Battle of Kwatarkwashi | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Pacification of Northern Nigeria | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Aliyu Babba Ahmadu Shahada † | Frederick Lugard Wallace Duffield | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3,000 cavalry. [1] | 100 cavalry, 2000 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 plus 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.
Muhammadu Bello was the first Caliph of Sokoto and reigned from 1817 until 1837. He was also an active writer of history, poetry, and Islamic studies. He was the son and primary aide to Usman dan Fodio, the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate and the first caliph. During his reign, he encouraged the spread of Islam throughout the region, increasing education for both men and women, and the establishment of Islamic courts. He died on October 25, 1837, and was succeeded by his brother Abu Bakr Atiku and then his son, Aliyu Babba.
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.
The Adamawa Emirate is a traditional state located in Fombina, an area which now roughly corresponds to areas of Adamawa State and Taraba state in Nigeria, and previously also in the three northern regions of Cameroon, including minor Parts of Chad and the Central African Republic.
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 Kano Emirate Council is a traditional state in Northern Nigeria with headquarters in the city of Kano, the capital of the modern Kano State. Preceded by the Emirate of Kano, the council was formed in 1903 after the British pacification of the Sokoto Caliphate. The borders of the Emirate are contiguous with Kano State.
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.
The following events occurred in February 1903: