Washington|chapter-url=http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/9.htm|access-date=2 September 2015|chapter=Usman dan Fodio and the Sokoto Caliphate}}</ref>

Slaves worked plantations and much of the population converted to Islam.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Lovejoy1978" /> By 1900, Sokoto had "at least 1 million and perhaps as many as 2.5 million slaves" second only to the American South (which had four million in 1860) in size among all modern slave societies.<ref name="History_of_World_Societies-755" /> Jan Stafford Hogendorn and [[Paul Lovejoy|Paul Ellsworth Lovejoy]] writes that "Our own estimate is based on the assumption that slaves constituted between a quarter and a half of the population of the Caliphate, which certainly numbered many millions and perhaps as many as 10 million."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lovejoy |first=Paul Ellsworth |title=SLOW DEATH FOR SLAVERY The course of abolition in Northern Nigeria, 1897-1936 |last2=Hogendorn |first2=Jan Stafford |date=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0 521 37469 3 |location=New York |page=305 |language=en}}</ref>

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.<ref name=Falola>{{cite book|last=Falola|first=Toyin|title=Historical Dictionary of Nigeria|year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Md}}</ref> Usman Dan Fodio's jihad inspired a series of related [[jihad]]s 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 are now in modern-day [[Senegal]], [[Mali]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[Chad]], the [[Central African Republic]], and [[Sudan]].<ref name=countrystudies/>

The legacy of the Sokoto Caliphate and [[Usman dan Fodio]]'s teachings have left a lasting impact on the region's history, including contemporary Nigeria and other parts of [[West Africa]]. The Sokoto era produced some of the most renowned writers in West Africa with the three main reformist leaders, Usman, [[Abdullahi dan Fodio|Abdullahi]] and [[Muhammed Bello|Bello]], writing more than three hundred books combined on a wide variety of topics, including logic, [[tafsir]], mathematics, governance, law, astronomy, grammar, medicine, and so on. Some other famous scholars of that era were [[Abd al-Qadir dan Tafa|Shaikh Dan Tafa]] and [[Nana Asma'u]]. All of these scholars are still being widely studied around West Africa and some as far as the Middle East.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Buba |first=Malami |date=2018 |title=The legacies of the Sokoto Caliphate in contemporary Nigeria |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hic3.12482 |journal=History Compass |language=en |volume=16 |issue=8 |article-number=e12482 |doi=10.1111/hic3.12482|s2cid=149506869 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview: Why every Nigerian should be proud of the Sokoto Caliphate – Prof Murray Last |url=https://www.premiumtimesng.com/features-and-interviews/496263-interview-why-every-nigerian-should-be-proud-of-the-sokoto-caliphate-prof-murray-last.html |access-date=2023-07-12 |website=premiumtimesng.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=John O. Hunwick |first=Razaq Abubakre |url=http://archive.org/details/arabic-literature-of-africa-the-writings-of-central-sudanic-africa |title=Arabic Literature of Africa: The writings of Central Sudanic Africa. Vol. 2 |date=1995 |page=220}}</ref>

== Nomenclature ==
Throughout the 19th century, the Islamic state founded by [[Usman dan Fodio]] had no fixed name. In [[Hausa language|Hausa]], the local lingua franca, it was sometimes referred to as ''daular'' ''<nowiki/>'Uthmaniyya'' ("Uthmani state"), not to be confused with the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman state]], the original ''daular'' ''<nowiki/>'uthmaniyya''.<ref name=":1" /> Usman and his successors, who ruled from [[Sokoto (city)|Sokoto]], used the title of [[Commander of the Believers]] (''Amir al-mu'minin'' in [[Arabic]]; ''Sarkin Musulmi'' in Hausa; ''[[Lamido Julbe]]'' in [[Fulfulde]]). The townspeople of the capital, Sokoto, were known as ''Kadirawa'', followers of the [[Qadiriyya]] Sufi order.<ref name=":11" />{{Reference page|page=lix}}<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Burnham |first=Philip |last2=Last |first2=Murray |date=1994 |title=From Pastoralist to Politician: The Problem of a Fulbe "Aristocracy" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4392525 |journal=Cahiers d'Études Africaines |volume=34 |issue=133/135 |pages=313–357 |issn=0008-0055}}</ref>

Following the [[Battle of Sokoto|British conquest of Sokoto]], [[Northern Nigeria Protectorate|the British colonist]] appointed [[Muhammadu Attahiru II|Muhammad Attahiru II]] as [[Emir]] of the newly established [[Sokoto Emirate]], indicating the loss of sovereign powers over the other emirs and his subordination to the governor. Unlike other Native emirs in the region, however, he was given the courtesy title of [[Sultan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tibenderana |first=Peter Kazenga |date=1987 |title=The Role of the British Administration in the Appointment of the Emirs of Northern Nigeria, 1903-1931: The Case of Sokoto Province |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/181548 |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=231–257 |issn=0021-8537}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Gwadabe |first=Muhammadu Mustapha |title=CHAPTER 7 FROM HAUSA KINGDOMS TO THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE |date=2023-03-21 |work=Great Kingdoms of Africa |pages=197–222 |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520395688-009/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOorMCK_YyD_Dvr9lujbwNL_HL712htNPPuBWLhREHp7ICRc7qdf9 |access-date=2025-09-13 |publisher=University of California Press |language=en |doi=10.1525/9780520395688-009/html?lang=en&srsltid=afmboormck_yyd_dvr9lujbwnl_hl712htnppubwlhrehp7icrc7qdf9 |isbn=978-0-520-39568-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tibenderana |first=Peter K. |date=1988 |title=The Irony of Indirect Rule in Sokoto Emirate, Nigeria, 1903-1944 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/524584 |journal=African Studies Review |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=67–92 |doi=10.2307/524584 |issn=0002-0206}}</ref> The title was never used in the 19th century and was only was reserved for subordinate rulers, such as the later emirs of [[Kano Emirate|Kano]] and [[Zaria Emirate|Zaria]], both major, wealthy cities answerable to the caliph at Sokoto.<ref name=":1" />

