NIGERIA
Nigeria is just south of the Sahara bordering on the Gulf of Guinea and the Bight of Benin. Its population today is estimated to be between 120 and 126 million, which makes it the most populous country in Africa and the country with the biggest black population in the world. Nigeria currently ranks as the 6th most populous nation in the world, but by the year 2025 - according to some projections - it may be the third largest behind China and India. Over 50% of its population is under the age of 16.

Nigeria contains 913,073 square kilometres. According to an information booklet published by the Nigerian government:

Along the entire coastline of Nigeria lies a belt of mangrove swamp forest from 1,060 miles in width, which is intersected by branches of the Niger and innumerable other small rivers, bays, and creeks. Beyond the swamp forest is a zone, from 50 to 100 miles wide, of undulating tropical rain forest. The country then rises to a plateau at a general elevation of about 2,000 feet but reaches a maximum of 6,698 feet on the eastern border in the Sebschi Mountains, and the vegetation changes from woodland to savanna, with thick forests in the mountains. In the extreme north, the country approaches the southern part of the Sahara.

The name Nigeria signifies the land of Black people, and was created by Lady Lugard, the wife of the first Governor General. It also means the Niger River, the third largest river in Africa after the Nile and the [Congo]. This river flows from the northwest border of Nigeria to the center of the country where at Lokoja it meets Benue River flowing from Nigeria's eastern border. Lokoja is about 250 miles north of the Niger delta and the Gulf of Guinea. The Niger and the Benue thus etch a gigantic "Y" across the face of Nigeria.

The peoples of Nigeria have great histories and links to other parts of Africa, especially North Africa and the Western Sudan. The history of these peoples has been one of movement and the frequent practice of fusion with other groups in West Africa. The Sudan, for example, produced ancient kingdoms, such as Borno, the first of the Northern States to emerge. Seven other states, known as "Hausa Bokwai," (legitimate Hausa [sons]) had emerged west of Borno: Daura, Kano, Zazzau, Gobir, Katsina, Rano, and Biram. Other kingdoms such as Kebbi, Nupe, Gwari, Yelwa, Ilorin, Zamfara and Kwararafa also emerged in the course of time over the northern part of present day Nigeria.

The Yoruba kingdoms emerged in the southwest of present day Nigeria. The Yoruba people mainly ascribe their place of origin and the centre of their sacred religion to Ife. Another Kingdom and people also powerful and fascinating as the Yoruba people is the Bini people further south of the Yoruba people. Historically, the Benin Empire was estimated to have stretched beyond the West Coast in the 16th century. Ife and Benin remain two significant depositories of some of the best African antiquities.

While the Yoruba and the Hausa of Nigeria might have migrated or fused with other groups down through the centuries, the Igbo people of Imo and Anambra States, and the Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom State live in relatively the same areas as they had been centuries before. They have developed societies that have been actively involved in trade with other groups and even Europeans of the pre-colonial era.

Nigeria became a country with the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates and the Colony of Lagos in 1914 with Sir Fredrick Lugard becoming its first Governor General. Nigeria gained her independence from Britain on October 1, 1960 and proclaimed herself a Federal Republic in 1963. The dramatic political change of January 15, 1966, by which a military coup terminated the First Republic, accompanied by further crisis in the polity, led to the 30 month Nigerian civil war. After experiencing various coups and counter-coups for the most part of its independence, Nigeria finally has a democratically elected president, Obasanjo, who is presently serving his second four-year tenure in office.

Nigeria is estimated to have roughly an equal Christian (40%) and Muslim (40%) population, with the remaining 20% practicing traditional African religions. The Catholic population is between 12% and 15% of the total population.

The Map of Nigeria is courtesy of www.theodora.com/map used with permission.