Sokoto

Overview

The Fulani live in northern Nigeria alongside the Hausa people. The Sokoto region, which lies in the far northern part of the country, houses some of the ruling class of the Fulani, known as the Toroobe. The Toroobe exercise authority and political power over the Hausa.

Many of the Sokoto Fulani have also spread into southern Niger. While some of the Fulani living in this area are educated aristocrats, others are Bororo, or semi-nomadic herdsmen (part shepherds and part farmers).

The Sokoto Fulani, then, are composed of the ruling class (Toroobe) and the semi-nomadic shepherds (Bororo). The area they occupy is an open grassland with narrow forested zones. Camels, hyenas, lions, and giraffes inhabit this region. Though the temperatures are extremely hot during the day, they are much cooler at night.

Traditions of the Sokoto Fulani

The semi-nomadic Sokoto Fulani engage in some supplementary farming, along with animal breeding. Millet and other grains are their main crops. Milk, drunk fresh and as buttermilk, is their staple food, and meat is consumed only during ceremonial occasions. The cattle are herded by the men, although the women help with milking the cows. The women also make butter and cheese and do the trading at the markets. Among the Fulani, wealth is measured by the size of a family's herds.

The semi-nomadic Sokoto Fulani live in temporary settlements. During the harvest, the families live together in small huts that make up village compounds. Each compound is surrounded by the family's garden. During the dry season, the men leave their wives, children, the sick, and the elderly at home while they take their herds to better grazing grounds. Each village has a chief or headman to handle village affairs.

Like the Toroobe (ruling class), the semi-nomadic Sokoto Fulani are divided into age groups of three or four year intervals. The youth in these age groups work together and help each other during their early years. A man usually selects a bride from his age group.

The settled Sokoto Fulani (the Toroobe, or ruling class) are an influential people who live in towns and cities. They are usually government workers, tax collectors, and municipal rulers. These Sokoto Fulani are educated and dominate the leadership of Islam in the area. Although they may own some cattle, their real interests lie in administration, law, religion, and education. Their children are encouraged to go to school and do well.

Because the Fulani were a moral, pious group who had an interest in learning, the duties of the Muslim Mosk were passed to them, eventually making them the leaders of the Muslim faith. Mallams (men of learning) are revered and treated with respect in their culture.

Sokoto History

The Sultanate of Sokoto was founded in 1804 when the Fulani nomads, headed by

Usman dan Fodio (1754 - 1817), a religious leader, revolted against their haussa Overlords and took poweer. Their movement extended in the territory of what was to become Northern nigeria and Northern cameroon.

HEADS OF STATE

Sultans - Emirs al-Mu'minin - Sarkin Musulmi (1)

(1) Also sometimes styled Khalifs or Shehu's instead of Sultans

House of Muhammadu Fodio

1867 - 1873 Ahmadu Rufai dan Usman 1814 - 1873

1873 - 1877 Abubakar Atiku na Rabah dan Bello, son of

Sultan Muhammadu Bello (1781 - 1837 ; r.

1817 - 1837) 1812 - 1877

1877 - 1881 Mu'azu Ahmadu dan Bello, brother 1816 - 1881

1881 - 1891 Umaru dan Aliyu Baba, son of Sultan Aliyu

Baba (1808 - 1859 ; r. 1842 - 1859) 1824 - 1891

1891 - 1902 Abdurrahman "Danyen Kasko" dan Abubakar,

son of Sultan Abubakar Atiku (1782 - 1842 ;

r. 1837 - 1842) 1829 - 1902

1902 - 1903 Muhammadu Attahiru dan Ahmadu, son of Sultan

Ahmadu Atiku (1807 - 1866 ; r. 1859 -

1866), driven out by the British 18.. - 1903

1903 - 1915 Muhammadu Attahiru dan Aliyu Baba, brother of

Sultan Umaru (s.a.) 18.. - 1915

1915 - 1924 Muhammadu "Mai Turare" dan Ahmadu, brother of

Sultan Muhammadu Attahiru dan Ahmadu (s.a.) 1... - 1924

1924 - 1931 Muhammadu "Tambari" dan Muhammadu , son,

abdicated 1... - 1935

1931 - 1938 Hasan dan Mu'azu Ahmadu, son of Sultan Mu'azu

Ahmadu (s.a.) 1... - 1938

1938 - 1988 Abubakar dan Shehu, nephew 1903 - 1988

MINISTERS (Viziers, Waziri )

1859 - 1874 Ibrahim dan Abdulkadiri

1874 - 1886 Abdullahi dan Gidado

1886 - 1910 Muhammadu dan Amadu 18.. - 1910

DIVISIONS OF THE SOKOTO SULTANATE

As the territory of the Sultanate became to extended, it was divided, in 1817

between the new Emirate of Gwanduand the Sultanate of Sokoto, each being

overlord to a number of tributary Emirates, the Sultan of Sokoto also

remaining overlord of the whole Empire. Despite this the Sultanate rapidly became no more than a loose federation of Emirates, some of them, like Adamawaacting in fact totally independently.

EMIRATES DEPENDENT OF GWANDU

EMIRATES DEPENDENT OF SOKOTO

Adamawa

Bauchi

Daura