In post-colonial [[Nigeria]] during the 1960s, the label "Sokoto Caliphate" was introduced by [[Murray Last]] and became the most widely accepted name. According to Last, the term was influenced by the work of Professor [[Abdullahi Smith]], Head of the History Department at [[Ahmadu Bello University|Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria]]. Smith had liked to use the term '[[caliphate]]' when teaching the history of Usman's state. When Last titled his 1966 PhD dissertation "The Sokoto Caliphate", his supervisor Smith preferred "The Caliphate of Sokoto", but the shorter "Sokoto Caliphate" (''Daular Sakkwato'' in Hausa) became more widely adopted.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Naylor |first=Paul |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/from-rebels-to-rulers/3F3D3E5EC704BC817E748B7D35D93F37 |title=From Rebels to Rulers: Writing Legitimacy in the Early Sokoto State |date=2021 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1-84701-270-8 |series=Religion in Transforming Africa}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=6}} Last explained his reasoning:<blockquote>The decision to relabel the historical state whose capital was at Sokoto was partly intellectual, partly political: intellectual, because we needed a properly Islamic term for a properly Islamic state (and a term that could be justified both on textual evidence and on a technical legal rationale); political, because the newly autonomous [[regional government of Northern Nigeria]] needed a model on which to base its new political morality of "work and worship."<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>Some scholars contest this rationale and continue to use old terms like Fulani Empire (l'empire peul in [[French language|French]]).<ref name=":1" /> The relabelling by Last and Smith reflected an intepretation of [[Jihad of Usman dan Fodio|Usman's jihad]] as a religious movement and, thus of Sokoto as an Islamic state, rather than as an '[[empire]]' as was common among colonial British writers.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":13" />{{Reference page|page=25}}<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=B. G. |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Muslim_Brotherhoods_in_Nineteenth_Centur/o0XhcUWa1_4C?hl=en |title=Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa |date=2003-02-13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-53451-2 |language=en |chapter=Usuman dan Fodio and the Fulani Jihad in Northern Nigeria}}</ref><ref name=":15">{{Citation |last=Mamdani |first=Mahmood |title=Chapter three. Beyond Settlers and Natives: The Theory and Practice of Decolonization |date=2012-10-30 |work=Define and Rule: Native as Political Identity |pages=85–126 |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.4159/harvard.9780674067356.c3/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOopmK5vsJE7eoOdj0nHtBA3QEYqC2mUHW23haTGHJ5PcEwv7pVQ8 |access-date=2025-09-13 |publisher=Harvard University Press |language=en |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674067356.c3/html?lang=en&srsltid=afmboopmk5vsje7eoodj0nhtba3qeyqc2muhw23hatghj5pcewv7pvq8 |isbn=978-0-674-06735-6 |author-link=Mahmood Mamdani}}</ref> The assumption was that an 'empire' was a political system in which one 'race,' 'nationality' or 'tribe' dominated other groups, and excluded them from government.<ref name=":1" /> The intepretation of the movement as an 'ethnic' revolution by the [[Fula people|Fulani]] was mainly based on the fact that all but one of the new emirs were indeed Fulani. However, the prevailing view among scholars is that Usman's movement was primarily religious.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zehnle |first=Stephanie |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110675276/html?srsltid=AfmBOoql2WB3dxZ1UOd_0wJS4LTQn4zuh4XQaHiJM8pBX0n52cns7Ly6 |title=A Geography of Jihad: Sokoto Jihadism and the Islamic Frontier in West Africa |date=2020-01-20 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-067527-6 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110675276/html?srsltid=afmbooql2wb3dxz1uod_0wjs4ltqn4zuh4xqahijm8pbx0n52cns7ly6}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=|pages=8–9}}<ref name=":14" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=H A S |url=http://archive.org/details/fulaniempireofso0000hasj |title=The Fulani Empire of Sokoto |date=1967 |publisher=london: oxford university press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=102}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ochonu |first=Moses |date=2015 |title=Caliphate Expansion and Sociopolitical Change in Nineteenth-Century Lower Benue Hinterlands |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/jwestafrihist.1.1.0133 |journal=Journal of West African History |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=133–178 |doi=10.14321/jwestafrihist.1.1.0133 |issn=2327-1868}}</ref><ref name=":15" /> The early emirs were chosen on their piety as Muslim scholars, and they were expected to provide proper [[Islamic governance]].<ref name=":1" />

==History==

===Background===
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]].<ref name=Maishanu>{{cite journal|last=Maishanu|first=Hamza Muhammad|author2=Isa Muhammad Maishanu |title=The Jihad and the Formation of the Sokoto Caliphate|journal=Islamic Studies|year=1999|volume=38|issue=1|pages=119–131}}</ref> Vassal cities of the empire gradually became autonomous, and the result by 1780 was a political array of independent states in the region.<ref name=Maishanu />

The fall of the [[Songhai Empire]] in 1591 to Morocco also had freed much of the central Bilad as-Sudan, and a number of Hausa sultanates led by different Hausa aristocracies had grown to fill the void. Three of the most significant to develop were the sultanates of [[Gobir]], [[Kebbi Emirate|Kebbi]] (both in the [[Rima River]] valley), and [[Zamfara]], all in present-day Nigeria.<ref name=Maishanu /><ref name=Swindell>{{cite journal|last=Swindell|first=Kenneth|title=Population and Agriculture in the Sokoto-Rima Basin of North-West Nigeria: A Study of Political Intervention, Adaptation and Change, 1800–1980|journal=Cahiers d'Études Africaines|year=1986|volume=26|issue=101|pages=75–111|doi=10.3406/cea.1986.2167}}</ref> These kingdoms engaged in regular warfare against each other, especially in conducting slave raids. In order to pay for the constant warfare, they imposed high taxes on their citizens.<ref name=Chafe>{{cite journal|last=Chafe|first=Kabiru Sulaiman|title=Challenges to the Hegemony of the Sokoto Caliphate: A Preliminary Examination|journal=Paideuma|year=1994|volume=40|pages=99–109}}</ref>

[[Image:Sokoto River system.png|thumb|left|The Sokoto-Rima river system]]

The region between the [[Niger River]] and [[Lake Chad]] was largely populated with the Fulani, the Hausa, and other ethnic groups that had immigrated to the area such as the Tuareg.<ref name=Maishanu /><ref name=Chafe />

Much of the population had converted to Islam in the centuries before; however, local pagan beliefs persisted in many areas, especially in the aristocracy.<ref name=Swindell /> In the end of the 1700s, an increase in Islamic preaching occurred throughout the Hausa kingdoms. A number of the preachers were linked in a shared [[Tariqa]] of Islamic study.<ref name=Maishanu /> Maliki scholars were invited or traveled to the Hausa lands from the Maghreb and joined the courts of some sultanates such as in Kano. These scholars preached a return to adherence to Islamic tradition. The most important of these scholars is [[Muhammad al-Maghili]], who brought the Maliki jurisprudence to Nigeria.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

===Fulani Jihad===
{{main|Fulani War}}

[[Usman dan Fodio]], an Islamic scholar and an urbanized Fulani, 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]].<ref name=Maishanu />{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}} 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{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}} on 21 February 1804.
[[File:Fula jihad states map general c1830.png|thumb|The [[Fula jihads|Fulani jihad states]] of West Africa, {{circa|1830}}|left|265x265px]]
Usman dan Fodio was elected as the "Commander of the Faithful" ({{Transliteration|ar|[[Amir al-Mu'minin]]}}) by his followers,{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}} 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.<ref name=Maishanu /> Declaring a jihad against the Hausa kings, dan Fodio rallied his primarily Fulani "warrior-scholars" against Gobir.{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}} Despite early losses at the [[Battle of Tsuntua]] and elsewhere, the forces of dan Fodio began taking over some key cities starting in 1805.<ref name=Maishanu /> 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.{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}} The war lasted from 1804 until 1808 and resulted in thousands of deaths.{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}}<ref name=Maishanu /> The forces of dan Fodio were able to capture the states of [[Katsina (city)|Katsina]] and [[Daura]], the important kingdom of [[Kano Emirate|Kano]] in 1807,<ref name=Maishanu /> and finally conquered Gobir in 1809.{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}} In the same year, [[Muhammed Bello]], the son of dan Fodio, founded the city of [[Sokoto (city)|Sokoto]], which became the capital of the Sokoto state.<ref name=Chafe />

The jihad had created "a new slaving frontier on the basis of rejuvenated Islam."<ref name=History_of_World_Societies-755/> 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 ([[Slavery in the United States|which had 4 million in 1860]]) in size among all modern slave societies.<ref name=History_of_World_Societies-755>{{cite book|title=A History of World Societies, Volume 2: Since 1450, Volume 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NF-mWCNY_boC&q=%22islamic+revival%22+slavery&pg=PA755 |publisher=Macmillan |page=755 |last1=McKay |first1=John P. |last2= Hill |first2=Bennett D.|year=2011 |isbn = 978-0-312-66693-4}}</ref> 
[[File:AFR V3 D371 A Sokoto Fulah - Brother of the Sultan.jpg|thumb|369x369px|A brother of [[Umaru bin Ali|Sultan Umaru bin Ali]] (1888) by [[Élisée Reclus]]]]

