Shehu Ahmadu Lobbo

Fulani Muslim leader

Also known as: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abū Bakr ibn Saʿīd, Ahmadu Hammadi Bubu, Ahmadu ibn Hammadi, Cheikou Ahmadu Lobbo, Cheikou Ahmadu Lobo, Hamad Bari, Seku Ahmadu Lobbo, Seku Ahmadu Lobo, Shehu Ahmadu Lobo

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Quick Facts

Shehu also spelled:: Seku or Cheikou

Lobbo also spelled:: Lobo

Also called:: Hamad Bari or Ahmadu Hammadi Bubu

Arabic name:: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abū Bakr ibn Saʿīd

Born:: 1775

Shehu Ahmadu Lobbo (born 1775—died 1844) was a Fulani Muslim leader in western Africa who established a theocratic state in the Macina region of what is now Mali.

Influenced by the teachings of the Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio, he began a holy war (jihad) in 1818 or possibly as early as 1810. He defeated the forces of the pagan Fulani and Bambara chiefs and established a capital at Hamdallahi. His rule extended to the cities of Timbuktu and Djénné, where he had the great mosque destroyed because it offended his fundamentalist Islamic views. The rule of his family continued under his successors, Ahmadu II and Ahmadu III, until the latter was defeated by al-Ḥajj ʿUmar in 1862.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.