Sokoto E3 - From Shehu to Revolutionary

Map of the Sokoto Imamate at its height

In the latest episode of the History of Africa podcast, we cover an abridged summary of Usman and Abdullahi Dan Fodio's war against Gobir, and the gradual expansion of the Sokoto Jihad from a minor local rebellion into a region-wide upheaval.

This episode was a little bit shorter and more summary focused than I prefer. This is because, on my first draft of the series, we ended up spending almost two hours discussing the military history of the Fodio and his allies conquests of his neighbors. While that history is certainly interesting, I wanted to speed through it so that we could more quickly get to the far more interesting elements of the history, including the details of the civic, religious, educational, and economic changes that followed the Sokoto Jihad.