The Fulani Empire of Sokoto was the last of the five great empires that rose and fell in the Sudan between the eighth and twentieth centuries. It was founded by three men of the same family, probably the most remarkable triumvirate that Africa has yet produced, and it developed a society which, in its heyday, was
perhaps better governed and more highly civilized than any other that Africans had until then evolved. The late author, who for over twenty years was an Administrative Officer in Northern Nigeria, the core of the Sokoto Empire, was an accomplished Hausa scholar who also published a volume of translations. He was therefore able to supplement the established English and Arabic authorities by introducing new information gathered from Fulani and Hausa sources, much of which he collected himself in the course of his service. More important still, every chapter of his history is illuminated by an intimate knowledge of the country and genuine sympathy with its people.