=== Notable Flag-Bearers of the Caliphate and their Emirates ===
{{Main|Emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Name
!Emirate
|-
|[[Abdullahi dan Fodio]]
|[[Gwandu Emirate]]
|-
|[[Ummarun Dallaje|Umar Dallaji]]
|[[Katsina Emirate]]
|-
|[[Sulaimanu|Suleiman dan Abu Hamma]]
|[[Kano Emirate]]
|-
|Yaqubu dan Dadi
|[[Bauchi Emirate]]
|-
|Ishaq
|[[Daura Emirate]]
|-
|Musa ibn Suleiman Ibn Muhammad
|[[Zazzau Emirate]]
|-
|Ibrahim Zakiyul Kalbi
|[[Katagum Emirate]]
|-
|[[Modibo Adama|Modibbo Adama]]
|[[Adamawa Emirate|Adamawa Lamidate]]
|-
|[[Buba Yero]]
|[[Gombe Emirate]]
|-
|Shehu Alimi
|[[Ilorin Emirate]]
|-
|[[Mallam Dendo]]
|[[Bida Emirate|Nupe Emirate]]
|}

===Expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate===
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.<ref name=Falola/> The political structure of the state was organized with the [[List of Sultans of Sokoto|Sultan of Sokoto]] ruling from the city of Sokoto (and for a brief period under Muhammad Bello from [[Wurno]]). The leader of each emirate was appointed by the [[sultan]] as the flag-bearer for that city but was given wide independence and autonomy.<ref name="Burnham">{{cite journal|last=Burnham|first=Peter|author2=Murray Last |title=From Pastoralist to Politician: The Problem of a Fulbe "Aristocracy"|journal=Cahiers d'Études Africaines|year=1994|volume=34|issue=133|pages=313–357|doi=10.3406/cea.1994.2055}}</ref> Much of the growth of the state occurred through the establishment of an extensive system of [[ribat]]s as part of the consolidation policy of Muhammed Bello, the second Sultan.<ref name="Salau">{{cite journal|last=Salau|first=Mohammed Bashir|title=Ribats and the Development of Plantations in the Sokoto Caliphate: A Case Study of Fanisau|journal=African Economic History|year=2006|volume=34|issue=34|pages=23–43|doi=10.2307/25427025|jstor=25427025}}</ref> Ribats were established, founding a number of new cities with walled fortresses, schools, markets, and other buildings. These proved crucial in expansion through developing new cities, settling the pastoral Fulani people, and supporting the growth of plantations which were vital to the economy.<ref name="Lovejoy1978">{{cite journal|last=Lovejoy|first=Paul E.|title=Plantations in the Economy of the Sokoto Caliphate|journal=The Journal of African History|year=1978|volume=19|issue=3|pages=341–368|doi=10.1017/s0021853700016200|s2cid=154760889 }}</ref>

The expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate had significant impacts on local populations. In many cases, conquered peoples were assimilated into the Caliphate, adopting Islam and becoming part of the Caliphate's political and social structures. In other cases, communities resisted the Caliphate's rule, leading to conflicts and tensions that sometimes persisted for years.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=The History of Islam in Africa |date=2000 |publisher=Ohio University Press |others=Nehemia Levtzion, Randall Lee Pouwels |isbn=0-8214-1296-5 |location=Athens |oclc=41645936}}</ref> The most significant impact was the spread of Islam among the local populations. The Sokoto Caliphate was intensely Islamic, and it actively sought to convert the peoples of the territories it conquered. As a result, Islam became the dominant religion in the region, with profound implications for local cultures, legal systems, and social norms. The imposition of Islamic law (Sharia) brought about changes in areas such as property rights, marriage, and criminal justice.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |title=The Sokoto Caliphate: history and legacies, 1804-2004 |date=2006 |publisher=Arewa House |others=H. Bobboyi, Mahmood Yakubu |isbn=978-135-166-7 |edition=1st |location=Kaduna, Nigeria |oclc=156890366}}</ref> Not all local populations accepted the Caliphate's rule, and there were instances of resistance. Some communities maintained their traditional religions and practices despite the Caliphate's efforts to enforce Islam. There were also armed rebellions against the Caliphate's rule, some of which were successful in achieving local autonomy.
[[File:Fulani in the Sokoto Caliphate.jpg|left|thumb|A Fulani from the Sokoto Caliphate]]
The expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate can be understood as a three-stage process. Initially, from 1804 to 1808, the consolidation of power occurred in Gobir and the neighboring Hausa states. The successful military campaigns against these rulers won him considerable support, establishing the foundation for the forthcoming expansion.<ref name=":5" /> The second stage (1809–1815) marked the eastward and southward expansion, reaching the [[Bornu Empire]] and [[Yorubaland]]. Dan Fodio and his lieutenants led a series of jihads, framed as a battle against un-Islamic practices. The success of these jihads was due not only to military prowess, but he appealed to the Fulani through the desire for conquest and enslavement of the polytheists. The Fulani were instrumental in the expansion of the Caliphate.<ref name=":5" /> The final stage (1815–1840) involved further consolidation and minor campaigns against resistant elements. By this time, the Caliphate had grown into one of the largest empires in Africa, extending over present-day [[northern Nigeria]], parts of [[Niger]], [[Cameroon]], and [[Benin]].<ref name=":5" />

This expansion led to profound changes on local populations. The spread of Islam was a significant outcome, transforming the religious landscape of the region. [[Sharia|Islamic law]] was imposed, affecting local customs and norms, especially concerning [[Property rights (economics)|property rights]], [[Marriage in Islam|marriage]], and [[criminal justice]]. This religious influence continues to shape the socio-cultural dynamics of the region.<ref name=":6" /> Moreover, the Caliphate's administrative and social structures were imposed on conquered territories. The Caliphate established a system of emirates, with appointed emirs overseeing local governance. The social hierarchy saw the Sultan and the ruling elite at the top, followed by free Muslims, non-Muslims, and slaves. This system significantly altered the political fabric of the region.<ref name="History_of_World_Societies-755" />

==== Into the Nupe Kingdom ====
The [[Bida Emirate|Nupe Kingdom]], historically a powerful state in [[Middle Belt|Central Nigeria]], was conquered by the Sokoto Caliphate in the early 19th century as part of its expansionist campaigns. The Sokoto forces, under the leadership of Usman dan Fodio's brother, [[Abdullahi dan Fodio]], advanced towards the Nupe Kingdom {{circa|1806}}. The Nupe Kingdom, under the rule of Etsu Majiya II, was a prosperous state known for its military prowess. However, the kingdom was internally divided due to succession disputes and other political tensions. Abdullahi dan Fodio exploited these internal divisions and launched a military campaign against the Nupe Kingdom. Despite the initial resistance, the Nupe Kingdom was eventually defeated. Etsu Majiya II was killed in battle, and the kingdom fell to the Sokoto forces {{circa|1808}}. After the conquest, the Sokoto Caliphate established the [[Bida Emirate]] in the Nupe Kingdom. The Caliphate appointed a local [[Fula people|Fulani]] leader, known [[Muhammadu Bangana|Mallam Dendo]], as the emir, who ruled on behalf of the [[List of sultans of Sokoto|Sultan of Sokoto]].<ref>{{Citation |last=salau |first=mohammed bashir salaumohammed bashir |editor-first1=Emmanuel K. |editor-first2=Henry Louis |editor-last1=Akyeampong |editor-last2=Gates |title=Mallam Dendo |date=2011-01-01 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-1248;jsessionid=2C51D44ABC84FAED9B0E0101D75F58AC |work=Dictionary of African Biography |access-date=2023-05-09 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sidi |first=Tiwugi Sheshi |date=2014 |title=A History of the Nupe, c. 1068–1810 A.D. |url=http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/9972 |language=en}}</ref> The emir was expected to enforce [[Sharia|Islamic law]] and pay tribute to the Sultan. The conquest of the Nupe Kingdom had significant impacts on the region. [[Islam]] became the dominant religion, and the [[Ajami script|Arabic script]] was introduced for writing the local [[Nupe language]]. The Sokoto Caliphate also established new trade routes and markets in the region, leading to economic changes.

