The Fulani War of 1804-1808, also known as the Fulani Jihad or Jihad of Usman dan Fodio, was a military contest in present-day Nigeria and Cameroon. The war begun when Usman dan Fodio, a prominent Islamic scholar and teacher, was exiled from Gobir by the king Yunfa, one of his former students. Usman dan Fodio assembled a Fulani army to lead in jihad against the Hausa kingdoms of the north. The forces of Usman dan Fodio slowly took over more and more of the Hausa kingdoms capturing Gobir in 1808 and executing Yunfa. The war resulted in the creation of the Sokoto Caliphate, headed by Usman dan Fodio, which became one of the largest states in Africa in the 1800s and inspired similar jihads in Western Africa.
Read more about Fulani War: Background, Lead Up To War, Battles, Founding of The Sokoto Caliphate, Legacy
Famous quotes containing the word war:
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.