The riots that drove the Miss World Pageant from Nigeria this year have focused the world's attention on the religious conflict in that major oil-exporting country and its implications for Nigerian stability.
Religious conflict and Islamic Shariah law are not new to Nigeria. They have been part of life in the territory now known as Nigeria before it was given that name.
Most of what is now northern Nigeria was part of the Sokoto Caliphate before British colonialism created the entity known as Nigeria. The Sokoto Caliphate was founded in 1804 by the Islamic "mujaddid" (renewer) Usuman Danfodiyo. This scholar led an Islamic revolution that replaced many of the small kingdoms in the area with a large empire practicing strict Islamic Shariah law. At the time of the European colonial conquest, the Sokoto Caliphate was the largest state in tropical Africa.