==== Into the Oyo Empire ====
The [[Oyo Empire]], located in present-day southwestern Nigeria, was one of the most powerful kingdoms in West Africa during the 18th century. However, by the early 19th century, the Oyo Empire was in decline due to internal conflicts, succession disputes, and pressures from external enemies. The Sokoto Caliphate, on the other hand, was on the rise. The Sokoto Caliphate's main involvement with the Oyo Empire was through [[Ilorin Emirate|Ilorin]], a northern Yoruba vassal state of the Oyo Empire. The Ilorin, backed by the Sokoto Caliphate, launched a series of attacks against the Oyo Empire. These attacks, combined with internal conflicts, led to the final collapse of the Oyo Empire by the mid-19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falola |first=Toyin |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofnigeria0000falo |title=A History of Nigeria |date=2008 |location=Cambridge, UK; New York  |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86294-3 |page=65}}</ref>

==== Into other parts of Hausaland ====
[[File:A brother of Sultan Abdu Rahman Atiku.png|thumb|313x313px|A brother of [[Abdur Rahman Atiku|Sultan Abdur Rahman Atiku]] taking a leave from [[Antoine Mizon]] (1894)]]
Parts of present-day Niger, particularly the regions bordering Nigeria, were conquered by the Sokoto Caliphate. The town of [[Birni-N'Konni|Birnin Konni]], for instance, was a significant center of the Caliphate in this region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Idrissa |first=Abdourahmane |title=Historical Dictionary of Niger |year=2012}}</ref> The Sokoto Caliphate extended its influence into the northern areas of present-day Benin, which borders Nigeria to the west. The process of expansion into these regions was similar to that within Nigeria. The Caliphate launched military campaigns against local rulers, often exploiting internal conflicts and divisions. Upon conquering an area, the Caliphate would typically establish an emirate, appointing an emir to govern on behalf of the Sultan of Sokoto. The new rulers were expected to enforce Islamic law and pay tribute to the Sultan.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Isichei |first=Elizabeth |title=A History of African Societies to 1870 |year=1997}}</ref>

==== Into the Kanem-Bornu empire ====
The last major expansion of the Fulani jihadists was their part in the fall of the [[Sayfawa dynasty]] in 1846.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=MAISHANU |first1=HAMZA MUHAMMAD |last2=MAISHANU |first2=ISA MUHAMMAD |date=1999 |title=THE JIHĀD AND THE FORMATION OF THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=119–131 |jstor=20837029 |issn=0578-8072}}</ref> The Sokoto Caliphate did not directly overthrow the dynasty that ruled the [[Bornu Empire]], but the jihadist movements of the 19th century certainly had an impact on it. The empire was weakened by internal conflicts, as well as by external threats, including the expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate and the encroachment of other jihadist groups. The Fulani jihadists, under Usman dan Fodio's banner tried to conquer Borno, who was governed by [[Dunama IX Lefiami|Mai Dunama IX Lefiami]], in 1808. They partly succeeded. They burnt the capital, [[Ngazargamu]] and defeated the main army of the Mai of Borno.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brenner |first=Louis |title=The Shehus of Kukawa: A history of the al-Kanemi dynasty of Bornu |journal=(Oxford Studies in African Affairs)}}</ref>

=== Influence on other Fula Jihad states ===
The 19th century was a period of significant Islamic reform and jihads in West Africa, and the Sokoto Caliphate was just one of several powerful states that emerged during this time. In present-day Mali, the [[Massina Empire]] and the [[Toucouleur Empire]] were examples of states established through similar processes of Islamic reform and military expansion.<ref name=":7" /> The Massina Empire, also known as the Diina of Hamdullahi, was an early 19th-century Fulani Jihad state centered in the Inner Niger Delta area of present-day Mali. This West African state was founded by [[Seku Amadu]], also known as Sheikh Amadu Sheikh, who started a jihad movement among the Fulani people in the region. In the early 1800s, Seku Amadu, inspired by the teachings of Usman dan Fodio and the success of the Sokoto Caliphate, was authorized by Fodio to carry out jihad in the Massina region. Seku Amadu's forces succeeded in overthrowing the ruling elites and establishing a new jihadist state. The capital of the Massina Empire was Hamdullahi, a city founded by Seku Amadu.<ref name=":6" /> The expansion of the Massina Empire occurred mainly through military conquest. The Empire extended its control over the Inner Niger Delta and parts of the surrounding Sahelian and savannah regions. Some of the notable areas that came under the control of the Massina Empire include Timbuktu and Djenné, key centers of trans-Saharan slave trade.<ref name=":6" /> The Massina Empire's rule was characterized by a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Seku Amadu implemented legal and social reforms, including the outlawing of many traditional polytheist practices as well as forcing many polytheists into slavery.<ref name=":6" /> However, the Massina Empire also faced resistance. Some local communities resisted the imposition of Islamic law and the centralization of political power. Furthermore, the Massina Empire faced external threats from neighboring states, including the Toucouleur Empire under El Hadj Umar Tall. The Massina Empire fell to the Toucouleur Empire in 1862. Despite its relatively short lifespan, the Massina Empire had a significant impact on the region. It played a key role in spreading Islam.<ref name=":6" />
[[File:View of Sokoto (1890).jpg|thumb|313x313px|View of the outskirts of [[Sokoto (city)|Sokoto]] (1890)]]
The [[Toucouleur Empire]], also known as the Tukulor Empire, was a significant West African state that emerged during the 19th century, in what is now Mali, Senegal, and Guinea. It was founded by El Hadj Umar Tall, an Islamic leader of Tukulor descent, who sought to establish a jihadist state and conquer and enslave the polytheists in the region. Umar Tall began his jihad, or holy war, in the 1850s after studying in the Sokoto Caliphate.<ref name=":6" /> In 1854, Umar Tall declared a jihad against the un-Islamic practices of the local rulers. He assembled a large army, which included his fellow Toucouleurs, as well as other Muslim groups and enslaved individuals. With this army, he undertook a series of successful military campaigns against various West African kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Segou in 1861 and the Massina Empire in 1862. At its height, the Toucouleur Empire stretched from modern-day Senegal in the west to Timbuktu in the east. Its capital was established at Segou, in present-day Mali.<ref name=":6" />

Though not strictly a jihadist state, the [[Wassoulou Empire]], founded by Samori Ture, was a significant Islamic state during this period. Located in what is now Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast. The Wassoulou Empire was known for its strict implementation of Islam and enslavement of polytheists.<ref name=":6" />

During and subsequent to the 18th century, the Wolof people were significantly affected by the tumultuous jihads spreading across West Africa. These militant Islamic campaigns faced heavy resistance from the Wolof kingdoms. However, in the 19th century, as the French colonial forces began taking territory in West Africa, the Wolof resisted French rule and increasingly turned towards Islam.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gritzner |first=Janet H. |title=Senegal |publisher=[[Ohio University Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-4381-0539-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Leichtman |first=Mara A. |title=Shi'i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa: Lebanese Migration and Religious Conversion in Senegal |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2015}}</ref>

Despite their eventual dissolution, these jihadist states played a significant role in the spread of Islam and shaping of West Africa. They marked a crucial phase in the regional spread of Islam and a turbulent period in the region's indigenous political and social structures. Many of the jihadist movements began with the overthrow of traditional rulers who were accused of un-Islamic practices. These rulers were often replaced with leaders who had led the jihad and who sought to establish governance in diverse communities such as the [[Yorubaland|Yoruba]] kingdoms, based on their new rules. The jihads often led to shifts in the social hierarchy.<ref name=":6" />

===Decline===
{{History of Northern Nigeria}}

European attention had been focusing on the region for colonial expansion for much of the last part of the 19th century. The French in particular had sent multiple exploratory missions to the area to assess colonial opportunities after 1870.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

French explorer [[Parfait-Louis Monteil]] visited Sokoto in 1891 and noted that the Caliphate was at war with the [[Emir of Argungu]], defeating Argungu the next year. Monteil claimed that Fulani power was tottering because of the war and the accession of the unpopular Caliph [[Abderrahman dan Abi Bakar]].<ref name="Hirshfield">{{cite book|author=Claire Hirshfield|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDGCuqGon0gC&pg=PA37|title=The diplomacy of partition: Britain, France, and the creation of Nigeria, 1890-1898|publisher=Springer|year=1979|isbn=90-247-2099-0|page=37ff|access-date=2010-10-10}}</ref>

However, following the [[Berlin Conference]], the British had expanded into Southern Nigeria, and by 1901 had begun to move into the Sokoto Caliphate while [[Adamawa Wars|simultaneous German efforts occurred in Cameroon]]. British General [[Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard|Frederick Lugard]] used rivalries between many of the emirs in the south and the central Sokoto administration to prevent any defense as he marched toward the capital,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of Africa: 1870-1905|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1985|location=London|page=276}}</ref> while the Germans conquered Adamawa. As the British approached the city of Sokoto, the new Sultan [[Muhammadu Attahiru I]] along with Muhammad bin Anabwani organized a quick defense of the city and fought the advancing British-led forces. The British force quickly won, sending Attahiru I and thousands of followers on a [[Mahdi]]st ''[[Hijra (Islam)|hijra]]''.<ref name="Falola-2">{{cite book|last=Falola|first=Toyin|title=Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2009|location=Bloomington, IN}}</ref>

Muslim supporters and officials moved from Hausaland, [[Ségou|Segu]], [[Massina Empire|Massina]] and [[Adamawa Emirate|Adamawa]] towards to Burmi, a military station on the far-eastern border of the Empire.

The now shattered Caliphate was partitioned by Britain and Germany.<ref>"Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon" p.15</ref> On 13 March 1903, at the grand market square of Sokoto, the last Vizier of the Caliphate officially conceded to British Rule. The British appointed [[Muhammadu Attahiru II]] as the new Caliph.<ref name="Falola-2" /> [[Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard|Fredrick Lugard]] abolished the Caliphate, but retained the title ''Sultan'' as a symbolic position in the newly organized [[Northern Nigeria Protectorate]].<ref name="Falola" /> This remnant became known as "[[Sokoto Sultanate Council]]".<ref>{{cite book|author=Claire Hirshfield|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDGCuqGon0gC&pg=PA37|title=The diplomacy of partition: Britain, France, and the creation of Nigeria, 1890-1898|publisher=Springer|year=1979|isbn=90-247-2099-0|page=37ff|access-date=2010-10-10}}</ref> In June 1903, the British defeated the remaining forces of Attahiru I in an engagement where he was [[killed in action]]; by 1906, armed resistance to British rule had ended.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

==Administrative structure==
The Sokoto state was largely organized around a number of largely independent emirates pledging allegiance to the sultan of Sokoto. The administration was initially built to follow those of [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] during his time in [[Medina]], but also the theories of [[Al-Mawardi]] in "The Ordinances of Government".<ref name=Burnham /> The Hausa kingdoms prior to Usman dan Fodio had been run largely through hereditary succession.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

The early rulers of Sokoto, dan Fodio and Bello, abolished systems of hereditary succession, preferring leaders to be appointed by virtue of their Islamic scholarship and moral standing.<ref name=Chafe /> Emirs were appointed by the sultan; they traveled yearly to pledge allegiance and deliver taxes in the form of crops, [[Cowry|cowry shells]], and slaves.<ref name=Falola /> When a sultan died or retired from the office, an appointment council made up of the emirs would select a replacement.<ref name=Burnham /> Direct lines of succession were largely not followed, although each sultan claimed direct descent from dan Fodio.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

The caliphate absorbed many of the structures of governments of their Hausa predecessors which they had conquered. It ruled under Islamic law with powers falling to the emirates which made up the caliphate. A large number of emirs and senior officials were Fulani clerics and scholars who participated in the Fulani War.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Meredith |first=Martin |url=http://archive.org/details/fortunesofafrica0000mere_b3d2 |title=The Fortunes of Africa: A 5000 Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour |publisher=Public Affairs |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-61039-459-8 |location=New York |page=166}}</ref>

The major administrative division was between Sokoto and the [[Gwandu Emirate]].  In 1815, Usman dan Fodio retired from the administrative business of the state and divided the area taken over during the Fulani War with his brother [[Abdullahi dan Fodio]] ruling in the west with the Gwandu Emirate and his son [[Muhammed Bello]] taking over administration of the Sokoto Sultanate. The Emir at Gwandu retained allegiance to the Sokoto Sultanate and spiritual guidance from the sultan, but the emir managed the separate emirates under his supervision independently from the sultan.<ref name=Burnham />
[[File:Africa de l'Oèst en 1875-es.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Sokoto Caliphate, {{circa|1875}}]]
The administrative structure of loose allegiances of the emirates to the sultan did not always function smoothly. There was a series of revolutions by the Hausa aristocracy in 1816–1817 during the reign of [[Muhammed Bello]], but the sultan ended these by granting the leaders titles to land.<ref name=Lovejoy1978 /> There were multiple crises that arose during the 19th century between the Sokoto Sultanate and many of the subservient emirates: notably, the [[Adamawa Emirate]] and the [[Kano Emirate]].<ref name=Njeuma>{{cite book|last=Njeuma|first=Martin Z.|title=Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902|year=2012|publisher=Langa|location=Cameroon}}</ref> A serious revolt occurred in 1836 in the city-state of Gobir, which was crushed by Muhammed Bello at the [[Battle of Gawakuke]].<ref name=":11">{{cite book|last=Last|first=Murray|title=The Sokoto Caliphate|year=1967|publisher=Humanities Press|location=New York|pages=74–75}}</ref>

The [[Sufi]] community throughout the region proved crucial in the administration of the state. The [[Tariqa]] brotherhoods, most notably the [[Qadiriyya]], to which every successive sultan of Sokoto was an adherent,<ref>Hiskett, M. ''The Sword of Truth; the Life and times of the Shehu Usuman Dan Fodio''. New York: Oxford UP, 1973. Print.</ref> provided a group linking the distinct emirates to the authority of the sultan. Scholars Burnham and Last claim that this Islamic scholarship community provided an "embryonic bureaucracy" which linked the cities throughout the Sokoto state.<ref name=Burnham />

=== Viziers of Sokoto ===
{{Main|Sokoto Grand Vizier}}

The Caliphate and its resulting emirates each had [[Vizier]]s (Waziris) as they are called in the Caliphate. Those Viziers mostly came from the most learned families in Sokoto, learned not only in the legal and political aspects of Islam but also in its mystical side. The classical vizierate is based on some verses from the [[Quran]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Last |first=Murray |url=http://archive.org/details/sokotocaliphate0000last |title=The Sokoto Caliphate |date=1967 |place=New York |publisher= Humanities Press |pages=146–147}}</ref>
[[File:Fulani from Sokoto.jpg|346x346px|thumb|Fulani from Sokoto]]
{{Verse translation|{{Script|Arab|يَفْقَهُوا۟ قَوْلِى
وَٱجْعَل لِّى وَزِيرًۭا مِّنْ أَهْلِى
هَـٰرُونَ أَخِى
ٱشْدُدْ بِهِۦٓ أَزْرِى
وَأَشْرِكْهُ فِىٓ أَمْرِى}}|so people may understand my speech,
and grant me a helper from my family,
Aaron, my brother.
Strengthen me through him,
and let him share my task|lang=ar|italicsoff=yes|rtl1=yes|attr1={{qref|20|28–32|b=y}}}}

The vizierate in Sokoto was based on the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] version of the position. Shaikh Uthman dan Fodio's book, ''Bayan wujab al-hijra,'' justifies the existence of the position in the caliphate:<blockquote>The first pillar [of a kingdom] is an upright wazir (vizier) over the wilaya who wakens [the king] if he sleeps and gives him sight if he cannot see and reminds him if he is heedless. The greatest catastrophe which could befall the wilaya and its subjects is to be deprived of good wazirs and helpers. One of the requirements of a wazir is that he should truly be benevolent and kind-hearted towards the people.<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>The first [[Sokoto Grand Vizier|Grand Vizier of Sokoto]] was [[Abdullahi dan Fodio]]. He was described as a 'helper' to the Shaikh, the most important of his helpers. The 2nd Grand Vizier was [[Gidado dan Laima|Waziri Gidado bin Abu Bakr]] who was under [[Muhammed Bello|Sultan Muhammad Bello]]. All subsequent 'Grand Vizier of Sokoto' came from his family, with his great-grandson, [[Gidado Idris]], continuing the tradition of being the 'helper' to a Head of State by serving as [[Secretary to the Government of the Federation]] under the government of [[Sani Abacha|General Sani Abacha]].

