The Berlin Conference and the Sokoto Caliphate's Fall

Episode 162 of The Berlin Conference turns south of the Sahara to the Sokoto Caliphate, the largest pre-colonial state in West Africa, which was dismantled by British conquest in 1903—just a decade after the Berlin Conference's 'effective occupation' rules. Lucas and Luna explore the caliphate's founding by Usman dan Fodio in the 1804 jihad, its sophisticated administrative and legal system under vizier Abdullahi dan Fodio and Sultan Muhammad Bello, and the role of the Sokoto Jihad in spreading Islam across Hausaland. They examine the British conquest under Frederick Lugard, the Battle of Burmi where Sultan Attahiru I was killed, and the controversial 'Sokoto Exception' that allowed colonial rule to co-opt Islamic law. The episode also touches on the caliphate's trans-Saharan slave trade and the irony of European powers using anti-slavery rhetoric while conquering states that had already suppressed the trade. A nuanced look at how the Berlin Conference's abstract principles of partition played out in one of Africa's most powerful and organized states. #BerlinConference #SokotoCaliphate #UsmandanFodio #FrederickLugard #BattleofBurmi #Hausaland #WestAfrica #ScrambleforAfrica #Colonialism #IslamicLaw #SokotoJihad #MuhammadBello #AbdullahidanFodio #AttahiruI #BritishEmpire #EffectiveOccupation #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo