The Fulani War of 1804-1810, also known as the Fulani Jihad or Jihad of Usman dan Fodio, was a military conquest in present day Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 and Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

. Expelled from Gobir

Gobir

Gobir was a city-state in what is now Nigeria. Founded by the Hausa in the eleventh century, Gobir was one of the seven original kingdoms of Hausaland, and continued under Hausa rule for nearly seven hundred years. Its capital was the city of Alkalawa...

 by his former student Yunfa

Yunfa

Yunfa was a king of the Hausa city-state of Gobir in what is now Nigeria. He is particularly remembered for his conflict with Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio....

 in 1802, Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic reformer Usman dan Fodio

Usman dan Fodio

Shaihu Usman dan Fodio , born Usuman ɓii Foduye, was the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809, a religious teacher, writer and Islamic promoter. Dan Fodio was one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living in the Hausa States in what is today northern Nigeria...

 assembled a Fulani

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

 army to lead in jihad

Jihad

Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

 against the Hausa

Hausa people

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...

 kingdoms of the north. Realizing the threat that Usman's forces posed, Yunfa assembled the other Hausa rulers to oppose him.

The Hausa rulers dealt the jihadists a number of initial setbacks, most notably at the Battle of Tsuntua

Battle of Tsuntua

The Battle of Tsuntua, fought in December 1804, was one of the largest battles of the Fulani War.In 1804, Yunfa of Gobir realized the growing threat that his former teacher, Fulani Islamic refomer Usman dan Fodio, posed to the Hausa city-states. Appealing to the other Hausa rulers for help, Yunfa...

 (December 1804), in which Usman lost more than 2,000 men, 200 of whom are said to have known the Koran by heart. The following year, however, Usman's forces seized Kebbi

Kebbi Emirate

The Kebbi Emirate, also known as the Argungu Emirate is a traditional state based on the town of Argungu in Kebbi State, Nigeria. It is the successor to the ancient Hausa kingdom of Kebbi....

 and established a permanent base at Gwandu

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...

. Building on popular discontent caused in part by famine and by Hausa taxation, the jihadists continued to advance, taking the Gobir's capital Alkalawa

Alkalawa

Alkalawa was the capital of the Hausa city-state of Gobir, in what is now northern Nigeria.In the early nineteenth century, Fulani jihadist Usman dan Fodio's forces repeatedly besieged Yunfa, Gobir's ruler, at Alkalawa. The city fell in October 1808, marking the end of resistance to Muslim rule in...

 in 1808 and killing Yunfa.

Usman united the conquered lands under his Fulani Empire

Fulani Empire

The Sokoto Caliphate is an Islamic spiritual community in Nigeria, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’adu Abubakar. Founded during the Fulani Jihad in 1809 by Usuman dan Fodio, it was one of the most powerful empires in sub-Saharan Africa prior to European conquest and colonization...

. The success of the jihad inspired a number of later West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n jihadists, including Massina Empire

Massina Empire

The Massina Empire was an early nineteenth-century Fulbe Jihad state centered in the Macina and Inner Niger Delta area of what is now the Mopti and Ségou Regions of Mali...

 founder Seku Amadu

Seku Amadu

Seku Amadu was the founder of the Fula Massina Empire in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...

, Toucouleur Empire

Toucouleur Empire

The Toucouleur Empire was founded in the nineteenth century by El Hadj Umar Tall of the Toucouleur people, in part of present-day Mali....

 founder Umar Tall

Umar Tall

El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall , , born in what is now actual Senegal was a West African political leader, Islamic scholar, and Toucouleur military commander who founded a brief empire encompassing much of what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali.-Name:Umar Tall's name is spelled variously: in...

, Wassoulou Empire

Wassoulou Empire

The Wassoulou Empire, sometimes referred to as the Mandinka Empire, was a short-lived empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army....

 founder Samori Ture

Samori

Samory Toure was the founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic state that resisted French rule in West Africa from 1882 until his capture in 1898.-Early life and career:...

, and Adamawa Emirate

Adamawa Emirate

The Adamawa Emirate is a traditional state located in Fumbina, what is now the Adamawa State, Nigeria, and previously also in the three northern provinces of Cameroon . It was founded by Modibo Adama, a commander of Sheikh Usman dan Fodio, the man who began the Fulani jihad in 1809...

 founder Modibo Adama

Modibo Adama

Adama bi Ardo Hassana , more commonly known as Modibo Adama, was a Fulani scholar and holy warrior. He led a jihad into the region of Fumbina , opening the region for Fulani colonisation...

.