[[Gidado dan Laima|Waziri Gidado]] was married to the Shaikh's daughter [[Nana Asmaʼu|Nana Asma'u dan Fodio]]. Abdullahi dan Fodio, the previous Grand Vizier, refused to relinquish the position even though Sultan Bello chose Gidado but he later formally recognised Gidado as the new vizier after his reconciliation with Muhammad Bello, giving Gidado his robes in token.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Last |first=Murray |url=http://archive.org/details/sokotocaliphate0000last |title=The Sokoto Caliphate |date=1967  |place=New York |publisher=Humanities Press |page=153}}</ref> As Vizier, Gidado had considerable freedom of judgement. He retired the Emir of Daura, Ishaq, and appointed his son, Zubair bin Ishaq which was later approved by Sultan Bello.<ref name=":4" />

The position had a 'considerable following'. The Scottish explorer [[Hugh Clapperton]] in 1826 speaks of 'a numerous train of attendants on horseback and on foot';<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clapperton |first=Hugh |url=http://archive.org/details/journalofseconde0000clap |title=Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa : from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo: to which is added the Journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route |date=1966 |location=London  |publisher= Frank Cass |page=177}}</ref> another explorer [[Paul Staudinger]] in 1886 says the Vizier had considerable 'house-power' ('eine ziemliche Hausmacht'), having a hundred gunmen in his following.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Staudinger |first=Paul |title=Im Herzen der Haussaländer |year=1889 |page=365}}</ref> He had several estates and villages under him but their inhabitants are often scattered and distant from Sokoto only joining him for a major expedition.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Last |first=Murray |url=http://archive.org/details/sokotocaliphate0000last |title=The Sokoto Caliphate |date=1967 |place=New York |publisher= Humanities Press |page=224}}</ref>

Foreign visitors between 1880 and 1890 often saw the position as all-powerful. The Scottish geologist and explorer [[Joseph Thomson (explorer)|Joseph Thomson]] described him as being 'more powerful than the Sultan himself' since 'nothing is done except by his advice';<ref name=":2" /> Staudinger reported that he was the most powerful of ministers, almost more so than the Sultan, since all government business went through him;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Staudinger |first=Paul |title=Im Herzen der Haussa Länder |year=1889 |location=Berlin |page=365 |language=German}}</ref> William Wallace found that 'the grand Vizier practically rules the Fulah Empire' and holds 'all the real power, the Sultans being completely hedged in by formalities'.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wallace |first=William |date=1896 |title=Notes on a Journey through the Sokoto Empire and Borgu in 1894 |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=211–219 |doi=10.2307/1774182 |jstor=1774182 |bibcode=1896GeogJ...8..211W |issn=0016-7398}}</ref> Though these impressions are exaggerated, the Vizier did appear to have the whole civil service under his control. The vizierate never rivalled the Caliph's position. The Vizier was the chief supporter, adviser and friend to the Caliph, and in that position was able to reassert the Islamic tradition in Sokoto.

=== Military ===
[[File:Sokoto cavalry.png|thumb|267x267px|A Sokoto cavalryman carrying a large shield of [[oryx]] hide.]]
The military, which was commanded by the Sarkin Yaki (war commander) the title still held by the descendants of [[Ali Jedo]], at the time of the jihad was organized into a standing army and a cavalry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sheriff |first=Vaffi Foday |title=Transformation of Sokoto Caliphate by Sheik Usman Danfodiyo: A Social Thought Perspective |url=http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v5(8)/G050801041047.pdf |journal=International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention |volume=5 |issue=8 |pages=41–47}}</ref> The standing army was composed of Hausa and Fulani warriors who were trained in warfare and were responsible for the Caliphate's defense and the expansion of its territories. The cavalry was an essential part of the military, as horses were the primary mode of transportation during this period.<ref name="Smith 1989">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Robert Sydney |title=Warfare and diplomacy in pre-colonial West Africa |date=1989 |publisher=Currey |isbn=0-85255-027-8 |edition=2nd |location=London |oclc=18743528}}</ref> During the expansion, the Caliphate's military utilized a strategy of establishing emirates in conquered territories. These emirates were governed by emirs, who were either appointed by the Sultan or were local rulers who had submitted to the Caliphate's authority. This strategy helped in maintaining control over the vast territories of the Caliphate.<ref name="Smith 1989" />

The Sokoto Caliphate relied heavily on the use of cavalry in its military campaigns. The Fulani horsemen, renowned for their equestrian skills, formed the core of the Caliphate's cavalry. They were instrumental in the rapid expansion of the Caliphate's territories.<ref name=":5" /> [[Parfait-Louis Monteil]], the [[french explorer]] who visited the caliphate in 1890, claimed that he witnessed Sultan [[Umaru bin Ali]] raise "an army of forty thousand men, half of whom were cavalry, to lay siege to Argungu."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Monteil |first=P.-L. (Parfait-Louis) |url=http://archive.org/details/desaintlouistrip00monteil |title=De Saint-Louis a Tripoli par le Lac Tchad: voyage au travers du Soudan et du Sahara accompli pendant les années 1890-91-92 |date=1895 |publisher=Paris : F. Alcan |others=Smithsonian Libraries |page=8 |language=fr}}</ref>

Additionally, the Caliphate's military strategy involved a system of alliances with local rulers. In some cases, these rulers were allowed to maintain their positions under the condition that they pledged allegiance to the Caliphate and adopted Islam. This strategy helped to solidify the Caliphate's control over conquered territories.<ref name=":5" /> The military expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate had significant social, political, and economic impacts. It led to the spread of Islam and the [[Fula language|Fulani language]] and culture in the region. The Caliphate's rule also resulted in changes in local governance systems and the economy, with the introduction of new administrative structures and trade networks.

Firearms introduced a major shift in the Sokoto Caliphate's military organization in the late 19th century. Initially, the Sokoto army relied on [[cavalry]], close combat, and [[shock tactics]], but after 1860, it transitioned to infantry, long-range fighting, and firepower. This shift hinted at a broader transformation from a "feudal" to a "bureaucratic" military system with [[standing armies]]. However, this evolution was halted by the British conquest (1897–1903), not internal resistance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smaldone |first=Joseph P. |title=Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |pages=110-111 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Scholarship ===
{{Caliphate}}[[Muslim scholarship (disambiguation)|Islamic scholarship]] was a crucial aspect of the Caliphate from its founding. [[Usman dan Fodio|Sultan Usman dan Fodio]], [[Muhammed Bello|Sultan Muhammed Bello]], [[Abdullahi dan Fodio|Emir Abdullahi dan Fodio]], [[Abu Bakr Atiku|Sultan Abu Bakr Atiku]], and [[Nana Asmaʼu|Nana Asma'u]] devoted significant time to chronicling histories, writing poetry, and Islamic studies. A number of manuscripts are available, and they provide crucial historical information and important spiritual texts.<ref name="Falola" /> This role did diminish after the reign of Bello and Atiku.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Although veiling was practiced, it did not stop women from being educated in the caliphate. Many of the women around Shaikh Uthman dan Fodio, like his wives and daughters, were also his students and attained great learning. Slaves were encouraged to become Muslims and their children were given Muslim education and were taught Arabic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Last |first=Murray |url=http://archive.org/details/sokotocaliphate0000last |title=The Sokoto Caliphate |date=1967 |place=New York |publisher=Humanities Press |page=234}}</ref> The [[Yan Taru]] movement started by [[Nana Asmaʼu|Nana Asma'u dan Fodio]] in 1838 encouraged the education of women.

