Sokoto Caliphate

State · 1805–1904 CE · at its largest around 1836 CE

A Fulani-led Islamic state in what is now northern Nigeria, founded by Usman dan Fodio through a jihad against the Hausa kingdoms, and conquered by Britain in 1903.

On its lands while it lasted

Kingdom of Dahomey (c. 1600–1904 CE): Fon kingdom centred on Abomey in present-day Benin, known for its female soldiers and its role in the Atlantic slave trade; conquered by France in 1894.
Oyo Empire (c. 1600–1836 CE): Yoruba state that rose to dominate much of present-day western Nigeria and Benin from the 17th century using cavalry, before collapsing in the 1830s.
Usman dan Fodio (1754 CE – 1817 CE): Fulani Islamic scholar and reformer who led a jihad against the Hausa kingdoms from 1804 and founded the Sokoto Caliphate.
Sokoto Caliphate (1804–1903 CE): Islamic state founded after Usman dan Fodio's jihad against the Hausa kingdoms, one of the largest states in 19th-century Africa until British conquest in 1903.
Mungo Park’s second expedition down the Niger (1805–1806 CE): Park returned to West Africa with a government-backed expedition; most of his men died of disease before reaching the Niger. He built a boat at Sansanding and sailed past Timbuktu, but was killed at the Bussa rapids in present-day Nigeria.
Abuja (1828 CE): Capital of Federal Republic of Nigeria (1991–today).
Heinrich Barth’s expedition to Central Africa (1850–1855 CE): Joining a British expedition that left Tripoli in 1850, the German scholar Heinrich Barth spent five years crossing the Sahara and travelling through Bornu, the Sokoto Caliphate and Timbuktu, recording their history, languages and peoples.
N'Djamena (1900 CE): Capital of Republic of Chad (1961–today).