The era was dominated by the rule of Bello who was the son of Shaikh. During his reign, Bello authorized forty-seven major raids to be conducted against pagan neighbors, the Tauregs and rebels. Sokoto conducted annual raids against rebels in Kebbi and Gobir. Gobir refuges among the Taureg often joined Taureg raids against the Sokoto.

1817. An early defeat of Bello upon his assumption of the Caliphate, encouraged several conquered tribes to revolt.

1817. Zamfarawa + Burmawa under Banaga revolted and defeated Bello’s Sokoto army.

Fall 1817-Jan 1818. The Emir Salam of Kware revolted. Much of his support came from disgruntled Hausa, both pagan and Moslem. His forces won several minor battles but he died after receiving a poisoned arrow wound. The town of Kalembaina resisted captures for over two years. A combined force of several leaders was needed to capture it.

1817. Zamfara revolts against Sokoto rule.

January 1818. Both the towns of Kebbi and Gobir revolted. Bello led an expedition against Gobir and his brother, Atiku, campaigned against Kebbi.

1821- Dry Season. A major Sokoto expediton against the Gobirawa results in the battle of Rima Valley in which the Gobir leader Gwomki is killed and army is defeated.

1822. Zamfarawa rebels are finally defeated in Mafara and Anka that had been the targets of annual raids by the Sokoto.

1824. The Sokoto unsuccessfully siege the town of Konya.

1830. Kebbawa signs a treaty with Sokoto that lasts until 1849.

1836. A major battle was fought at Gawakuke in Gobir. A combined army of Gobirawa + Tauregs and Katsinawa were defeated by the Sokoto. Fighting was fierce in which the leaders of the Gobir and Katsina factions were killed

1836. A minor revolt among the Zamfarawa against Sokoto policies.

1837. The Sokoto campaigns against Zamfarawa in Burmi and Damre

1838. The Sokoto campaign against the pagan Katsinawa.

1839 a lagre Sokoto expedition which included the forces of several emirs fought a combined army of Gobirawa + Tauregs + Katsinawa + Bornu. The Sokoto stopped the force but failed to disperse it.

1840. The Sokoto attacked the towns of Zauma and Gummi but failed to capture either.

1842. The Sokoto attacked the town of Tsibiri. The Sokoto were repelled band their third Caliph Atiku was wounded and later died.

The years of the late 1800s after the consolidation era (that ended in 1859) were marked militarily by three activities. These were the conducting of raids against Pagan lands, the putting down of rebellions inside Sokoto by dissident groups and the repulsing of Taureg raids into Sokoto. The Fulani continued to dominate Hausaland and its neighbors referred to the raids by Sokoto as the Fulani expansion. Eventually by the 1900s, the Sokoto Empire fell to the Colonial expansion efforts of the British. This would ‘unite’ the Nigeria region under one government but the local ethnic and cultural differences remained. Even today the now Christian people of southern Nigeria are often at conflict with the Moslem people who control the northern area of Nigeria.

Hausaland and the Growth of the Sokoto Caliphate

Introduction
Equipment, Training and Weapons
Tactics and Campaigns
Pre-Jihad Chronology of Hausaland
The Sokoto-Gobirawa War 1804-07
The Sokoto Early Migration Trek
The Sokoto Empire Consolidation Era 1817-1859
Key Personalities of Sokoto and Hausaland
Key Hausa Towns