Battle of Kwatarkwashi | |||||||
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Part of Pacification of Northern Nigeria | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Aliyu Babba Ahmadu Shahada † | Frederick Lugard Wallace Duffield | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3,000 cavalry. [1] | 100 cavalry, 2,000 infantry. | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown, but heavy | 44 dead and wounded |
The Battle of Kwatarkwashi was a decisive battle between the British administered Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and forces of the Sokoto Caliphate's Kano Emirate. The defeat of the Kano cavalry in the battle marked the formative end of the Kano Emirate.
In 1899, Lord Lugard had proclaimed a British protectorate over much of the Sokoto Caliphate. With the failure of numerous diplomatic overtures to the Caliph, in 1900 a military campaign was launched to subdue the caliphate. when news of the Battle of Kano and the fall of the fort of Kano reached Sokoto in February 1903, the Kano cavalry embarked on a march to retake the city. [2]
After three previous victorious encounters with British forces, a large British force from Kano ambushed the Kano cavalry at the great rocks of Kwatarkwashi. After a 6-hour encounter, the death of the vizier of Kano led the remnant of the cavalry to retreat back to Sokoto, a substantial part of the force however under Muhammad Abbas surrendered to the British and proceeded back to Kano. [3]
At Kano, Muhammad Abbas was proclaimed Emir of Kano. The last of the Kano cavalry were integrated into the Caliphal force of Sokoto.
The Jihad of Usman dan Fodio was a religio-military conflict in present-day Nigeria and Cameroon. The war began when Usman dan Fodio, a prominent Islamic scholar and teacher, was exiled from Gobir by King Yunfa, one of his former students.
The Sokoto Caliphate, also known as the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Fulani War. The boundaries of the caliphate are part of present-day Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria. By 1837, the Sokoto state had a population of around 10-20 million people, becoming the most populous empire in West Africa. It was dissolved when the British, French, and Germans conquered the area in 1903 and annexed it into the newly established Northern Nigeria Protectorate, Senegambia and Niger and Kamerun respectively.
Northern Nigeria was a British protectorate which lasted from 1900 until 1914, and covered the northern part of what is now Nigeria.
Northern Nigeria was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962, it acquired the territory of the British Northern Cameroons, which voted to become a province within Northern Nigeria.
Abdullahi ɗan Fodio, was a prominent Islamic scholar, jurist, poet and theologian, and the first Amir of Gwandu and first Grand Vizier of Sokoto. His brother, Usman dan Fodio (1754–1817) was the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate. Usman, being more of a scholar than politician, delegated the practical regency of the western part of his empire to Abdullahi and the eastern part to his son Muhammed Bello, who later became the Sultan of Sokoto after his father.
Sumaila is a historic town and the headquarters of a Local Government Area in Kano State, Nigeria.
The Kano Emirate was a Muslim state in northern Nigeria formed in 1805 during the Fulani jihad when the Muslim Hausa-led Sultanate of Kano was deposed and replaced by a new emirate which became a vassal state of the Sokoto Caliphate. During and after the British colonial period, the powers of the emirate were steadily reduced. The emirate is preserved and integrated into modern Nigeria as the Kano Emirate Council.
The Kebbi Emirate, also known as the Argungu Emirate is a traditional state based on the town of Argungu in Kebbi State, Nigeria. It is the successor to the ancient Hausa kingdom of Kebbi. The Emirate is one of four in Kebbi State, the others being the Gwandu Emirate, Yauri Emirate and Zuru Emirate.
For the Arab Hutaymi tribe, see Sulluba
Muhammadu Attahiru I was the twelfth Sultan of the Sokoto Caliphate from October 1902 until March 15, 1903. He was the last independent Sultan of Sokoto before the Caliphate was taken over by the British.
The Colonial history of Northern Nigeria extends from the British pacification campaigns to the independence of Northern Nigeria in 1953.
The history of Northern Nigeria covers the history of the region form pre-historic times to the modern period of Northern Nigerian state.
The Battle of Kano was an important battle in 1903 between the British Empire and the Sokoto Caliphate's Kano Emirate in what is now Northern Nigeria.
Muhammad Tukur was Emir of Kano from 1893 until his death in 1894. Tukur presided over Kano during the Bassasa, a period of civil war that saw multiple claimants to the Kanoan throne.
Aliyu Ibn Abdullahi-Maje Karofi was an Emir of Kano, a state in what is now Northern Nigeria. Also known as Babba and Mai Sango- The Gun User. Emerging at the end of the Basasa, his reign was marked by a series of costly wars and fortification projects that heavily militarised the erstwhile commercial Emirate. His escapades as Emir of Kano were recorded in the official historical canon of the Kano Emirate, the Tarikh Al Kano. The ballad of Ali Zaki, commemorates his reign as the last Emir of Kano.
Muhammad Abbas was a regent and later emir of Kano. He was appointed regent by Lord Lugard after the pacification of Northern Nigeria, he presided over the transformation of the caliphal emirate into an emirate subject to the British throne under the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
Muhammad Bukhari bin Uthman was an Islamic scholar and a noted poet who was the first Emir of Tambawel. Bukhari was an important military commander who participated and led several military campaigns during the jihad of Usman dan Fodio.
The Bani Isra'ila, most commonly known as the Isawa, was an Islamic sect that originated in the Sokoto Caliphate that believed that Isa (Jesus) to be the greatest among the prophets of Islam. They rejected the hadiths and traditional Islamic practices such as Ramadan fasting and the hajj, adhering instead to a strictly Qur'an-based doctrine. They considered themselves the true Ahl-al-Kitab, and believed that they preserved the purity of the original revelation before it was corrupted by Judaism and Christianity. The sect has played an influential role in the early Christian conversion movements in Northern Nigeria, with some members and their children becoming important figures in Nigerian politics and society.
The Battle of Burmi was the final battle between the British and forces of the Sokoto Caliphate during the British Pacification of Northern Nigeria. The battle came after British victories at the battles of Kano and Kwatarkwashi, forcing Sokoto forces to retreat across northern Nigeria, entrenching themselves in Burmi. During the battle commander of British forces Major Marsh and the Sokoto Caliph, Muhammadu Attahiru I were both killed.
Yakubu Nabame was the King of Argungu and leader of the Kebbawa resistance from 1849 until his death in 1854. He is best known for reigniting and leading the struggle for independence against the Sokoto Caliphate, which had conquered Kebbi during its early 19th-century jihad. After years of exile at the Caliph's palace in Sokoto, Nabame returned to Kebbi, declared himself Sarkin Kebbi in 1849, and initiated a revolt that marked the first major territorial loss for the Caliphate outside Bornu. His resistance ended an 18-year truce and continued until the fall of the Caliphate in 1903, cementing Kebbi's independence as an irreversible reality. Nabame is remembered as a heroic figure in Kebbi's history.