thumb|the sokoto caliphate (fulani empire) in the 19th century, established after fulani war|300px  the fulani war of 1804&ndash;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 of nigeria. 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. his success inspired similar jihads in western africa. ==background== the kanem-bornu empire had been in decline in the area from the mid-1700s. the result was the rise of a number of independent hausa kingdoms throughout the region. two prominent hausa kingdoms were gobir and zamfara. however, warfare between the hausa states and with other states were constant for the latter 1700s, resulting in a harsh system of conscription and taxation. the fulani, a largely pastoral people, were often the victims of hausa taxation, land control, and other discriminatory practices. ==lead up to war== usman dan fodio, born in 1751, joined a growing number of traveling islamic scholars through the hausa kingdoms in the 1770s and became quite popular in the 1790s. originally, dan fodio's preaching received the support of the leadership of gobir; however, as his influence increased and as he began to advocate for self-defense arming by his followers, his favor with the leadership decreased. sarkin gobir nafata, the king of gobir, placed a series of restrictions on dan fodio's preaching. in 1801, sarkin gobir yunfa, a former pupil of dan fodio, replaced nafata as king of gobir. however, yunfa increased the restrictions on dan fodio and exiled him f
1800s_conflicts 19th_century_in_Africa Conflicts_in_1810 Sokoto_Caliphate Wars_involving_Cameroon Wars_involving_Nigeria Wars_involving_the_states_and_peoples_of_Africa