The Battle of Tsuntua, fought in December 1804, was one of the largest battles of the Fulani War

Fulani War

The Fulani War of 1804-1810, also known as the Fulani Jihad or Jihad of Usman dan Fodio, was a military conquest in present day Nigeria and Cameroon. Expelled from Gobir by his former student Yunfa in 1802, Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio assembled a Fulani army to lead in jihad against the Hausa...

.

In 1804, Yunfa

Yunfa

Yunfa was a king of the Hausa city-state of Gobir in what is now Nigeria. He is particularly remembered for his conflict with Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio....

 of Gobir

Gobir

Gobir was a city-state in what is now Nigeria. Founded by the Hausa in the eleventh century, Gobir was one of the seven original kingdoms of Hausaland, and continued under Hausa rule for nearly seven hundred years. Its capital was the city of Alkalawa...

 realized the growing threat that his former teacher, Fulani

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

 Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic refomer Usman dan Fodio, posed to the Hausa

Hausa people

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...

 city-states. Appealing to the other Hausa rulers for help, Yunfa assembled an army to capture and kill Usman. Meanwhile, Usman's followers spread word of a jihad

Jihad

Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

 against the Hausa rulers, attracting a number of Fulani nomad

Nomad

Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...

s to their cause.

The forces met in December in a significant victory for the Hausa rulers. Dan Fodio's forces lost over 2,000 men, 200 of whom were said to have known the Koran by heart.

However, the Hausa victory proved to be short-lived, as Dan Fodio's forces seized Kebbi and Gwandu

Gwandu

Gwandu, also called Gando, is a town and emirate in Kebbi State, Nigeria. The seat of government for the emirate and district of this name is in Birnin Kebbi, which is the capital of Kebbi State and was capital of the historical Kingdom of Kebbi...

the following year, ensuring the survival and growth of their party.