==Economy==
[[Image:Fulahs of Sokoto-1900.jpg|thumb|left|Photo of residents of Kano, Sokoto Caliphate in 1900]]

After the establishment of the Caliphate, there were decades of economic growth throughout the region, particularly after a wave of revolts in 1816–1817.<ref name=Lovejoy1978 /> They had significant trade over the trans-Saharan routes.<ref name=Lovejoy1978 />

After the [[Fulani War]], all land in the empire was declared [[waqf]] or owned by the entire community. However, the Sultan allocated land to individuals or families, as could an emir. Such land could be inherited by family members but could not be sold.<ref name=Swindell /> Exchange was based largely on slaves, cowries or gold.<ref name=Lovejoy1978 /> Major crops produced included cotton, indigo, kola and shea nuts, grain, rice, tobacco, and onion.<ref name=Lovejoy1978 />

Considerable numbers of scholars and the poor depended on the "great houses" for basic amenities like food and clothing. Food was prepared in the houses, which then acted like communal canteens. Clothing came largely from the payments from the other emirates in the caliphate and was redistributed to the community. This system helped Sokoto maintain a large scholar community.<ref name=":1" />

Its commercial prosperity was also based on Islamic traditions, market integration, internal peace and an extensive export-trade network.<ref>{{cite book|author=Baten, Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present.|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=323|isbn=978-1-107-50718-0}}</ref>

==Slavery==
{{See also|History of slavery in the Muslim world|Trans-Saharan slave trade}}
Slavery remained a large part of the economy, although its operation had changed with the end of the [[Atlantic slave trade]]. Slaves were gained through raiding and via markets as had operated earlier in West Africa.<ref name=Lovejoy1978 /> The founder of the Caliphate allowed slavery only for non-Muslims; slavery was viewed as a process to bring such peoples into the Muslim community.<ref name=Chafe /> At least half of the Caliphate's population were enslaved people in the nineteenth century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 |title=Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History |work=Encyclopædia Britannica |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230184609/http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 |archive-date=30 December 2007 |access-date=19 March 2018}}</ref> There was a huge expansion of slaves due to the jihad campaigns, frontier wars and slave raids.<ref name=":0" /> The expansion of agricultural plantations under the Caliphate was dependent on slave labor. These plantations were established around the ribats, and large areas of agricultural production took place around the cities of the empire.<ref name=Lovejoy1978 />

The institution of slavery was mediated by the lack of a racial barrier among the peoples, and by a complex and varying set of relations between owners and slaves, which included the right to accumulate property by working on their own plots, manumission, and the potential for slaves to convert and become members of the Islamic community.<ref name="Lovejoy1978" /> There are historical records of slaves reaching high levels of government and administration in the Sokoto Caliphate.<ref name="Stilwell">{{cite journal |last=Stilwell |first=Sean |year=2000 |title=Power, Honour and Shame: The Ideology of Royal Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate |journal=Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=394–421 |doi=10.3366/afr.2000.70.3.394 |s2cid=145784764}}</ref> On the other hand, these liniments to the slaving system were, like those in other slave societies, a buttress rather than a detriment although in some cases undoubtedly beneficial to individual slaves as Mohammed Bashir Salau writes: "Unfortunately for most slaves, however, masters often selected those they granted freedom in part because to maintain the plantation order, and in part to prevent the formation of a group consciousness among slaves ... Similarly, although the Islamic religion encouraged voluntary emancipation, and slave-owners were convinced that God would reward them when they freed slaves, most masters were very selective about whom they freed. They often gave first preference to slaves who exhibited "good behavior" and were "honest" and "hardworking"; also to those who were "too sick" and "too old" (to engage in rigorous plantation activities). This not only perpetuated the plantation's social order, but also reduced the slave-owner's expenditures; by freeing elderly and infirm slaves, the owner did not have to pay for their care."<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Salau |first=Mohammed Bashir |title=Plantation Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate A Historical and Comparative Study |publisher=University of Rochester Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-58046-938-8 |location=Rochester, New York |pages=106–107 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:ElKanemi-1823-ReceptionDenhamClapperton.jpg|thumb|Reception of Dixon Denham and Hugh Clapperton by ''mai'' [[Ibrahim IV of Bornu|Ibrahim]] of [[Kanem–Bornu Empire|Bornu]], Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi in 1823]]
In 1829 [[Hugh Clapperton|Bain Hugh Clapperton]] wrote: "In this space is also the prison, a building of about eighty feet long, and nearly the same in breadth, covered at top with a flat clay roof, overlaid with boughs. Inside is a deep pit, where those who have committed the greatest crimes are confined. No person is put in prison for debt; only thieves, prisoners of war (taken singly), such as spies, and disobedient slaves, who, on a complaint to the sultan that they will not work, are sent to prison. Their only food is the bran or husks of millet and dourra, with water; but their friends are allowed to give them food, if they have any. It is a filthy place, and the terror of the men-slaves of Soccatoo. The prisoners are taken out, two and two, every day to work at the walls, or any laborious work which may occur."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clapperton |first=Bain Hugh |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofseconde00inclap |title=Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo |publisher=John Murray |year=1829 |location=London |page=210 |language=en}}</ref> "In the Kano area, for instance, Gidan Ma'ajin Watari was the primary slave prison."<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Salau |first=Mohammed Bashir |title=Plantation Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate A Historical and Comparative Study |publisher=University of Rochester Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-58046-938-8 |location=Rochester, New York |page=108 |language=en}}</ref> If not desiring sale, the slave-owner would lay out the particular charge and "Thereafter, the erring slave was admitted into the facility through a succession of two doors, being severely beaten in the process."<ref name=":10" />

[[Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard|Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard]] in a 1903 colonial account wrote thusly about conditions:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lugard |first=Frederick John Dealtry |url=https://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/ilharvest/Africana/Books2011-05/3064634/3064634_1902_northern_nigeria/3064634_1902_northern_nigeria_opt.pdf |title=Colonial Reports – Annual No. 409. Northern Nigeria. Report for 1902. |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |date=December 1903 |location=London |pages=30–31 |language=en}}</ref>

{{Quote|text="I visited the dungeon myself. A small doorway 2 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 6 inches gives access into it. The interior is divided (by a thick mud wall with a similar hole through it) into two compartments, each 17 feet by 7 feet and 11 feet high. This wall was pierced with holes at its base through which the legs of those sentenced to death were thrust up to the thigh, and they were left to be trodden on by the mass of other prisoners till they died of thirst and starvation. The place is entirely air-tight and unventilated except for the one small doorway, or rather hole, in the wall through which you creep. The total space inside is 2,618 cubic feet, and at the time we took Kano 135 human beings were confined here each night, being let out during the day to cook their food, &c., in a small adjoining area. Recently as many as 200 have been interned at one time. As the superficial ground area was only 238 square feet there was not, of course, even standing room. Victims were crushed to death every night and their corpses were hauled out each morning. The stench, I am told, inside the place when Colonel Morland visited it was intolerable, though it was empty, and when I myself went inside three weeks later the effluvium was unbearable for more than a few seconds. A putrid corpse even then lay near the doorway."}}

