Usuman dan Fodio

Usuman dan Fodio 1754-1817. Fulani religious and political leader. Beginning as an itinerant Muslim missionary in northern Nigeria, he gained a large following for his syncretic visions, establishing a base in Gudu. After Usuman successfully conducted jihād (holy war) against the king of Gobir (1804-8), his followers conquered most of the other Hausa states of northern Nigeria by 1812. He established the Sokoto caliphate, which he left to his brother and son. After his death, his son, Mohammed Bello, gained sole control.

Uthman dan Fodio (or Usuman dan Fodio) (1754–1817) West African religious and political leader. A Muslim Fulani, he began teaching in about 1775 among the Hausa and established the Emirates of Northern Nigeria (1804–08) after waging a jihad (holy war). He conceived the latter as a primary duty, not only against infidels, but against any departure, public or private, from the original and austere ideals of Islam. Under his rule as caliph, and that of his son, Muhammad Bello (died 1837), Muslim culture flourished in the FULANI EMPIRE.