Usuman dan Fodio

Usuman dan Fodio (1754-1817), West African Fulani chief, scholar, and teacher, who founded the Sokoto sultanate in present-day northern Nigeria. Born in Maratta in the Hausa kingdom of Gobir, the son of a Muslim scholar, he was thoroughly imbued with Islamic culture, and by the age of 20 began to teach, travel, and preach. Gathering fame and followers, he won important concessions from the sultan of Gobir, but these were later rescinded when the sultan feared Usuman was becoming too powerful. The final break came in 1804, when Usuman, elected imam (leader) by his followers, declared a jihad, or holy war. Within a few years, aided by his son Muhammad Bello, Usuman was in charge of most of Hausaland; the capital of Gobir fell in 1808 and the sultan was killed. Usuman's forces turned east toward the Kanem-Bornu Empire, which, however, effectively checked their advances by 1812. Usuman then withdrew from active government and devoted his last five years to scholarship, leaving a prodigious body of writings. Muhammad Bello, also a brilliant scholar, expanded his father's empire southward into Yoruba country. It was still intact in the early 20th century, when the British occupied it. His name is also spelled Usman dan Fodio and Uthman dan Fodio.