Sokoto, a Central African state, bounded by the Sahara, the Niger, the Benué and Bornu. The people are Hausa (q.v.), ruled by Fulahs (q.v.). Since 1900, when the Niger Company surrendered its rights to the Crown, Sokoto is included in the northern part of the British protectorate of Nigeria.
The area is stated to be nearly 200,000 sq. m. The country is generally level, but rises to 10,000 feet in the province of Adamawa; and it is well watered by the Benue and its tributaries. There are large deposits of good iron. The inhabitants number 10 or 12 millions. The ruling race are the Fulahs (q.v.); their subjects Hausa (q.v.) and various Negro tribes. In 1885 the sultan of Sokoto put his kingdom under the protectorate of Britain, and granted to the Royal Niger Company a monopoly of the trade. The town of Sokoto, in the north-west corner of the kingdom, shares with Wurnu, 18 miles east, the rank of capital. Near it Clapperton died (1837); and Sokoto has also been visited by Barth (1853), Rohlfis (1866), Flegel (1880), and J. Thomson (1885).