CHAPTER XLII SULTAN BELLO The whole of Haussaland up to the borders of Bornu had before this become subject to the conquering Fulani. Othman dan Fodio himself died in 1816, and divided his newly conquered empire between his son, Mohammed Bello, and a brother, Abdallai. He gave to Mohammed Bello, who, during his father's lifetime, had founded for himself the new town of Sokoto, the sovereignty of the Eastern Provinces, while to his brother, whose headquarters were at Gando, south and slightly west of Sokoto, he gave the provinces of the West. Sultan Bello, a man no less remarkable than his great rival, Mohammed el Kanemi, of Bornu, continued to reign until 1837, and this period, almost coinciding with the great period of Bornu under its new ruler, must be regarded as forming also the great period of Fulani rule in Haussaland.

Sultan Bello ascended to the throne at a very difficult moment. His father's arms, largely under Bello's direction, had completed the conquest of the principal states of Kano, Katsena, and Zaria, in the centre of Haussaland, and had spread to the south-east over the Bautchi Hills, and into the provinces bordering upon the Benue. The Fulani had also, as we have seen, fought successfully with Zanfara and Gando. But the western group of provinces, including Zanfara, Gober, and Gando, had been very imperfectly subdued. These provinces, of which the governments would seem to have been pagan, were filled with stubborn fighters. It suited the Fulani to proclaim a holy war, and to inflame 390