Salau adds that "While in prison, a slave was usually subjected to torture by fellow inmates as well as by guards....Ultimately, it was the master who decided how many days the slave would spend in the facility."<ref name=":10" />
[[File:Vlekete slave market badagry.jpg|thumb|The [[Velekete Slave Market|Velekete slave market]] in [[Lagos State]], Nigeria]]
In the early twentieth-century, the [[Protectorate of Northern Nigeria]] inherited one of the largest slave populations in the world, one to two and a half million slaves, a flourishing slave trade supplied by slave raids and thousands of slaves given as tributes to the Sultan of Sokoto and his emirs.<ref name="Miers">{{Cite book|author = S. Miers| date=2003 | title= Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem| location = Uk | publisher= AltaMira Press}}</ref>{{Rp|37}} The British High Commissioner Lugard abolished the legal status of slavery without compensation and officially declared all children born to slaves after 31 March 1901 as born free; however the slaves were given no assistance and cases of fugitive slaves were often handed over to indigenous Islamic sharia courts, which often restored them back to their Muslim owners.<ref name="Miers" />{{Rp|37–8}} 

By the 1920s big slave trade caravans had been eradicated by the colonial officials, but small scale slave trading was difficult to fully abolish. One example was the trade in girls from [[Adamawa Emirate|Adamawa]], who were bought by merchants and kept for a year in [[Cameroon]] learning [[Hausa language|Hausa]] until they could be smuggled in to Nigeria to be sold in Kano for concubinage or domestic service.<ref name="Miers" />{{Rp|25}} "Slave brokers, who themselves were formerly concubines, were procuring young girls for purposes of sale into slavery. Despite legal prohibitions which dated from the colonial era to the contrary, slave concubinage was a functioning institution in the northern states of Nigeria in 1988."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lovejoy |first=Paul E. |date=1990 |title=Concubinage in the Sokoto caliphate (1804–1903) |url=https://www.academia.edu/4738161 |journal=Slavery & Abolition a Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=159–189 |doi=10.1080/01440399008575005 |via=ACADEMIA}}</ref>

Even in the early twenty-first century the practice of ''[[wahaya]]'' (taking a "fifth wife") still existed in parts of Niger and the Sultanate of Sokoto:
{{Blockquote|"in the last quarter of 2008, prominent members of the Sultanate of Sokoto went to Zouraré, Tajaé, in search of young wahayu. Three female slaves were presented
to them. They declined the offer of these three girls; they were not suitable. A two-month deadline was given to the suppliers to find 'suitable' girls from other nomadic groups. Girls had to be found, because it would be dishonourable for the Touareg elites and their groups to say that they do not have slaves available".|Anti-Slavery International, citing Chaibou Sarkin Bouzayé of Wournoc<ref name=ISI>{{Cite web|url=http://www.antislavery.org/includes/documents/cm_docs/2012/w/wahaya_report_eng.pdf| title = Wahaya: Domestic and sexual slavery in Niger |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403133801/http://www.antislavery.org/includes/documents/cm_docs/2012/w/wahaya_report_eng.pdf|page=6|archive-date=3 April 2013|publisher=Anti-Slavery International }} Citing Chaibou Sarkin Bouzayé of Wournoc</ref>}}

==Culture==
The Fulani ruling class engaged in marriage alliances with Hausa families. The [[Hausa language]] became the language of administration and main medium of poetry in the caliphate.<ref name=":0" />

==Legacy==
{{main|Sokoto Sultanate Council}}

Although it has lost its former political power, the Sokoto Sultanate Council continues to exist, and the Sokoto Sultans are still "leading figures in Nigerian society". Even the [[President of Nigeria|Presidents of Nigeria]] have sought their support.{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=15}}

Due to its impact, the Sokoto Caliphate is also revered by Islamists in modern Nigeria. For example, the [[Jihadism|Jihadist]] militant group [[Ansaru]] has vowed to revive the Sokoto Caliphate in order to restore the "lost dignity of Muslims in black Africa".{{sfnp|Comolli|2015|p=103}}

The influence of the Sokoto Caliphate can also be seen in extremist groups like [[Boko Haram]]. Boko Haram, based in [[North East (Nigeria)|northeastern Nigeria]], promotes an extremist interpretation of Islam and seeks to establish an Islamic state governed by strict [[Sharia law]]. While they have occasionally referenced [[Usman dan Fodio]]'s legacy to justify their actions, presenting their struggle as a continuation of the original jihad, there are fundamental differences between the two jihadist movements. [[Sokoto Revolution|The Sokoto Jihad]]'s intellectual thought, according to historian [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]], can be described as part of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Islamic world's "conservative orientation towards intellectual innovation". The three leaders of the jihad, namely Usman, Abdullahi and Bello, drew heavily from [[Maliki school|Maliki]] and [[Qadiriyya|Qadriyya]] texts, with connections to wider Islamic intellectual networks. In contrast, Boko Haram operates in a globalized world and draws influences from [[Salafi jihadism|Salafi]] and [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] ideology and is connected and influenced by global Salafi jihadist networks.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Lofkrantz |first=Jennifer |date=2018 |title=Intellectual Traditions, Education, and Jihad: The (Non)Parallels between the Sokoto and Boko Haram Jihads |journal=Journal of West African History |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=75–98 |doi=10.14321/jwestafrihist.4.1.0075 |jstor=10.14321/jwestafrihist.4.1.0075 |s2cid=158164424 |issn=2327-1868}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Last |first=Murray |date=2013 |title=Contradictions in Creating a Jihadi Capital: Sokoto in the Nineteenth Century and Its Legacy |journal=African Studies Review |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1017/asr.2013.38 |jstor=43904924 |s2cid=201777045 |issn=0002-0206}}</ref>

Boko Haram operates primarily in [[Borno State]], and the historical context of the state, which is the central fragment of the old [[Kanem–Bornu Empire|Kanem-Bornu empire]] of the [[Kanuri people]], has effects today.  Bornu, led by [[Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi|Shaikh al-Kanemi]], had a history of resistance against the [[Sokoto Revolution|Sokoto jihad]] and actively opposed the encroachment and ideology of the caliphate.  There were intense debates and correspondence between [[Muhammed Bello|Bello]] and al-Kanemi during the jihad, reflecting their differing perspectives. While the Sokoto Caliphate had limited success in fully subjugating Bornu, Boko Haram, founded by [[Mohammed Yusuf (Boko Haram)|Muhammad Yusuf]] and later led by [[Abubakar Shekau|Shekau]], emerged from the Kanuri community.  Their ideology criticized the established Islamic tradition of the Sokoto Caliphate, considering it impure and in need of reform.  They sought to return to what they perceived as more orthodox practices based on Salafi thought, rejecting the Maliki law and Sufi influences of the Sokoto Caliphate.  Influential Salafi scholars in Nigeria critique Boko Haram, highlighting their leaders' lack of proper education in [[fiqh]] (Islamic jurisprudence) and their misinterpretation and misuse of Salafi texts.  This is in contrast to the Sokoto jihad leaders who were renowned Maliki scholars, with Usman and Abdullahi already being respected scholars prior to the jihad.<ref name=":8" />

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book|last=Comolli |first=Virginia |title=Boko Haram: Nigeria's Islamist Insurgency |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYmMCwAAQBAJ |date=2015 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-84904-491-2 }}
{{Nigeria topics|state=collapsed}}{{Sahelian kingdoms}}{{Islam topics|state=collapsed}}{{Empires|state=collapsed}}{{Islamic state}}{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Sokoto Caliphate| ]]
[[Category:Sokoto]]
[[Category:Sokoto State|*]]
[[Category:19th century in Africa]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1903]]
[[Category:Fula jihad states]]
[[Category:1804 establishments in Africa]]
[[Category:1903 disestablishments in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Sahelian kingdoms]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1804]]
[[Category:Hausa history]]
[[Category:Nigerian traditional states]]