[4] The Hausa–Fulani identity came into being as a direct result of the migration of Fulani people to Hausaland around the 14th century and their cultural assimilation into the Hausa society.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Sheikh Usman dan Fodio led a successful jihad against the Hausa Kingdoms founding a centralized Fulani Empire (anglicized as the Sokoto Caliphate).
As result of this assimilation, Hausa–Fulani form the core and vast majority of the populations of Daura, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Zazzau, and Sokoto.
[5] Since the Trans-Saharan trade, Hausa is used as a lingua franca spanning from Agadez deep in the Sahara Desert of Niger to Northern Nigeria, and has many loanwords from Arabic.
Fulanisation was at least partly strengthened in the rural areas in the early 16th century with the emigration of the settled Dambazawa wealthy trading clan from Bornu.
The Sokoto Caliphate emerged strong after the jihad under the leadership of Usman dan Fodio (1754–1817), whom a council proclaimed as the Amir al-Mu'minin or Commander of the Faithful.