Usman Dan Fodio established the Sokoto Caliphate in Nigeria. He was a West African religious and political leader who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He led a successful jihad, or holy war, against the Hausa states in northern Nigeria, and established the Sokoto Caliphate, which became one of the largest and most influential Islamic states in Africa. The caliphate lasted for over 50 years, until it was colonized by the British in 1903.