The
Sokoto Caliphate
The Sokoto Caliphate (), also known as the Fulani Empire or the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Ful ...
was a loose confederation of
emirates that recognized the suzerainty of the
Amir al-Mu'minin. The caliphate was established in 1809 and later became the largest pre-colonial African state. The boundaries of the caliphate are part of present-day
Cameroon,
Burkina Faso,
Niger, and
Nigeria.
According to historian
Mahmud Modibbo Tukur, by the turn of the 20th-century, the Sokoto Caliphate covered an area of about 150,000 square miles (388,500 square kilometers), not including parts of
Adamawa (Fombina), located in modern-day
Cameroon, which is estimated to cover over 100,000 square kilometers.
At the end of the 19th-century, the Caliphate comprised 30 emirates, excluding its twin capitals of
Gwandu
Gwandu, also called Gando, is a town and emirate in Kebbi State, Nigeria. The seat of government for the emirate and district of this name is in Birnin Kebbi, which is the capital of Kebbi State and was capital of the historical Kingdom of Kebbi. ...
and
Sokoto. Some of these emirates had autonomous sub-emirates under them, with Adamawa having the most, numbering over 40.
According to
Yusufu Bala Usman, the emirates were:
References
{{Nigeria-stub
Emirates
Nigerian traditional states
Emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate