Fulani empire of Sokoto

Fulani empire of Sokoto West African Islamic empire. In the late 18th century the Fulani, a nomadic cattle-herding people, came into contact with the nominally Muslim Hausa states. One of their clerics, Uthman dan Fodio (1754–1817), had built up a community of scholars at Degel in the Hausa state of Gobir, whose new sultan in 1802 enslaved Uthman's followers. A quarrel developed, Uthman was proclaimed ‘commander of the faithful’, and in the ensuing jihad (holy war) all the Hausa states collapsed. By 1810 Uthman had created a vast empire, to be administered by emirs in accordance with Koranic law. High standards of public morality replaced the corruption of the Hausa states and widespread education was achieved. In 1815 he retired, appointing his son Muhammed Bello his successor and suzerain over all the emirates. Bello had built the city of Sokoto, of which he became the sultan, and he considerably extended the empire, establishing control of west Bornu and pushing down into the YORUBA Empire of Oyo. Although losing some of its high ideals, the Fulani empire of Sokoto continued under Bello's successors. In the late 19th century British penetration of the empire increased. Kano and Sokoto were sacked in 1903, when the empire ended, although the emirates survived under the system of indirect rule instituted by the first High Commissioner, Frederick Lugard.