The history of Nigeria can be traced to settlers trading across the middle East and Africa as early as 1100 BC. Numerous ancient African civilizations settled in the region that is known today as Nigeria, such as the Kingdom of Nri, the Benin Empire, and the Oyo Empire. Islam reached Nigeria through the Bornu Empire between and Hausa States around during the 11th century, while Christianity came to Nigeria in the 15th century through Augustinian and Capuchin monks from Portugal. The Songhai Empire also occupied part of the region. From the 15th century, European slave traders arrived in the region to purchase enslaved Africans as part of the Atlantic slave trade, which started in the region of modern-day Nigeria; the first Nigerian port used by European slave traders was Badagry, a coastal harbour. Local merchants provided them with slaves, escalating conflicts among the ethnic groups in the region and disrupting older trade patterns through the Trans-Saharan route.
Sokoto is a major city located at the extreme Northwest of Nigeria, near the confluence of the Sokoto River and the Rima River. As of 2006 it has a population of people over 427,760. Sokoto is the modern-day capital of Sokoto State and was previously the capital of the north-western states.
Islam is one of the largest religions in Nigeria, existing within the borders of the country since the 11th century. It was introduced via trade routes with North Africa and the Senegalese basin, and it was the first monotheistic Abrahamic religion to arrive in Nigeria. Christianity was later introduced in the 15th century by Portuguese missionaries, and grew to be a dominant religion alongside Islam. Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in West Africa, which is concentrated mostly in the northern half of the country. In 2021, the CIA World Factbook estimated that 53.5% of Nigeria's population is Muslim. In 2007, the BBC estimated that slightly over 50% of the population is Christian. Muslims in Nigeria are predominantly Sunnis of the Maliki school of thought. However, there is a significant Shia minority, primarily in Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Osun, Kwara and Sokoto states. In particular, a 2009 Pew Forum survey on religious diversity identified 5% of Nigerian Muslims as Shia. The Ahmadiyya movement also has a sizeable presence in the country.
Lokoja is a city in Nigeria. It lies at the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers and is the capital of Kogi State. While the Oworo, Bassa Nge and Nupe are indigenous to the area, other ethnic groups of Nigeria, including the Kupa-Nupe, Hausa, Ebira, Igala, Igbo, Bini/Edo, and Tiv have recently established themselves. Projected to be the third fastest growing African continent city between 2020 and 2025, with a 5.93% growth. It was listed a second class township by the 1917 township ordinance of the colonial administration. This shows that Lokoja is an old city.
The culture of Nigeria is shaped by Nigeria's multiple ethnic groups. The country has 527 languages, seven of which are extinct. Nigeria also has over 1150 dialects and ethnic groups. The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausas that are predominantly in the north, the Yorubas who predominate in the southwest, and the Igbos in the southeast. There are many other ethnic groups with sizeable populations across the different parts of the country. The Kanuri people are located in the northeast part of Nigeria, the Tiv people of north central and the Efik-Ibibio are in the south south. The Bini people are most frequent in the region between Yorubaland and Igboland.
Maradi is the second largest city in Niger and the administrative centre of Maradi Region. It is also the seat of the Maradi Department and an Urban Commune.
Yauri is an emirate in Nigeria's Kebbi State, occupying the Yauri Local Government Area. Today, Yauri is one of the smallest historical emirates in Northern Nigeria. In 1972, the population was about 112,000 people inhabiting a land area of about 1,306 square miles (3,380 km2) and scattered over six major districts.
Nigerian Americans are an ethnic group of Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The number of Nigerian immigrants residing in the United States is rapidly growing, expanding from a small 1980 population of 25,000. The 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) estimated that 461,695 U.S. residents were of Nigerian ancestry. The 2019 ACS further estimated that around 392,811 of these (85%) had been born in Nigeria. Similar to its status as the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria is also the African country with the most migrants to the United States, as of 2013. In a study which was carried out by consumer genetics company 23andMe which involved the DNA of 50,281 people of African descent in the United States, Latin America and western Europe, It was revealed that Nigeria was the most common country of origin for testers from the US, the French Caribbean, and the British Caribbean. Nigerian-Americans, like British Nigerians, predominantly originate from southern Nigeria, as opposed to the Islamic northern half of the country.
Long before 1500, much of modern Nigeria was divided into states identified with contemporary ethnic groups. These early states included the Igbo Kingdom of Nri, the Benin Kingdom, the Yoruba city-states including the Kingdom of Ife, Igala Kingdom, the Hausa States, and Nupe. Numerous small states to the west and south of Lake Chad were absorbed or displaced in the course of the expansion of Kanem, which was centered to the northeast of Lake Chad. Bornu, initially the western province of Kanem, became independent in the late 14th century. Other states probably existed, but the absence of archaeological data prevents accurate dating.
The history of the territories which since ca. 1900 have been known under the name of Nigeria during the pre-colonial period was dominated by a number of powerful West African kingdoms or empires, such as the Oyo Empire and the Islamic Kanem-Bornu Empire in the northeast, and the Igbo kingdom of Onitsha in the southeast and various Hausa-Fulani kingdoms.
The Hausa are the largest ethnic group in West and Central Africa, who speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Hausa are a diverse but culturally homogeneous people based primarily in the Sahelian and the sparse savanna areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria respectively, numbering around 53 million people with significant indigenized populations in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Togo, Ghana, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Senegal and the Gambia.
Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria is a Muslim organization established for the purpose of the educational development of Muslims and also as a body to enhance the moral and social development of the Muslim community in Lagos. It was founded in 1923 as a non-sectarian and non-political educational association, although there are doubts about its non-political stance.
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. Nigeria is composed of various ethnic groups and cultures and the term Nigerian refers to a citizenship-based civic nationality. Nigerians derive from over 250 ethnic groups and languages. Though there are multiple ethnic groups in Nigeria, economic factors result in significant mobility of Nigerians of multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds to reside in territories in Nigeria that are outside their ethnic or religious background, resulting in the mixing of the various ethnic and religious groups, especially in Nigeria's cities. The English language is the lingua franca of Nigerians. 53.5% of Nigerians are Muslims and about 45.5% are Christians.
The Fulajihads sometimes called the Fulani revolution were a series of jihads that occurred across West Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries, led largely by the Muslim Fula people. The jihads and the jihad states came to an end with European colonization.
Nigerian nationalism asserts that Nigerians are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Nigerians. Nigerian nationalism is territorial nationalism and emphasizes a cultural connection of the people to the land, particularly the Niger and the Benue Rivers. It first emerged in the 1920s under the influence of Herbert Macaulay, who is considered to be the founder of Nigerian nationalism. It was founded because of the belief in the necessity for the people living in the British colony of Nigeria of multiple backgrounds to unite as one people to be able to resist colonialism. The people of Nigeria came together as they recognized the discrepancies of British policy. "The problem of ethnic nationalism in Nigeria came with the advent of colonialism. This happened when disparate, autonomous, heterogeneous and sub- national groups were merged to form a nation. Again, the colonialists created structural imbalances within the nation in terms of socio-economic projects, social development and establishment of administrative centres. This imbalance deepened the antipathies between the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria ." The Nigerian nationalists' goal of achieving an independent sovereign state of Nigeria was achieved in 1960 when Nigeria declared its independence and British colonial rule ended. Nigeria's government has sought to unify the various peoples and regions of Nigeria since the country's independence in 1960.
The Saro, or Nigerian Creoles of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were formerly enslaved people who migrated to Nigeria in the beginning of the 1830s. They were known locally as Saro(elided form of Sierra Leone, from the Yoruba sàró). A related community of people were likewise known as Amaro, and were migrants from Brazil and Cuba.
The boubou or grand boubou is a flowing wide-sleeved robe worn across West Africa, and to a lesser extent in North Africa, related to the dashiki suit.
Communal conflicts in Nigeria can be divided into two broad categories:
Igbo nationalism is a range of ethnic nationalist ideologies relating to the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. While the term is defined as seeking Igbo self-determination by some, others argue that it refers to the preservation and revival of Igbo culture and, for others, the development of Igboland stemming from the philosophy, Aku luo uno, which means "wealth builds the home".
Hausa literature is any work written in the Hausa language. It includes poetry, prose, songwriting, music, and drama. Hausa literature includes folk literature, much of which has been transcribed, and provides a means of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge, especially in regard to social, psychological, spiritual, or political roles.
